UPDATE: On Saturday, October 10, aircraft are expected to arrive in Victorville between 11:20 am & 12:20 pm, in Apple Valley/Hesperia between 11:25 am and 12:30 pm, and Barstow/Fort Irwin between 11:35 am and 12:55 pm. The live telecast begins at 11:00 am and can be viewed at avairshow.com/live-video/ Below is an updated map as of October 9, 2020.
Edwards Air Force Base will be hosting a virtual Aerospace Valley Hybrid Air Show on October 5-10, 2020. This year’s air show will feature depend heavily on social media and include a “parade of planes” touring around the “Aerospace Valley” including the Victor Valley and the Tri-Community.
412th Test Wing Commander, Brig. Gen. Matthew Higher announced the change in format in June in a live-stream town hall meeting. “We are not going to have a whole bunch of people on the installation, boots on the ground, static displays, busses, all that over Columbus day weekend,” he said. “We are, however, going to have a bunch of ‘iron’ on our ramp, and potentially on the ramp on Fox filed (in Lancaster, Ca.). It’s going to morph into something that would be like a parade of planes, said Brig. Gen. Higher.
The first four days of the airshow will focus on STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). During these four days, there will be virtual online STEM classes for students of all ages from elementary school, middle school, and high school. There will also be lessons for Spanish speaking students. STEM classes run from 8:00 am to 4:oo pm each day, October 5-10. According to Aerotech News, over 10,000 local students have signed up for the webinars this far on Zoom and will be streamed on Facebook and Youtube. Visit www.avairshow.com for a schedule of classes, more information, and to download lesson materials. Students will also be able to text questions to 507-EDW-STEM during the morning lessons. Teachers, these class courses have been aligned with common core standards, according to Helida Vanhoy, 412th Test Wing STEM coordinator.
Edwards Air Force Base virtual tours will be conducted from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm each day, starting on Monday with a tour of the Air Force Test Pilot School, on Tuesday a tour of the F-35 Combined Test Force, on Wednesday a tour of the F-22 Combined Test Force. On Thursday, there will be an Edwards Air Force Base panel discussion. Each day after the tour, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, there will be presentations from the community and industry partners. From 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm each day, there will be a “STEM-posium.”
Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, will be the air show’s flying portion from 11 am to 1 pm on both days. “We’re still going to have jests in the air over Edwards. However, we’ll not be doing any type of normal air show displays, but we’ll be flying routes so people will get to see and hear the aircraft, and also learn and explore in a multi-path environment on Friday and Saturday of air show week,” said Big. Gen. Higher.
Each day the air show will open with the National Anthem, the Wings of Blue parachute team from the Air Force Academy, and a flyby featuring the breaking of the sound barrier. The event will be live-streamed via Facebook and Youtube. The broadcast will feature an Olympic style live show with Brig. Gen. Higher and other senior leaders giving commentary on the events taking place. Aircraft scheduled for flyovers include F-16 Falcons, F-22 Raptors, F-35 Lightning IIs, F/A-18 Hornets, the B1-Lancer, B-2 Spirit, the B-52 Stratofortress, C-17 Globemaster III, KC-135 Stratotanker, the KC-46 Pegasus, and the NASA Armstrong ER-2 and GIII.
On Friday, October 9, the aircraft will fly over Lancaster, Palmdale, Rosamond, Mojave, Bakersfield, California City, and Boron.
On Saturday, October 10, the aircraft will flyover Lancaster, Palmdale, Hesperia, Victorville, Barstow, Fort Irwin, Ridgecrest, NAS China Lake, and Rosamond. The planes should fly over the Tri-Community en route from Palmdale to Hesperia.
