Mark Allen M wrote:
Advantages I see to moving to Santa Maria:
Clearer weather usually starting around 10am thru the late afternoon. (after marine layer burns off).
Better flying area. (not as congested as Chino area).
Centrally located in California for both SoCal and NoCal visitors to reasonably drive to Santa Maria.
Great wine country for wives and girlfriends who get bored with airshow.
Accommodations are plenty and easy to access both to and from airport.
Hotel located at airport in area of airshow. (and if anything like past shows you can stay at hotel and look out your room window and see warbirds directly below you).
Military demo teams can show up and fly. (huge draw).
Warbird rides would be much better with better weather and ocean nearby.
Vandenberg Space Force Base right next to Santa Maria for military demo teams to locate during airshow.
Much prettier than Chino lol.
I would bet if POF were to host the usual numbers of warbirds plus a decent amount of current Military planes, as well as at least one military demo team, they'd double or triple the attendance numbers that the Chino shows had.
my 2 cents
All good, valid points. The only two disadvantages I see to Santa Maria are:
1) It's not along a major tourist area/corridor around heavily populated areas. Even though there are vineyards and other places of interest nearby, there aren't any major tourist attractions like Disneyland, and all the major tourist draws of the Inland Empire / L.A. Valley;
2) The nearest airport with commercial service nearby, SBA, only has limited, marginal service with mostly commuter and feeder service with small jets. This means that access from out of state or out of country visitors will be a few more steps to get there. Chino had ONT and PSP airports nearby, with easier access from outside the state and country.
As with everything however, it is a balance and I think they made the right choice.