CHICO — Chico residents may have been startled late Wednesday afternoon by the appearance of two fighter jets overhead, but it was an exciting time at the Chico Municipal Airport.
According to interim Airport Manager Rod Dinger, the jets were U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornets that had stopped to refuel.
Aviation lineman Nathan Skillin of Northgate Aviation took care of their fuel needs — roughly 2,000 gallons each — and Foodies Cafe handled the human refueling.
Skillin, a pilot himself, said there was a lot of excitement at the airport with the appearance of the Navy jets, which are based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, south of Fresno. According to its website, Lemoore hosts jets from five carrier wings.
Skillin didn’t have much information on what the jets were doing, but thought it was a training mission.
“The pilots were really cool. They were showing the line guys how to put the ladders up and down, and about refueling.”
The pair landed at the Chico airport a little before 4 p.m. coming in from the north, then took off around 6:15 p.m., heading south.
“They did a carrier landing, with a fast descent then slowed down. They didn’t use even half the runway to stop.”
Skillin tracked down their tail numbers, saying they were on active service with Strike Fighter Squadron 122. According to the squadron’s website, it is permanently based at Lemoore and trains new pilots and weapons officers how to handle the F-18s before the crew members are sent to the fleet.
After fueling, the pilots took the Northgate car out to Foodies Cafe at the airport. Owner Boyd Atkin told this publication that he didn’t know much about what they were doing in Chico, but were pleasant.
As the airport’s fixed base operator, Northgate Aviation “…provides fuel, takes care of the pilots and passengers. We lend out crew cars, get them catering. We have aviation gas and Jet A fuel,” Skillin said.
Skilllin, who is working toward his commercial pilot’s license, said the pilots were interested in his training as well.
It wasn’t long before a crowd gathered at the airport to check out the jets as well, in addition to the other aircraft that had flown in.
“I think we had the entire Chester airport here yesterday. We had five (Cal Fire) Blackhawks (helicopter), another helicopter, the two Navy jets and Cal Fire planes.”
Cal Fire tankers were taking on fuel and retardant in Chico earlier this week as they dropped on wildfires in Lassen County.
Residents in far north Chico may have noticed the planes landing, but it was the booming takeoff that got most residents’ attention as the jets headed south. As the pilots left Chico, they did a pass-by, bombing down the Chico runway as a salute to the crowd below and roaring off.
Fighter jets from five aircraft carriers are based at Lemoore when the ships are in their home port, according to Wikipedia.
When a carrier comes into its base, it’s pretty much empty of aircraft. While still at sea, its planes are all launched to an inland port, and Lemoore is the place where all the F-18 Hornets are sent.
Steve Schoonover contributed to this article.
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