AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024 - 61

" So somehow 10 years went by, " said
Sappington. " And I finally said, 'Nancy,
I got to take you back there. In 2019, we
went back.' "
Entering the pattern at the end of
the hour flight from their home base of
Zamperini Field, Sappington noticed
L88 wasn't quite the airstrip he remembered.
Weeds covered the partially
crumbling runway surface, with the
worst of them bunched up at the end
of the runway and obscuring the faded
numbers. He landed long and realized
things had changed significantly in the
past decade.
Sappington and Schunke parked
and walked into town, this time to the
recently revitalized Cuyama Buckhorn
hotel for lunch, curious all the while
as to why the runway condition was
so poor. On their way back to their
airplane, they wandered into a building
on the field, the Blue Sky Center,
and asked what was up. The woman
working there, Em Johnson, said their
mower broke, and they couldn't afford
to fix it. She explained that the 501(c)(3)
Blue Sky Center now privately owned
this public-use airport and because of
that, public funding was hard to come
by. But that didn't lessen the need for
repairs and maintenance.
The airport had been through a
series of openings and closures, and
was hanging on by a thread to meet
CalTrans' requirements for remaining
open. Johnson said despondently
that many pilots had flown in and
expressed interest in helping, but no
one had followed through. Sappington
and Schunke could see the pain and disappointment
in her eyes.
" And for me it was kind of like, well,
I may not know anything about fixing an
airport, but I can help, " said Sappington.
And so, a multi-year effort began. It
started with a few informal work parties
to clear the weeds and patch the field,
even as the airport degraded to the point
that it officially closed yet again not long
after the couple's visit. A core group of
volunteers from the surrounding area
AOPA PILOT / July 2024
61
emerged, and they called themselves the
L88 Circle. Resources were not surprisingly
the biggest barrier, especially water
in this perpetually drought-stricken
valley, but the small things added up.
Individual efforts, water donated from
a nearby farm, and even magnetic declination
that led the runway numbers to
change to ones that required less paint
all converged to make reopening within
dreaming distance. But even with fundraising,
volunteer hours, and a small
grant from the Recreational Aviation
Foundation, the L88 Circle came up
short on funds to repave the runway. But
out of the blue, a donor stepped in to help
finish the job.
At first, it seemed too good to be
true, and Sappington wondered if the
messages coming in from a California
number and a San Simeon email were
real. But real they were, and he picked
up a call from William Hearst III of
Hearst publishing family and castle
fame, an avid California-based
Historic Aircraft Days
The Blue Sky Center recently started
hosting L88 Historic Aircraft Display
Days on every third Saturday of the
month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pilots
with historical aircraft are invited
to fly in and showcase their aircraft
" for a minimum of 4 hours, providing
the public with a unique opportunity
to admire these amazing machines
up close at the Cuyama Valley L88
airstrip. Pilots intending to fly in and
display their aircraft are required
to sign in and out at the Buck Stop
Coffee Shop by the Buckhorn team
upon arrival and before departure to
formally record their visit. "
Both the Blue Sky Center and
the Buckhorn regularly host special
events-stay up to date and plan a visit
around one of them by checking out
their websites and social media pages.
visitcuyama.com/l88
http://www.visitcuyama.com/l88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2024
