THE PACIFIC AIRSHOW over Huntington Beach near the city pier (File photo).

By David Arthur
Orange County Tribune

The 2026 Pacific Air Show over Huntington Beach this week arrives amidst the anticipation of aviation buffs and controversies over past disagreements.

This 10th anniversary of the event over Surf City’s strands will run from Friday, Oct. 2 to Sunday, Oct. 4. Featured will be performances by the U.S Air Force Thunderbirds, Canadian Forces Snowbirds, U.S. Air Force f-35A and F-22 Raptor demo teams and the Royal (British) Air Force Falcons parachute team along with other airborne attractions.

While the heart of the show – including the Show Center – will be located along Huntington City Beach (near the municipal pier) the shows and aerial stunts will be visible – and loud! – for a much broader area along the coast.

Public viewing is free outside the “main festival footprint,” and general admission there will start at $10 a person.

While there have been complaints about noise – some dogs really don’t like it – since the start, the biggest controversy has revolved around the 2021 event when an oil spill from an underwater pipe from an offshore drilling platform caused the cancellation of the last day of the event.

The show operator – Pacific Airshow LLC – sued the city for loss of income, and Huntington Beach eventually settled the lawsuit for almost $5 million, assigned public parking places for revenue to the operators and gave them a 40-year exclusive operating agreement.

Some civic leaders and environmentalists argued that the city council had agreed to a “sweetheart deal” whose value far exceeded the loss to the show’s operators from the closure of the last day of the event. At the time, the then-mayor called for shutting down the show for environmental and public safety reasons.

For more details on the 2026 event, go to pacificairshow.com.