Enjoying the Wine Country of California

Enjoying the Wine Country of California
For Saturday, August 22, 2026
Michael MacKuen

Today we shall spend a Saturday afternoon flying over the hills of northern California, the land that has produced the state’s gold rush and its successful wine industry. We shall fly over the Sierra foothills, the flatlands of the Sacramento Valley, and then the famous Napa and Sonoma and Russian River Valleys. Along the way, we shall briefly visit the special agricultural research university UC-Davis.


The Beautiful Napa Valley

When gold was discovered in 1848, the population of Northern California simply exploded as people from around the world flocked in to seek their fortune. Those miners produced a demand for wine and many of the wine districts in Northern California were first planted during those gold rush years. By the 1900s, the then thriving wine industry was exporting their product all around the world. This success was brought to a stunning halt with the 1918 ratification of prohibition in the U.S.

After the 1933 repeal, the once prosperous industry lay in ruins. At that time, a program in Viticulture and Enology was founded at UC Davis as part of the State’s effort to revitalize the industry. The new research scientists started to identify the specific varieties of grapes best suited for specific micro-regions in California. And they developed practices and modern technologies that helped to insure year-to-year quality in the wine-making process. But recovery was slow. By the 1960s and 1970s, California wineries produced commercially acceptable wines reproducibly year after year and a small group of winemakers could compete with the world’s best. However, they had difficulty in marketing.

Then came the Judgement of Paris. The turning point occurred on May 24, 1976 when a blind tasting was organized to compare the best California wines with the best French wines. The Paris panel was comprised of French experts, so it was a shock to everyone (especially the panel) when the California wines were ranked highest in both categories: the Cabernet Sauvignon of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars  and the Chardonnay of Chateau Montelena. The demand for California wines surged. Since then, the spread of modern techniques and technologies has made the wine industry a worldwide competitive enterprise.

We start with something completely different. We depart from Oroville Municipal [KOVE] and fly over the massive 770 feet high embankment Oroville Dam. Built in the 1960s, the dam produces hydroelectricity and controls the flow of the Feather River into the California Aqueduct to irrigate farms of the Central Valley as well as to supply urban populations throughout the region. The ability of current Dam’s spillway system to handle unusually high water flows has led to expensive reconstruction efforts. And there have been a couple of dangerous moments when the dam’s ability to contain the water has come into question.

We turn south over the rugged terrain of the Sierra foothills to land at Nevada County-Grass Valley [KGOO]. The airfield was constructed in the 1930s, reopened in the 1950s, and lengthened in the 1960s and the 1990s. Since the late 1950s, it has hosted an air attack base operated by CAL FIRE. Today it supports two S-2 Trackers and one OV-10 Bronco. Near the terminal building is an F-104 Starfighter and a monument to Chuck Yeager who few out of this airfield during his retirement years. And Nevada County is the current home airport for Juan Browne, the active pilot and proprietor of the aviation-minded blancolirio channel. We takeoff for Placerville [KPVF]. Along the way, we pass near Sutter’s Mill (in Coloma) where the gold was first discovered in 1848 – about 5nm west of the waypoint Gold Discovery 1848. The Placerville airport is a fairly busy GA center: it hosts 138 aircraft and averages 180 operations per day.

Then enroute to Amador County [KJAQ] we pass over California’s Shenandoah Valley. In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, this was a main center for California wines, especially its Zinfandels. In recent years there has been a resurgence of specialty wineries, especially ones that follow along the Zinfandel tradition. The airport’s hilltop setting captures the pilot’s attention. And it has one special resident: a handsome North American F-86 Sabre. After a moment, we head down onto the Sacramento Valley floor to the bigger community Lodi. This is low flat country with cool wet winters and hot dry summers. Winegrape culture pervades the town. Lodi is surrounded by grapevines and the police cars have grape bunches painted on their sides. There are 80-plus wineries and many vineyards retain century-old grapevines. In 2015, Wine Enthusiast named Lodi “Wine Region of the Year.” Every Spring and Fall, Lodi hosts distinctive Wine Festivals (and a separate Zinfest and a Beer Fest have joined the fun). On another note, soft drink afficionados will want to note Lodi as the home of A&W Root Beer. We land north of town at Lodi Airport [1O3] where the Lodi Airport Café comes recommended by Nandengo12.

Next, a quick run north over California’s state capital Sacramento. This is a fair-sized city of 2.5 million (27^th in the US) which has been growing recently with an influx of residents from the San Francisco Bay Area. Flying over the downtown, we see first the Capitol Park and the Capitol Building. Then Golden Center, the concert hall and basketball arena for the NBA Sacramento Kings. Over “Old Sacramento” and the Sacramento River to note the dramatic pyramid-like Ziggurat Building. Turning, we see Sutter Health Park, a minor league ballpark now temporarily hosting the American League A’s who are temporarily in between stadiums in Oakland and in Las Vegas. Sacramento is known as the “City of Trees” with more trees per capita than any other city in the world.

And then west to (in quick order) Davis Downtown, UC Davis Central Campus, and UC Davis Viticulture and Enology. Davis is small and flat and a place for bicycle culture. It has long supported bicyclists and has among the highest usage in the country. And it was selected for the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. The campus itself is a successful part of the University of California system. It was originally “the farm” for UC Berkley but has since become a full-service national research university – with a special emphasis on agriculture. And as we know, it has a special Department of Viticulture and Enology that has played a key role in California’s successful wine economy. We land at University [KEDU], the first university-owned airport. The modest field is now used for student flight training and for the transport of veterinary medicine patients to the clinic at UC Davis.

Flying southwest, we execute a touch-and-go at Nut Tree Airport [KVCB] near Vacaville. Originally, the field was built as a way of attracting aviators to the Nut Tree food stand (later restaurant complex) on US-40 (later I-80) with a toy train connecting the airport and the restaurant. The airfield has outlasted the restaurant – it hosts a large number of GA aircraft, a Legends of Flight Collection with restoration workshops, a flight school, and sites the headquarters and production facility for the ICON A5 Amphibious Light-Sport Aircraft. We stop at Napa County Airport [KAPC]. This is a large fairly busy towered field built in the 1940s. Its role has grown and diminished over the years. Currently, it hosts general aviation, maintenance, and flight training. It is especially useful for business jet traffic.

Then north along the Napa Valley wine country. (The historically famous wineries Stag’s Leap Cellars, Inglenook, and Chateau Montelena are marked as waypoints. They are mere AI representations but the general layouts are correct.) We make a small diversion to land at an old favorite of ours, Angwin-Parrett Field [2O3], perched high on Howell Mountain with magnificent views.

After finishing our look at the Napa Valley, we head to Sonoma County northwest of Santa Rosa (and its Charles Schulz airport) to the beginnings of the Russian River Valley. The region is famous for its cool coastal fog and sandy soils that produce excellent Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and especially Pinot Noir. The slightly warmer plains near Healdsburg enjoy a microclimate that seem to have yielded some of the most exceptional wines. We land at Healdsburg Municipal [KHES], a sleepy rural airport three miles north of the city.

We proceed to Cloverdale [O60] whose logging and service economy has been under pressure. From an aviation point-of-view, the small public airport is interesting because it hosts Quality Sport Planes, the western representative for Zenith Aircraft Company. (Note the sign at the FBO.)

Our final destination is Ukiah, at 16,700 the largest city and county seat of Mendocino County. Surrounded by hills, the city’s success was linked to the lumber industry that harvested the nearby redwood forests. In recent years, activists have worked to preserve those forests. Now the town is more of a regional center for an number of successful local wineries, for tourists visiting the scenic hills of redwood country, and for people of Mendocino County more generally. We land at Ukiah Municipal [KUKI] just south of downtown Ukiah. The airport handled regional airline flights through the 1970s but not longer. It does support a CAL FIRE airbase with one OV-10 Bronco and two S-2 Tracker air tankers. We can meet up at the airport FBOs Ukiah Aviation and ZL Aviation Services (near Parking 1 of the freeware).

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here.

Aircraft
This Saturday is designed as a sightseeing tour for modestly fast GA aircraft that can cruise at about 150-160kts. Many aircraft may be suitable for this mission. I’ll choose the Black Square Commander 114 (in the stock N6778V). As ever, please fly what you like.

Scenery
All of the airports are in the simulator. One reason to fly this route is to enjoy the many new, interesting, and charming airports recently constructed by Nandengo12. So I would recommend these addons more than normal. Thanks to Nandengo12 and the other talented authors.

Oroville [KOVE].  Nandengo12
Nevada County Grass Valley [KGOO].  Nandengo12
Placerville [KPVF]. Vincent Bazillo
Amador County [KJAQ].  Nandengo12
Lodi [1O3].  Nandengo12
Davis University [KEDU].  A8rThor
Nut Tree [KVCB].  flybylatham
Napa County [KAPC].  Nandengo12
Angwin-Parrett [2O3].  bingobongo32
Healdsburg Municipal [KHES].  Nandengo12
Cloverdale Municipal [O60].  Nandengo12
Ukiah Municipal [KUKI].  Nandengo12

Temporarily, you can get the freeware package here. The package may also include freeware creations that are difficult to find. (Please check for duplicates of previously installed packages.)

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 2:00pm local for August 22, 2026. We typically prefer real weather.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, August 22, 2026. 1800 UTC (2000CEST, 1400EDT, 1100PDT)
Where: RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: South-East Asia server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!