Kevin Elliott’s mom was spot on when she gave him the nickname “plane brain” as a kid.

In his younger years, he’d fly model airplanes for hours at local parks or the dog beach. As he got older, Elliott would venture to airplane shows to marvel at the acrobatic and fast-flying action, spending hours on hot pavement parking lots just to soak in the marvelous sights in the sky.

The moniker given by his mother is still ever-so fitting as Elliott prepares to put on what’s touted as the country’s largest-attended airshow, the Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach, kicking off Friday, Sept. 30, and running through Sunday, Oct. 2.

People will flock to the sand to watch the show overhead, boaters will dot the sea and locals will set out lounge chairs in front yards and even on rooftops to watch the show.

Take off

When Elliott, who started his event productions company Code 4 in 2007, first heard of an airshow coming to Huntington Beach in 2016, he couldn’t wait to check it out.

“It was the greatest day of my life, we had an awesome day,” he said.

Elliott loved it so much, he reached out to event organizers the following year and came on as an investor to help “reimagine” what it could be. The following year, the original creator stepped away from the venture and Elliott took it over in 2018.

Those first two years under his helm were spectacular, he recalled. The Pacific Airshow earned several awards, including Civilian Air Show Site of the Year from the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds in 2018 and again in 2019, huge honors in the airshow industry.

“Then, the pandemic hit and we had to suffer through that like everybody else,” he said of 2020.

So last year, Elliott had plans to come back with a vengeance. The event brought together three North American military jet teams – the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds – for the first time in history.

Organizers added a music festival for the first time, the “Afterburner” music festival with Sammy Hagar and Sam Hunt, adding to the hype. The Pacific Airshow would officially become the biggest airshow in the world by attendance as massive crowds flocked to the sand.

“We were off to the races,” Elliott said.

Then, oil seeped out from a pipe on the ocean floor. Reports started coming in of the sheen on the ocean’s surface, leaving black goo on the bottom of boats, globs washing up on shore.

By dawn, the city, U.S. Coast Guard and other decision makers made the call to cancel the last day of the event due to the oil spill that would also shut down beaches, harbors and fisheries in the weeks following, requiring a lengthy clean up effort.

“Since that day until now, we’re continuing to clean up the damage,” he said. “It’s been a disaster.”

First, there was the tickets they had to refund, a huge loss in itself. But they still had to pay for all the catering and other vendors they had hired.

Amplify Energy, the pipeline’s operator, has already settled with several businesses impacted by the spill, and Elliot said, “We’re in discussions to try and resolve it amicably if we can,” estimating his losses to be several million dollars. “The bottom line is we were damaged pretty significantly by the oil spill.”

So, 2022 was supposed to be a “reset” year.

In the first few years of the event, the city hiked parking fees in public lots from $20 to $30, with the added $10 going back to the event to subsidize Elliott’s cost for added emergency services. So rather than getting a bill for $200,000, about half of that was covered by the city’s parking increase.

But a few weeks ago, the City Council voted down subsidizing the cost again, instead opting to keep the parking profit.

“Unfortunately, now they voted to give us none of the benefit of the parking increase they levy onto the attendees and the city is keeping all of that revenue and giving us none of it, when the justification for raising the price in the first place was to support the event,” he said. “So I take a little bit of an issue with that. I don’t mind playing by the rules, my issue with the City Council is when they change the rules a week before. That part, I don’t appreciate.”

Frustrations also mounted when music permitting didn’t pan out, prompting organizers to nix the festival element of the event, he said.

The city posted on social media a response to Elliott’s vocal criticisms and questions from the community following the city’s decision, calling the Pacific Airshow a private-sector, special event and just one of many large-scale, non-city sponsored events.

“While we acknowledge the benefits and positive economic impact the airshow brings to the Huntington Beach community and the city, there are many other private sector-driven events, such as the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing and Premier Girl’s Fastpitch, that also provide significant benefits and positive economic impact and do not require city subsidy or financial support,”city officials said. “Consistent with the city’s required specific events process, city staff maintains ongoing communication with all applicants and sponsors of special events to avoid any surprises, and to provide clear deadlines, costs, updates and expectations along the way.”

Elliott acknowledged that the event’s cost is ultimately his burden as a private event “but I have to decide if it’s something that we can navigate or is it something I want to throw the towel in on.”

According to a 2019 economic impact study commissioned by Visit Huntington Beach, the airshow generates $68.1 million in direct spending and $105.8 million in economic impact.

Most of the tourism revenue goes to restaurants, shops and hotels. Air shows are hard to monetize because they can be viewed for free, though the organizer does recoup revenue from ticket sales that range from $25 for general admission to cabanas that cost thousands of dollars, as well as food and drinks sales.

Elliott hopes to be able to continue conversations to keep the event in his hometown in future years.

“My commitment to the community is not any less,” he said. “I’m a local guy and I want to give 100% of this back to the community. So even if it costs me money, time and energy, it’s good for my friends and businesses, it’s good for Orange County. I’m committed to it.”

But he also has his sights set on new horizons.

Going to the Pacific Airshow

When to go: The event runs over three days, kicking off Friday, Sept. 30. The action starts at about 10:30 a.m. each day and wraps up about 4:30 p.m.

Highlights: The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, celebrating the branch’s 75th anniversary, are headlining the event. Watch the Navy’s Leap Frogs and the Army’s Golden Knights precision parachute teams, the Red Bull Air Force and vintage and modern prop and jet planes. The U.S. Air Force will fly the T6-A in a four-ship formation and the F-16 Aggressors, the Navy will have a F-35C and F/A-18 Super Hornet demo and the Lyon Air Museum will showcase a B-25 Mitchel Bomber.

Where to see it: The best area for viewing is across from The Waterfront Beach Resort on Pacific Coast Highway, with aerial performances stretching more than a mile to the north or south of that location.

More info: pacificairshow.com

The Pacific Airshow recently announced plans for expansion to Australia’s Gold Coast, a place that, much like Huntington Beach, has long expansive beaches that can hold big crowds and has a rich coastal culture.

Several Australians, including Tom Tate, mayor of Queensland, Australia, and Matt Hall, former top gun fighter pilot of the Royal Australian Air Force and reigning Red Bull Air Race World Champion, are in town scoping out the event. With the addition, Pacific Airshow becomes the only airshow that has two editions in two different countries.

“We’re really doing exactly what we said – taking the traditional airshow model and completely turning it on its head,” Elliott said.

He’s talking to other destinations around the globe that have big beaches, dense populations, accommodation capabilities and aviation heritage – just the right recipe to support expansions. He’s in serious talks with Dubai and Israel, he said, and is starting conversations with several other destinations.

But first, Huntington Beach

This year has the most performers yet with 30 scheduled each day of the event. The Thunderbirds are the headliner, flying inches from one another at hundreds of miles an hour.

“They’ve literally trained their minds for all the pilots to think in one way, everyone automatically knows how the other is going to react,” Elliott said. “They think and move as one mind.”

The kick-off on Friday is a practice day, but still has the same line up as the weekend, with an added element of the Ocean Cup, a world record speed run where multi-million dollar boats take off from the pier and go around Catalina Island, a jaunt that takes about an hour.

Those boats will be on display downtown through the weekend, where there will also be military and aviation displays, as well as activities for kids.

The event is free, but also has ticketed options for $25 in a fenced off area that has full cash bar, restrooms and food for sale, as well as announcer feeds through speakers. Premier club tickets are $299 and include beer and wine and food all day.

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