Pacific Airshow opens 10th-anniversary weekend over Huntington Beach

The Pacific Airshow got underway Friday over Huntington Beach, opening a 10th-anniversary weekend headlined by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

Crowds filled the sand as jets blew past and aerial performers took to the sky. This year's show added a first: short takeoff and landing aircraft launched and touched down on a temporary runway built on the sand, with shore birds scattering as one of the STOL planes came in. A member of the U.S. Special Operations Command Para-Commandos team also parachuted onto the beach.

The show center during the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach; this year's event added short takeoff and landing aircraft touching down on a temporary runway built on the sand.

Jim Bahn, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

Intermittent fog Friday afternoon caused problems for parts of the lineup, cutting the visibility some performers needed to fly and making it hard for viewers on the ground to see the action, the Orange County Register reported.

Thunderbirds lead solo pilot Maj. Eric 'Miami' Tise said the team's F-16s planned to fly as close as 18 inches apart this weekend, the closest the team has flown all year. 'If the canopy wasn't there, you could reach out and touch the other airplane,' Tise said, according to the Daily Breeze.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly in formation over a beachfront building during the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach.

Holly Clark, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The show continues Saturday and Sunday, with the military and civilian performers scheduled to be the same each day. Show hours run from 10:30 a.m. to about 4:30 p.m., and tickets start at $30 for entry inside the beach show gates. This year's lineup also includes the return of the Air Force F-22 Raptor demonstration team and, in what organizers billed as its final performance ever, the Air Force A-10 demonstration team.