From: The Orange County Register
By GREG MELLEN / STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels perform their precision aerobatics over the Florida Keys during the Southernmost Air Spectacular at Naval Air Station Key West, in Key West, Fla. The Blue Angels are expected to fly over Huntington Beach on Jan. 12. (File photo by Rob O’Neal, Florida Keys News Bureau)
If you sleep in, you may miss it. But the roar will likely wake you up.
An F/A 18 from the famed Blue Angels U.S. Navy flying team will be passing over Huntington Beach and the pier area between 9:30 and 10 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 12 as part of their preparations for the 2017 Breitling Huntington Beach Airshow, Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
The Blue Angels plane, piloted by Brandon Hempler and Dave Steppe, respectively, will be conducting a flight survey and technical evaluation of the airspace. Hempler, 32, and Steppe, 31, were announced as members of the demonstration flying team in July.
The Blue Angels will be one of the headline acts in the second HB Airshow along with the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds. The inaugural show with the USAF Thunderbirds drew estimated crowds of more than 500,000 to the free weekend shows.