AirFest Fly-in to offer families closeup look at Castle Airport

Hey Merced County.

This may come as a surprise, but you have a major airport — home to one of the longest runways in the western United States — that’s within reach.

And its general use and aviation potential are growing by the day. Just ask George Clover.

“On any given day,” he says, “we will have Sierra Flight School planes flying, we’ll have a C-130 from the Marine Corps come in, we’ll have two F-15s from Fresno doing touch-and-go trainings, we’ll have the Army come in with flights of Apaches and Black Hawks. I think one Tuesday I counted two C-130s, one was Navy, the other was Marine Corps. We had a supersonic trainer from Beale Air Force Base. We had two F-35s from Lemoore. We had an F-18 from Lemoore, and we had two F-15s from the Air National Guard. And that was a random Tuesday.”

Clover is the airport coordinator at Castle Airport near Atwater, and he wasn’t even mentioning the charter and cargo flights that are also happening.

Nearly 30 years after Castle Air Force Base closed its military gates at the site, Castle Airport — with 11,802 feet of concrete runway — remains fully functional and ready for more traffic.

Still, it’s sometimes called the largest county asset that nobody knows about. Many motorists passing by on Santa Fe don’t have a clue about what’s out there.

That’s why Clover and other county officials have created the first-ever Castle AirFest & Family Fun Day to be held on Oct. 19. The idea is to promote the airport and get local residents excited about what they have in their community.

It’s a pretty ambitious event, and nothing like it has happened at the airport since the military put on air shows featuring the Thunderbirds three decades ago. The AirFest won’t be an air show exactly, but it will be a “fly-in” — meaning pilots from all over the region and beyond are invited to land for a visit and enjoy a festival-like atmosphere right on a sectioned-off expanse of Castle’s vast taxiway and hangar areas. Some of these pilots are expected to bring vintage aircraft such as one confirmed flyer who will bring a P-51 Mustang fighter from the WWII era.

Clover says he has solicited every branch of the military to bring in “aviation assets.” So expect some active warbirds to fly by, land, and go on display in a special area, along with some vintage ones that will be trucked over from the nearby restoration hangar of the Castle Air Museum. There will also be the local Sheriff’s Department and CHP aircraft, Civil Air Patrol planes, and perhaps Cal Fire tankers too. There’s no telling yet how many aircraft will show up, but one thing is for sure, Castle has room for hundreds, perhaps thousands of them.

But the AirFest isn’t only about aviation. The Family Fun Day part will feature an entertainment stage with live music, a “Bombs Away” car show sponsored by the Air Museum, a public safety show area with a multitude of local agencies participating, a local vendor marketplace, a Kids Fun Zone, and a food and beverage garden.

Considering the venue, there will be an enormous amount of easily accessible parking too. However, it will be a bit of a walk to the actual festival area out on the flight line. So the organizers are planning to have a shuttle service for guests, as well as specially allocated parking spots for people with disabilities.

All this, and the most incredible part: Admission to the AirFest & Family Fund Day is entirely FREE for all to enjoy.

The 60-year-old Clover says he’s excited about the AirFest, though he admits seeing an interesting air display on a daily basis at Castle because of his work.

Clover was named to the airport coordinator position last September after serving as an executive in the county’s Risk Management division. He’s been a private pilot since 1985, and has also developed smaller fly-in events at the Mariposa airport where he keeps his own plane. Clover grew up in Modesto, but raised a family in the Atwater area, and held management positions at Kelly-Moore Paints in Merced and Farmers Insurance. He currently lives in Cathey’s Valley.

“One of the reasons I wanted this job was to help bring this place up to its potential — a large airport that can support anything,” he points out. “For 30 years since Castle Air Force Base closed, it’s been random things. … So when you have a runway that’s more than 11,000 feet long, and you have 50 acres of concrete, and all kinds of acreage that can be developed, this should be something more. This should become a major commercial hub of some type — commercial, but not necessarily passenger.

“My mission, as I see it, is to help bring this place up to its potential, and that means recruiting aviation-related businesses that would do the freight, maintenance, and things like that.”

With the AirFest being marketed on aviation websites, and pilots being invited to fly in, more word about Castle’s potential will surely get out into the world.

As for Merced County residents, Oct. 19 should have nice weather with a 100 percent chance for cool planes and family fun.

Stay tuned for more details in the County Times as the event date approaches. You can also check out the website: https://www.flycastleairport.com/events