The return of the Central Coast Airfest

A North American F-86F Sabre leads a Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15 during the 2022 Central Coast Airfest.

The Central Coast Airfest, held at California’s Santa Maria Airport (KSMX), is a show I enjoyed quite a bit during its first two years.

In fact, for its first two years this air show was the recipient of the Platinum Award for Best Small Civilian Airshow in the nation by the International Conference of Airshows (ICAS). High praise indeed, before the pandemic closed the show for two years.

Now organizers were ready to hold the third show, but fate wasn’t done yet.

The planned headliner act was the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds, who declared an early end of their 2022 season less than a month before the Airfest, which was held in October 2022.

Kudos to the show organizers for backfilling that sizable gap the way they did. If anything, they might’ve overdone it.

This show had something for everyone: Civilian performers, warbirds, modern jets, vintage jets, skydivers, and more warbirds.

Red Bull was well represented with Aaron Fitzgerald in the Bo105 helicopter and Kirby Chambliss with his Edge 540.

Some airspace crowding as Kirby Chambliss photobombs Aaron Fitzgerald at the 2022 Central Coast Airfest.

Aaron Fitzgerald prepares to go inverted with the Red Bull MBB Bo-105 helicopter.

Five-time U.S. National Aerobatics Champion Kirby Chambliss makes a low pass in his Red Bull Zivko Edge 540.

Warbird fans were treated to four appearances by various classics from Planes of Fame Air Museum, making up for the famous Chino air show that was canceled this year. In fact, Planes of Fame officials announced the building of a maintenance and museum facility at Santa Maria so its warbirds will most likely be a big part of future Airfest shows.

A Pacific theater warbird fly-by with the Planes of Fame Grumman TBM-3E Avenger and Vought F4U-1 Corsair.

Civilian acts included Eric Tucker’s power-off “dead stick” routine in his Piper Cub, along with a landing on top of an ambulance.

Eric Tucker manages his energy gracefully while performing a power-off routine in his 1941 Piper J3C Cub.

Easy does it… Eric Tucker gingerly makes contact prior to landing on this former ambulance in his 1941 Piper Cub.

Sammy Mason performed in his new Edge 540.

Sammy Mason makes an inverted pass in his new Edge 540 during the 2022 Central Coast Airfest.

And new for me was watching Kyle Fowler in his Long EZ and Dell Collier with his crazy jet-powered Waco biplane.

Kyle Fowler makes a pass in his Rutan Long-EZ, an aircraft he has been flying since 2015. The Long-EZ is rated for +5/-2G.

This 1929 Taperwing Waco became a Franken-plane with the addition of a jet engine with 3,000 pounds of thrust. This biplane has a thrust/weight ratio greater than 1, which allows it to accelerate while vertical.

The Airfest turned into a Vaporfest thanks to the U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet and U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II, creating vapor cones and trails repeatedly during their flights.

This Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet tickles supersonic flight with transonic shock waves condensing water vapor in the air, also known as a vapor cone.

Classic jet fans enjoyed Jason Somes and his crimson MiG-17 and a later demo by the Planes of Fame’s Mig-15 and F-86 Sabre.

Jason Somes rockets by the show center during a high-speed afterburner fly-by in his Polish-built MiG-17F. Jason is a corporate pilot when not performing at air shows.

A new air show element that is gaining popularity are water drop demonstrations with firefighting aircraft. Coulson Aviation brought one of its colorful C-130 Hercules firefighting aircraft to douse show center in a spectacular manner.

Coulson Aviation demonstrated a water drop with one of its ex-military Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules air tankers. These aircraft have a capacity of 4,000 gallons.

There was a U.S. Navy Legacy flight with the F/A-18 Super Hornet forming up on a F8F Bearcat.

A Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet forms up with a Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat for the U.S. Navy Legacy Flight.

A Heritage Flight wrapped up the day’s flying, pairing the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and North American P-51 Mustang. I’m a big fan of dissimilar aircraft formations, so I always look forward to these types of flights.

The USAF Heritage Flight was made up of a Lockheed P-38L Lightning, North American P-51D Mustang, and a Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II.

For a smaller size show, an impressive amount of active duty assets showed up. No less than seven F-35s were lined up on the ramp, an alphabet soup with the A, B and C variants present. In total there were 21 active duty aircraft, almost double the number of civilian static ones.

A C-17 Globemaster III makes a backdrop for an impressive assortment of F-35 Lightning IIs at 2022 Central Coast Airfest. (All Photos by Hayman Tam)

This air show is back on track and fans seem to agree. The ambience of a smaller show coupled with the variety of airborne performances is an attractive combo.

One of the largest World War II bases on the West coast, Santa Maria Army Air Field was commissioned as a bomber base in 1942. After the war, it was placed on the surplus property list and eventually became the Santa Maria Municipal Airport.