The Breitling Jet Team that bills itself as the world's only professional civilian flight team performing on jets, made a pit stop through San Angelo’s Mathis Field Wednesday. The team of seven jets, plus one spare, were enroute to the team’s last continental performance this year at the Wings Over Houston airshow at Ellington Field in Houston.
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The flightline crew at Skyline Aviation gassed the jets up as the crew took a break to stretch their legs and check the weather before embarking on the final leg of their journey to Houston.
According to the Skyline crew chiefs, the pilots were very hands-on during the refueling process. Each jet took on about 750 gallons of JET-A, they said.
The team flies L-39C Albatros Czech-made twin-seater military training jets, similar to (and newer than) the Navy’s T-45 Goshawk training jet. All but one of the eight jets on the ramp Wednesday had two occupants.
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This weekend’s performance near Houston’s NASA Space Center is the last stop of the team’s 2015 North American tour. Their previous performance was Oct. 3-4 at MCAS Miramar in San Diego.
The jets took off to the south from Mathis in three groups, two 3-ships and a 2-ship, then performed a left-turning rejoin to form a larger combined eight-ship formation as the flight lead pointed his jet southeast towards Ellington.
The official video:
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