This year's event has a theme:
"We're celebrating the centennial of women in
aviation."
Darcy Brewer is the airshow's executive director. 2010 marks
the 100th anniversary of a woman earning a pilot
license. That pilot was Raymonde de Laroche of France. And Brewer
says to pay tribute they're featuring an array of female
pilots.
"Several that flew in World War II, the WASPS, all the way
through the youngest world aerobatic team member."
That would be 26-year-old Melissa Pemberton, an athletic woman
with short blonde hair sporting aviator sun-glasses. Standing next
to her plane, a small single-seater, painted blue with flames on
the side, Pemberton describes her airshow routine.
"You'll see anything from the straight lines, the snap roles.
I start my show with 5,000 feet of inverted flat spins coming in.
It's a lot of fun."
And while she's performing those stunts, Pemberton is actually
able to talk to spectators via the airshow's sound system.
Something that catches the audience off-guard.
"I've had a lot of people come up to me after and say 'hey, my
kid was just talking about how amazing that guy was flying up there
and then we heard your voice and said - oh no that's a girl.' And
then the little girls can say 'hey, I can go do that
too."
Pemberton says being that inspiration to young girls is
particularly rewarding during this centennial year of women in
aviation.
The California Capital Airshow takes place tomorrow and
Sunday.