POINT MUGU : Aviators Stage Dress Rehearsal for Air Show

Aviators spent Friday afternoon at the Point Mugu Air Show rehearsing their acts and wowing a small crowd of federal employees, police and firefighters and their families and children’s groups.

The abbreviated show was staged to allow the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, the Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds and a handful of civilian aerobatic acts to become more familiar with the terrain and runway of the sprawling Naval Air Weapons Station.

“The Friday show is traditionally considered the rehearsal for the two big weekend shows,” Navy spokesman Alan Alpers said. “It’s a treat for the families and the kids and it allows the pilots to better get to know the facility.”

Today and Sunday, the base will open its gates to the public at 8 a.m. for the 31st running of the aerial extravaganza. An estimated 200,000 aviation enthusiasts from across Southern California are expected to attend.

For Oxnard stunt pilot Joann Osterud, preparing for the show is akin to an athletic endeavor.

“The first thing I do is get into the air as soon as I can,” said Osterud, who will fly an Ultimate 10-300S biplane in the show. “It’s kind of like how an athlete prepares for a race--I get up there, warmed up and feeling right and then I’m ready.”

Other acts scheduled to appear in the show took the opportunity to get to know the airfield--including one land-bound 300 m.p.h. jet-powered Peterbilt truck named “Shockwave” that will race two biplanes on the base’s 11,000-foot-long runway.

Friday’s crowd--an estimated 6,000 people--was treated to a near hourlong aerial demonstration by both the Canadian Snowbirds and the Navy’s Blue Angels.

But while the Snowbirds and the Blue Angels showed off their precision aviation prowess, 8-year-old Eddie Reyes Jr. of Oxnard said he thought he liked the jet-powered truck the best.

“I like it when the jets fly directly at each other and then veer off at the last second--that’s good,” Eddie said. “But, I have to say that you don’t see trucks like that very often.”