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The 17th annual California Capital Airshow is returning to Sacramento County at Mather Airport this weekend.

Known for its “thrilling aircraft,” the two-day event will take flight Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, according to a news release. The displays include the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet demonstration team, civilian aerobatic performances and exhibits.

This year, the festival is debuting “The Hangar.” If you get an upgraded ticket for $135, you can experience a tasting from four local breweries, as well as a hard kombucha, mead and a distillery pour.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24.

Performances with the aircraft run from noon to 4 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now and you can only get them online. Admission is good for one day.

Discounted tickets — with up to 15% off — are also available until Friday if you sign up to be an Air Show Insider.

General admission for those 16 years old and up is $50, but with the Insider discount, it starts at $42.50. Kids 15 years old and under enter free.

There are VIP tickets called the “Capital Club.” They’re $300, but with the discount, $250 for people 16 years old and up, and $125 for kids 2 to 15 years old. This admission includes prime, open-air seating, a catered buffet lunch and bar.

Other packages include:

Flight Line Club Chalet: $300 for people 16 and up — $175 with the discount; $150 for kids 2 to 15 years old — $85 with the discount. It comes with free parking, prime viewing, tent area, buffet lunch and unlimited beverages.

Hanger Chalet: $150 for those 16 and up — $135 with the discount; $75 for kids 2 to 15 years old. Amenities include alcoholic tastings at the Hangar, free parking and seating.

Mather Club Chalet: $100 for those 16 and up — $90 with discount; $75 for kids 2 to 15 years old — $65 with discount. This includes free parking and seating.

For the first time this year, there will be a free kick-off event on Sept. 22.

From 6 to 8 p.m., at Village Green Park in Rancho Cordova, you can meet airshow performers and the Thunderbirds. There will be live music, food trucks, activities and a chance to win free airshow tickets.

From the A-10 to the C-17 and, of course, the F-16, aerobatics teams entertain a California Capital Airshow record crowd of 105,000

J.D. Hawkes

World War II, Cold War and modern military aircraft buzzed Sacramento County rooftops once again last weekend, as the sold-out 17th annual California Capital Airshow broke attendance records at Rancho Cordova's Mather Airport.

Promoters announced Monday the former Air Force base hosted a record 105,000, an army of onlookers Saturday and Sunday, highlighted by a return of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds squadron. The massive festival of aviation included civilian and military aircraft of every imaginable kind and era, including General Douglas MacArthur’s Constellation, “Bataan.”

Performers included the Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt Team, the U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster, U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet, an awe-inspiring lineup of world-class civilian aerobatics and an extraordinary selection of rare World War II aircraft.

The airshow kicked off the weekend by hosting a new, free event Friday at Village Green Park in Rancho Cordova. Attendees met airshow performers, including the USAF Thunderbirds, and enjoyed live music, food trucks and activities provided by local STEM and sports organizations.

“The feeling of bringing the airshow back to full capacity for the first time since 2019 is indescribable,” said Darcy Brewer, CCA executive director. “It was a perfect weekend, made even more memorable by seeing the joy and excitement the event brought to the Sacramento region’s families and aviation enthusiasts.”

The spectacular afternoon T-Bird tricks were the usual mix of six F-16s performing formation flying and solo routines. For example, the four-ship diamond formation – with wings 18 inches from one another at 500 mph – showcases the precision and training of U.S. Air Force pilots.

But the star of the show remains the Thunderbirds’ aircraft of choice for decades, the venerable F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Air Force still loves the dynamic Cold War fighter that – like the B-52 bomber and U2 spy plane – just won’t go away. Not yet.

Falcon vs. Bear

Long after production was approved clear back in 1976, more than 5,000 updated versions of the Falcon are currently still in operation around the world in 25 countries.

As of 2015, the F-16 was the world’s most numerous fixed-wing plane in military service, with the U.S. still operating the most with more than 900 today, according to Statista.Described as a “stripped-down hot rod,” the F-16 is much smaller and lighter than its predecessors like the F-4 Phantom but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics.

USAF no longer buys the General Dynamics F-16 in favor of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, but Falcons continue to be built for export customers such as the Netherlands and Denmark.

Already a “rock star” in Western Europe, the F-16 is in world news lately as NATO is sending Dutch and Danish Falcons and training pilots to help Ukraine in its war with Russia. In short, the stubborn F-16 is going to war yet again – a half-century later, against a familiar foe it was designed to face five decades ago. The U.S. announced last month that Ukrainian pilots will be training with the F-16 in Arizona.

“The F-16s will be superior to Ukraine’s older jets. With their more powerful radars and better resistance to jamming, the F-16s will be able to detect Russian aircraft at longer distances and allow Ukrainian pilots to stay further outside the range of front-line Russian air defenses,” said “think tank” Atlantic Council last month.

The F-16s will help since the jets will replace losses Ukraine has suffered over the course of the war, Atlantic experts agree. The Ukrainian Air Force entered the war with 70 fighter aircraft split between older-generation Mig-39 and Su-27 jets.

While Ukraine has received two dozen additional Mig-39s from Poland and Slovakia, it has lost at least 32 fighters, according to reports. These losses are partially due to the fact Russia has so far enjoyed a decisive advantage in radar and air-to-air missiles during the 18-month war.

Additionally, F-16s will provide Ukraine with a platform capable of easily handling a wide variety of sophisticated weapons should the U.S. and other countries choose to provide them in the future, the council said.

U.S. Navy veteran pilot Carl Kamiski, volunteering last weekend at the airshow with the Rancho Cordova VFW, sees the F-16 performing well in Ukraine and beyond.

“It’s not a problem. As long as maintenance is kept, they just keep going,” Kamiski said as children peaked at a nearby static F-16 cockpit exhibit Sunday.

“The F-16 is a very interesting aircraft. ... It is very versatile and can be used in many different ways,” said retired Air Force Col. Cedrick Leighton. “It has all those capabilities in one package.”

“We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” U.S. Air Force Col. Tim Bailey said last year.

MATHER - The California Capital Air Show returns to Mather this weekend. The event showcases the region's rich aviation heritage, drawing members of the military from air and ground operations.

Among the jets at the show, the Thunderbirds will be taking flight.

"Imagine going 550 miles an hour, going 18 inches apart with four aircraft right next to you. That's precision at its finest," said Air Force Maj. Bobby Gulla.

Major Bobby Gulla is part of the team. He mentioned, "We get to travel about 300 days a year and interact with people from 50 states and have great interactions with people from all 50 states and inspire them to serve their communities."

From the pilots to the people who follow them, this Marine Corp veteran from Dublin loves snapping pictures of it all, celebrating aviation history. He mentioned, "I have a collection of about 8,000 aviation patches. I match the history to the patch to the plane and the different planes that come in. Maybe the same model, but it's something to do."

A-10 Warthogs painstakingly restored are a reminder of military operations past and present.

The Capital Air Show is a compilation of a lot of effort, says Capt. Nathan Amaral. He stated, "From the planning team to Travis AFB and each individual aircraft commander, there's everyone from maintenance to pilots to cargo port loaders. Everyone is involved."

It's a chance to see cargo planes that keep our military operations running, from the largest planes to smaller fighter jets. A crew member mentioned, "We're inside the belly of this cargo plane, and you can see how spacious it is. It's used to transport things like tanks and helicopters, big things that need to get somewhere fast."

Organizers hope it gives wings to a new generation of aviation enthusiasts.

Rachel Wulff

Reporter Rachel Wulff reports weekdays for CBS13.

LOS ANGELES - An atmospheric river, which has unleashed heavy rain, life-threatening flooding and howling winds across California, is keeping hurricane hunter aircraft busy on the West Coast.

"The Air Force Reserve 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron has forward deployed for Atmospheric Rivers missions operations and are stationed at Mather Air Field," a spokesperson with the 403rd wing of the U.S. Air Force confirmed to FOX Television Stations Thursday. Mather Air Field is located in Sacramento County, California.

An expanded Atmospheric River Reconnaissance program began in November as a result of an unexpected "bomb cyclone" in October 2021 that hit North America’s West Coast, followed by another atmospheric river less than a month later that caused severe flooding in Washington.

"Our NOAA Gulfstream IV is scheduled to start flying missions on Friday from Honolulu, Hawaii to study these atmospheric rivers events," Jonathan Shannon, a spokesperson at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center in Florida, also told FOX.

According to a spokesperson with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, these flights carefully plot areas of the storm to deploy dropsondes, which collect key data on temperature, pressure, water vapor and winds. These data then feed into global forecast models to improve the precipitation and landfall forecasts of these storms.

Additionally, research teams from the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes are launching weather balloons (radiosondes) from locations in Bodega Bay and Marysville, California every three hours during the storm.

"Improving forecasts of atmospheric rivers is crucial to water resilience in California as the state vacillates between drought and flood," the spokesperson noted.

A program observing atmospheric rivers kicked off in 2016, and in subsequent years more resources have been devoted to the efforts, including two WC-130J Super Hercules aircraft for the 2022-23 winter season.

These aircraft are widely known to fly through hurricanes, but when the U.S. is out of the heart of the tropical cyclone season, the planes are playing an increasingly vital role to keep forecasters abreast of subtle changes in the atmosphere over the eastern Pacific.

Bomb cyclone, ‘pineapple express’ impact California

More than 180,000 homes and businesses were without power in California early Thursday, according to poweroutage.us.

Meteorologists warned the Golden State was facing a life-threatening double whammy of a bomb cyclone and a "pineapple express." A bomb cyclone is a rapidly strengthening storm system, where its pressure decreases at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.

This animation shows the rapid strengthening of a low-pressure system as it approaches the West Coast. This system has become what is known as a bomb cyclone. / FOX Weather

Powerful winds gusting to 85 mph or more forced the cancellation of more than 70 flights at San Francisco International Airport and downed trees and power lines. Firefighters rescued a family after a tree fell onto their car. The fire department reported "large pieces of glass" fell off the Fox Plaza tower near the Civic Center, although no injuries were reported. It was "highly possible" the damage was wind-related, the department tweeted.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Wednesday to protect Californians by supporting emergency relief efforts and essentially keeping an "all hands on deck," mentality.

What is an atmospheric river?

Atmospheric rivers are streams of water vapor that carry 25 times the water equivalent of the Mississippi River.

Flowing at an altitude of about 10,000 feet, atmospheric rivers average between 100 and 500 miles wide and 2,000 miles long. Where they hit the West Coast determines where heavy rain, snow, and flooding occurs.

Atmospheric rivers are also critical to water supply, and improved forecasts of where atmospheric rivers will make landfall are vital for more effective management of reservoirs.

An atmospheric river is sometimes called a "pineapple express" because the system originates and its moisture builds up near the Hawaiian Islands.

This story was reported from Los Angeles. KTVU and FOX Weather contributed.

The elite Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 squadron returns next week to dazzle spectators at nearby Mather Airport on Sept. 23-24.

The 17th annual California Capital Airshow – presented by Sacramento County in partnership with the City of Rancho Cordova – will happen next weekend at Mather Airport, the former air force base off Highway 50 at Mather Field Road.

The two-day event will feature performances from “some of the world’s most thrilling aircraft,” such as the world-renowned U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet demonstration team.

This “massive aviation festival” will include flying performances from 12-4 p.m. each day. Besides the aerobatics in the sky, there will also be numerous booths and interactive exhibits along the flight line.

The show will include performances by the U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team, U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet, plus a lineup of world-class civilian aerobatic performers.

General admission tickets are $50 online for ages 16 and up, with discounts available on the airshow website. One general admission ticket includes up to six youth passes, and children 15 and under will not be admitted without a ticket holder, staff said.

Promoters stress that one ticket is good for one day, Saturday or Sunday, of the two-day show, and no tickets will be available for purchase at the gate or onsite during the weekend of the event. Discount tickets are selling rapidly, promoters announced.

Discount tickets are $47.50, with “Insider” tickets going for $42.50, according to the airshow website. Free parking is thrown in with ticket purchases.

In partnership with the Rancho Cordova Barrel District, the Capital Airshow will debut “The Hangar Chalet,” a ticketed beer garden area within the airshow where attendees get a commemorative tasting glass for seven 4-ounce pours. The hangar chalet “biergarten” will offer seating, food trucks and a chance to buy additional Barrel District beer and wine beverages throughout the event.

Another new airshow feature this year is a free community event to kick off the weekend from 6-8 p.m. Friday evening, Sept. 22, at nearby Village Green Park in “New” Rancho Cordova. Village Green Park is located off south Zinfandel Drive at 3141 Bridgeway Drive, near International Drive.

Friday night attendees will have the opportunity to meet airshow performers and enjoy live music, food trucks, activities provided by local organizations and chances to win airshow tickets and merchandise. The California Capital Airshow will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 23-24.

Discounted tickets and a sign-up option to receive festival updates as an "Airshow Insider" can be found at www.californiacapitalairshow.com.