Flying with the Breitling Jet Team over Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
The 1st annual Huntington Beach Air Show was the last stop for the Breitling Jet Team’s 2-year North American tour. I had seen them at the Miramar Air Show, in Las Vegas at the Red Bull Air Races and this was going to the last time that I would see them for a while. However, it was going to be the most memorable as I was invited to participate in the media flight on the Thursday before the show. The jets were based at the Long Beach Airport for this stop and that is where I met the team for the morning flight.
When I arrived at the airport, there was a meet and greet before heading up to the briefing room. They had each of us sign a waiver and watch the safety video telling us how to use the live ejection seat. Wait, what?! This is going to be awesome! The Breitling Jet Team fly the L-39 Albatros, which is a Czechoslovakian-made high performance jet trainer developed by Aero Vodochody. The next step was to put on our flight suits and get fitted for helmets.
We made our way out to the jets where we were allowed to take photos and video but were told that we could not take any equipment with us in the jet due to safety reasons, this included our cell phones. However, there would be GoPros mounted on the planes and we would get the videos from that (which you can see in the video above).
The aircraft were beautifully maintained and as I climbed inside I felt right at home. I was ready to go for my first ride in a jet (non-commercial). We were a flight of seven and we taxied to the runway as such. As we started the roll down the runway, you could feel the acceleration that the turbine was producing. As the wheels left the ground, you immediately realized that you were not in a Cessna and just how responsive the controls were. We climbed out of Long Beach and the formation joined together over the Palos Verdes peninsula. As we made a turn to the north, we were headed to the San Gabriel Mountains to do some maneuvers.
I had made many flights around the LA Basin but none were as these kinds of speeds. All of my common checkpoints were coming one right after another. Once we were clear of the populated area and safely in the mountains, we started a dive. The seven aircraft were wingtip to wingtip as we pulled up from the bottom of the dive and headed straight up. It was awesome to feel the positive g-forces trying to pull you through the seat and then the almost weightless feeling as we came over the top of the loop. I strained my neck back to locate the ground as we started back around the back side. We continued with a roll in formation. It was amazing to watch each pilot hold their position on their wingman. So much trust goes into the lead pilot as each successive pilot is only reliant upon the plane next to him. If the lead pilot were to fly into the ground, each would follow.
It was time to head back to Long Beach so we made our way across the valley once more. One thing that I was surprised at was the commonality that ATC treated the formation with. I alwys assumed that demonstration teams like this would have highly coordinated flight plans, ATC would give them the right-of-way and they would kind of have carte blanche. This wasn’t the case. On the way back, we got held several times and given vectors for traffic, often in a completely different direction than we were headed. This was fine by me, though, it meant more time in the seat. Another thing that I found interesting was that each pilot had their iPad mounted to the canopy and were running Foreflight.
As we approached Long Beach, the lead pilot asked for an overhead break. This meant we flew the runway heading and once over midfield, each jet would break high and left in succession. It may have been my favorite part of the flight and I may have to give it a try in the 172. We landed and taxied back to the FBO where we were once again given the opportunity to talk with the pilots and take photos/video.
The Breitling flight suits were ours to keep along with a Breitling backpack filled with gifts. I can’t say thank you enough to the Breitling Jet Team for an amazing day and an experience that I will never forget!
