Military Flyover To Honor Temecula, Local Hospitals: See Times

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Two jets from March Air Reserve Base in Riverside will be flying over more than a dozen medical facilities throughout the Inland Empire Thursday as part of a nationwide salute that started last month to recognize frontline health care workers.

The 90-minute flyovers from March are slated to get underway about 1 p.m. May 14, and will involve a massive C-17 Globemaster III, which hauls cargo, and a KC-135 Stratotanker, which is an air-to-air refueling jet. Both planes and their crews — all Air Force reservists — are attached to the 452nd Air Mobility Wing.

"These flyovers incur no additional cost to the taxpayer," according to a Wing statement. "Residents in the areas should be able to see the KC- 135 and the C-17 from the safety of their homes."

The heavy jets, under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, must stay a minimum of 1,000 feet above populated areas, but generally fly higher than that for safety, according to military officials.

The flyovers are plotted to ensure the jets pass overhead the following 19 facilities at these approximate times (see map below):

Menifee Global Medical Center-(1:03 p.m.)
Kaiser Permanente Murrieta-(1:05 p.m.)
Loma Linda Medical Center Murrieta-(1:05 p.m.)
Temecula Valley Hospital-(1:09 p.m.)
Rancho Springs Medical Center-(1:11 p.m.)
Inland Valley Regional Medical Center-(1:12 p.m.)
Lake Elsinore Family Care Center-(1:13 p.m.)
Corona Regional Medical Center-(1:20 p.m.)
Kaiser Permanente Riverside-(1:22 p.m.)
Parkview Community Hospital-(1:23 p.m.)
Riverside Community Hospital-(1:24 p.m.)
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center-(1:26 p.m.)
Loma Linda Children’s Hospital-(1:27 p.m.)
Loma Linda VA Hospital-(1:28 p.m.)
San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital-(1:33 p.m.)
JFK Memorial Hospital-(1:48 p.m.)
Desert Regional Medical Center-(1:55 p.m.)
Riverside University Health System-(2:06 p.m.)
Kaiser Permanente Moreno Valley-(2:08 p.m.)

The event is part of "Operation America Strong," which the U.S. Department of Defense authorized in April as a morale-booster amid the coronavirus crisis.

In some locations, the military's aerobatics teams — the Navy's Blue Angels and Air Force's Thunderbirds — are engaging in flyovers.

March's biennial March Field Air & Space Expo was canceled in early March because of the coronavirus emergency. According to base officials, the air show may be rescheduled later in the year.

Wednesday, four fighter jets will fly low across much of California. Around 10 a.m., the F-15C Eagle jets from the California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing will take off from a Fresno air base and pass over medical facilities in the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento and the Bay Area. Read more: Fighter Jets To Do Flyover Across CA Wednesday: Where To Watch

—City News Service