
The American “Mach Loop” is on the Death Valley
Beware: video contains strong language
There is a series of spotting places in Wales, UK, that aviation enthusiasts have nicknamed the “Mach Loop” after the small town at the circuits’ most southern point: Machynlleth.
The “Mach Loop” is located inside an unpopulated area that was given the designation ‘Low Flying Area’ 7 (LFA-7).
LFA-7 has a series of valleys, lined by steep sides with mountains either side rising to around 1,000 metres the highest in the chain being Snowdon (1,200 metres), that allows the pilot to do circuits or to leave this circuit at any point (usually due to low cloud).
It looks like that, besides Coyote Summit, used to spot Red Flag traffic near Area 51, there is a somehow similar place in the famous Death Valley.
Here’s a cool video showing multiple F/A-18 Hornet jets flybys during a training sortie over there.
There use to be a highway sign in Death Valley that read, “BEWARE OF LOW FLYING SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT”. The state of California got tired of replacing the signs because people would steal them almost immediately. Once about 40 years ago while I was driving through Death Valley I spotted a roster tail of dust on the valley floor moving at incredible speed. It was an F-105 fighter bomber going supersonic. Pilots got a kick out of flying fast with their altimeter reading below sea level.