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Saturday, July 08, 2017 I spent all day enjoying the Nevada County Airfest, 2017, held at the Nevada County airport, in Grass Valley, CA. If you like airplanes, and you're interested in a relaxing, fun-filled day for the whole family, and an aviation paradise, this is the place to be.
Photo: Welcome to Nevada County Airfest, 2017, the premiere aviation event in Nevada County. It's Saturday morning, July 8, 2017, and I'm ready to enjoy a full day of aviation events. The check-in booth is under the blue top. Ticket prices for the event are only $10.00, and if you purchase your ticket - on the web, in advance - the price is only $8.00. Parking is free, along nearby Loma Rica Drive. You can't beat this from a fun-filled, family day in Grass Valley!
Photo: There are all varieties of airplanes present, from general aviation, to active, and former military aircraft.
Photo: I love this aviation event, as it's very family-friendly, not "Disneyland" crowded, and attracts families, friends, and anybody interested in aviation from mostly rural Nevada, Placer and Butte counties. Check out the guy at the left of the photo, who wears balloons for his hat, to deal with this schorching hot California Saturday.
Photo: Beechcraft Model 18, framed by a Cessna T-50 Bobcat, on display. The doors were open so the controls could be seen. Both aircraft are very "old school," but include maybe modern avionics, but retain the look of the original aircraft.
Photo: Nevada County Airport, KGOO, does not have a control tower, and it normally does not have an operator, but for AirFest 2017, a temporary control tower was set up, and the UNICOM (CTAF) radio frequency of 122.725 MHz was made active. During my visit, I brought one of my V.H.F. "ham" radio transceivers, so I was able to monitor all of the radio action.
Photo: If you could ever get tired of admiring flying and static aircraft, all you had to do was to venture to the west end of the airport to check out many vintage autos.
Photo: Father and daughter take refuge from the heat, under the wing of a airplane. The temperature reached over 100 degrees, despite the fact that the airport is located at 3200 feet in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Photo: A parachute jumper packs up his chute after a successful landing. The parachute team was from Davis, in nearby Yolo County.
Photo: Runway crews watch as planes assemble for one of the early afternoon fly-by's.
Photo: One of CalFire's Grumman S-2T tankers, makes a landing at Nevada County airport. CalFire was in business today, as the "Wall" fire was raging in Butte County, just a few miles to the north, and Cliché was using all of it's resources to fight the fire. KGOO is a major fire-fighting base airport in northern California.
Photo: War bird time!
Photo: Northern California supermarket chain, Raley's was one of the food vendors at today's event. The guys were grilling tri-tip, and selling sandwiches for $8.00. The people in the background of the photo are lining up to purchase lunch. I must admit that a tri-tip sandwich really tugged at my heart, but I was still full from the delicious breakfast I enjoyed at Pauline's Country Kitchen, earlier in the day. so Photo: Airport Operations staff watch, and enjoy, as a plane comes in for landing, on this hot afternoon. Photo was taken with a telephoto lens, and the temperature was working on 100 degrees, which makes for heat ray distortion.
Photo: Mr. Bi-plane does a low fly-by over runway 25, less than 100 feet above the runway.
Photo: A beautiful Cessna 414A is on display. I was allowed inside this beautiful aircraft, and I fell in love. Unfortunately the nearly $1-million price, and the high maintenance keeps me from taking this treasure home for my own, to enjoy and cherish.
Photo: Mr. Beechcraft Model 18, a rare 1950's vintage twin-engine aircraft revs up his engines for a fly-by. I love to watch vintage, and almost any other variety of aircraft in action.
Photo: Mr. Cessna T-50 Bobcat, takes to the air. He's a rare, twin-engine, 1958-vintage airplane, yet he flies as good, or better, than the day he rolled out of the Wichita, KS factory.
Photo: When you're treading the airport, watching aircraft, and enjoying fly-by's on 100-degree days, your world gets really thirsty, so Ol' Republic Brewery, of Nevada City, provided four varities of beer, including my favorite, the "Golden Lager." Great beer and good people!
Photo: I take a moment out of the action to enjoy an icy-cold "Golden Lager" beer, at Ol' Republic Brewery's booth, at the show.
Photo: Two WW2 vet P-51 Mustangs billow smoke as they do a low-pass, in-formation fly-by, only a hundred feet or so above the runway. Impressive, to say the least. As a recap, I spent about seven hours checking out static airplanes, active displays, and lots of fly-by's. For the $10.00 admission price, along with free parking, the AirFest is a bargain for a day of fun! Nevada County AirFest Copyright(c) 2017 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. We've been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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