VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — To prepare for airshow season and Naval aviation, aircrew stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana have plans to practice tactical demonstration flight routines.
Some of the high-performance maneuvers will be noticeably louder than the normal day-to-day operations at NAS Oceana. The U.S. Navy said that these flights are scheduled on Wednesdays in 2020 between 2 and 2:45 p.m. The maneuvers are expected to start on January 8, 2020.
However, demonstration flights will also be conducted at noon on December 16, 2019, and at 10:45 on December 17, 2019.
Before performing at an air show, aircrews from the Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic's F/A-18 demonstration team are required to complete a rigorous qualification program, to include hours of training in flight-simulators, practice flights at Navy’s Dare County Bombing Range and NAS Oceana.
During the practice sessions, all aerobatic maneuvers will be done directly over NAS Oceana’s airfield.