Sixth Year Running, San Martin Puts Its Ramp on Display

San Martin Airport is hosting its annual community gathering again, now in its sixth year, and the format stays close to what owners based there will recognize: aircraft parked for the public to walk around, meals served from vehicles rather than a terminal, musicians playing on the field, and hands-on programming meant to draw families as well as pilots. For a general aviation field, a day like this is as much about the neighbors as the airplanes. An open ramp, a crowd that stays for lunch, and a lineup of parked aircraft do more for an airport's standing in its town than any amount of quiet operation does. Owners who keep a hangar at San Martin get the benefit either way, whether they bring their own aircraft out to the line or simply watch the field fill up. A sixth consecutive year suggests the airport has found something that works and has chosen to keep doing it.

With reporting from Flying.