March 23, 2017

Rainbow Canyon 2017

In the Mojave Desert military pilots test their mettle by flying a low level training route through a canyon officially called Rainbow Canyon. The pilots call it Star Wars Canyon. It's part of a route called the Sidewinder Transition, contained in the controlled military airspace called R2508. This canyon is near the Father Crowley Overlook on Highway 190, close to the small town of Panamint Springs. I spent a day out there on March 16th, 2017 and was treated to many passes of various F/A-18 Hornets. Some of the aircraft passed through multiple times. There were many people out along the canyon that day, since the air show at China Lake was coming up on the weekend.