That’s right, those were fighter jets over LA area today – Orange County Register

Yup, that wasn’t something you see every day: Two F-18s flying low and in close formation over the Los Angeles area this afternoon.

And if you weren’t tuned into the Oscars, you might have wondered what the heck was going on.

With the film “Top Gun: Maverick” nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards tonight, they were part of a planned flyover this afternoon because of the Oscars.

“They will be flying especially low over Hollywood Blvd between 4-5pm, but you may hear or see them across the city,” said a tweet from L.A. City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez.

And indeed. You may have heard them before you saw them as they circled the area as they flew east from LA over Pasadena to inland.

At one Pasadena corner, one man standing at the crosswalk surmised it might be because of President Joe Biden’s pending visit to Southern California this week.

Two F-18s will be doing a planned flyover this afternoon because of the Oscars. They will be flying especially low over Hollywood Blvd between 4-5pm, but you may hear or see them across the city.

— Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez (@CD13LosAngeles) March 12, 2023

It was all the doing of Tom Cruise and Jimmy Kimmel, who opened the 95th Oscars with a nod to Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Kimmel appeared to eject from a fighter jet before parachuting on stage, as a historic flyover took place in Los Angeles, according to ABC-7, which said the planes flew down Hollywood Boulevard at 1,000 feet after flying in from Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno.