REDLANDS >> Organizers of this year’s Hangar 24 AirFest & 7th Anniversary Celebration are in the process of finding a new manager following the unexpected death of Chris Davis, who played a key role in organizing the event.
Hangar 24 Charities — a non-profit formed by Hangar 24 Brewery — is moving forward on this year’s AirFest, scheduled for May 16 at the Redlands Municipal Airport, which will have performances from pilots along with food and beer sales and a kids zone.
“The passing of Chris has taken us all by surprise and the entire Hangar 24 team is saddened,” said Sue Cook, Hangar 24 Charities Airfest coordinator, in an email Thursday.
Davis was the air boss, or manager, of the event. He died March 12 at age 59. The cause of his death was unclear.
Ben Cook, owner and master brewer of Hangar 24 Brewery, first met Davis at the International Council of Airshows and was key in taking the AirFest from concept to reality, Cook said in the email.
“Chris not only has helped us tremendously on our AirFest, he also was a good, good friend,” Cook wrote. “Chris is so well known and respected in the airshow community which helped our event as he was a pro at pairing performers and arranging acts to give our guests an exciting experience. Chris will be missed by us and our thoughts and prayers are with his family through this difficult time.”
Cook said they are in the process of securing another air boss for this year’s AirFest.
Davis was the air boss for the Riverside Airshow at the Riverside Airport for more than 10 years, including this year’s Riverside Airshow on Saturday, said Tom Miller, coordinator for the Riverside Airshow.
Davis was planning to retire from his job as airfield operations manager at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside today, Miller said.
A new air boss was secured for Riverside and Miller said he expects this year’s show to break attendance records.
They will honor Davis with a missing man flyby and a moment of silence.
“Chris was a magnificent human being. He was the kind of guy that could take on huge responsibility and handle it with ease,” Miller said. “He was a former and still was an air traffic controller and, of course, those people are trained to do many things at once and do them very well.”
“We certainly miss him and we certainly wish he was with us, but at least we had enough depth in the air show to continue to be able to successfully carry forward,” Miller said.