Safety a top priority at California International Airshow Salinas

High flying stunts and daring aerobatics draws a big crowd to the California International Airshow Salinas every year, butit’s not easy putting on a safe and entertaining show.

“If it’s not going to be safe it won’t happen, and that’s my job. If I see something that even looks like it’s not going to be safe I’ll put a stop to it right there,” said Air Boss Gale Rawitzer.

Rawitzer has been an air boss for 14 years. He choreographs the show and decides who’s flying and when.

“I am strictly responsible for maintaining the safety of the airshow during the flying portion of the event,” said Rawitzer.

Rawitzer enforces the rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration. He said the air space is restricted air space and they don’t fly over roadways. They also have to stay away from the crowd by up to 1,500 feet depending on the event.

“Everything fly’s away from the crowd. There are no planes flying above the crowd. There’s no maneuvers above the crowd,” Airshow Salinas President Mary Zeeb said.

Zeeb said there hasn’t been a crash at the Salinas airshow since 1999. It was a small plane and the pilotsuffered onlyminor injuries.

But a deadly crash at an airshow in the United Kingdom on Saturday is a tragic reminder that safety needs to come first. At least 11 people were killed when a plane struck a busy highway.

“We do take an extra moment to reflect on all our safety policies and procedures that we have in place and just to make sure we reinforce everything,” said Zeeb.

And that starts with finding the right performers. The pilots are a big part of safety and making the show isn’t easy.

“We want to make sure we get the safest performers. We’ve seen performers fly, we’ve seen the routine so we’ve actually met the performers so we can judge their personalities also,” said Rawitzer.

On the Friday before the event there’s also a practice show. It’s a complete dry run with all the performers.

The 35th California International Airshow Salinas is Sept. 26th and 27th.