Air shows are pretty far reaching, you don’t have to be in the paid box seating to watch generally. For example in San Francisco you just have to be anywhere with view to the water, in Salinas its a pretty small airport so you can be anywhere around it but tickets to get in are like $30 so its worth it to me to go in and be able to climb around helicopters and stuff, see the robotics and other stuff people bring and the play area for our kid to socialize a bit with kids