Fighter jets soar over SLO County in salute to healthcare workers
Four fighter jets from the Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing did a flyover across San Luis Obispo County on Wednesday as part of a California salute to healthcare workers, first responders and essential personnel.
The F-15C Eagle fighter took off from Fresno at 10 a.m. on a circle route up to Sacramento, over to the Bay Area and then down the coast.
They flew as far south as Santa Barbara, before turning back north to Bakersfield and Visalia.
The flyover wasn’t the only one in SLO County skies on Wednesday.
Tenet Health Central Coast CEO Mark Lisa led a flyover of World War II-era planes from the Estrella Warbird Museum over Twin Cities Community Hospital and Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center at around noon, as part of National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week observances.
Also participating were Freedom Flight pilots George Marrett and retired Lt. Col. Wayne Rice.
“Last week, we saw the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels fly over Washington, and I thought, ‘why don’t we do the same thing for our local heroes?” Marrett said. “We’re used to flying in formation here at the Estrella Warbirds Museum for Veterans Day and Memorial Day, so it was an easy choice. Then we found out Mark was a pilot and we said, ‘OK, you can lead the formation.’ It doesn’t get much better than that.”
This story has been updated with additional details about the Freedom Flight flyover.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
