[Video] Buzzed by U.S. F/A-18 jets in the Death Valley

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.

 

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.