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An Overview
An Overview
Travis Air Force Base is an Air Mobility Command (AMC) base located just north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It sits next to the city of Fairfield in Solano County. Travis handles more cargo and passengers than any other AMC base in the US. As the largest AMC base on the west coast, Travis gets the nickname "Gateway to the Pacific"
Travis is home to Air Force active duty and reserve units. The 60th Air Mobility Wing is the active duty component and the 349th Air Mobility Wing is the reserve component. Both the 60th and 349th operate the C-5M Super Galaxy, C-17A Globemaster, and the KC-10A Extender. The 349th will be the first to start operating the KC-46A as the KC-10A is phased out.
26 C-5's, 13 C-17's, and 27 KC-10's currently call Travis home. The 60th AMW contains 1 C-5 squadron, 1 C-17 squadron, and 2 KC-10 squadrons. The same holds true for the 349th.
Travis is also home to a US Navy Detachment. Fleet Reconnaissance Squadron 3 (VQ-3) calls Travis home and operates the E-6B Mercury.
Note that starting in 2023, Travis will start replacing KC-10's with KC-46's. 2023 may be one of the last years to reliably get KC-10's at Travis. Towards mid 2023 and onwards, anywhere a KC-10 is mentioned in this guide, it just means tanker aircraft.
Security (VERY IMPORTANT)
Security (VERY IMPORTANT)
Even though Travis is just an Air Mobility Command (AMC) base, security is still strict. Whenever spotting military, always carry id on you in case you are stopped by Military Police (MP). As long as you are not on base property, the MP technically cannot do anything to you. Here are a few reminders:
DO NOT HANG OUT NEXT TO THE FENCE FOR THE BASE. You can park on the shoulder on the opposite side of the road, but in general it is a bad idea to do this at ANY military installation. Again, while technically the MP cannot do anything to you, you may get stopped, questioned, and have your id checked.
If base security stops you, they will ask you to delete any pictures with base property in the foreground or background.
In general, just be friendly and respectful if approached by MP. They generally do not have a problem with spotters. Locals also generally do not have a problem with spotters, but again just be respectful of people's property and privacy.
General Information
General Information
Amenities:
For the south side of the base, there are plenty of amenities nearby. Restrooms are available in the Walmart. The Walmart is roughly a 3 - 5 minute drive from the corner spot
At the Walmart, there is a Subway sandwich shop if you're hungry. There is also a 7 Eleven across the street
For the north side of the base, there are no nearby amenities
Lodging is available in Fairfield if needed. Fairfield is a fairly large city.
Amtrak does have a stop at Fairfield, but it is quite far from the base. In general, there is no public transportation to the spots.
Weather:
Summer at Travis is hot! Temperatures can easily soar well above 100°F, so plan accordingly.
Check winds! Winds determine what runways will be used and what shots you can get that day. As a side note, a windbreaker jacket is recommended especially if it isn't summer.
A small step ladder is recommended at certain spots, however the use of a ladder may draw attention from Military Police.
What Planes Can I See?
What Planes Can I See?
Airfield Information
Airfield Information
The FAA airport diagram for Travis is shown to the right. Travis has 2 runways: RWY21R/RWY3L and RWY21L/RWY3R. Travis also has an Assault Strip at the threshold of RWY21L and the departure end of RWY3R. In general, RWY21L/RWY3R will be the only runway used for pattern. On multiple occasions, Travis Tower has stated that RWY21R/RWY3L will never be used for pattern work due to accelerated runway degradation (no clue what this means, but this is what tower says).
RWY21 ops:
RWY21 ops are the most common. During the summer, only RWY21L/R are used.
RWY21R is generally used for departure and RWY21L is generally used for arrivals. RWY21L is only used for departures is an aircraft is using the assault strip.
The overwhelming majority of departures will use full length for departures.
RWY3 ops:
RWY3 ops only occur when winds are out of the east or the north.
RWY3L is used for arrivals and departures from the cargo ramp. RWY3R is used for departures and pattern work.
RWY3L from kilo is a common departure for C-17's leaving on training sorties as well as C-130's and other smaller aircraft leaving.
A general diagram of the base is below.
Locations
Locations
South Side of Base
South Side of Base
The corner spot is the most popular spot at Travis. It offers a good overview of the base, a good view of the cargo ramp, and a good vantage of the threshold of RWY3L/end of RWY21R
Just down the road from the corner on Creed Road are a set of signposts. They offer alternate angles for RWY21R departures and an angle for RWY3R landings.
Just down the road from the sign posts offers a good view of planes banking off of RWY21L when they're in the pattern
North Side of Base
North Side of Base
The spot offers a view of RWY21L arrivals. From here, the planes are quite high up, so shots will mostly be of the belly of the plane.
Hay Road offers an arrival spot for RWY21L that gives a more side-on perspective
Here's a list of spots I haven't tried, but should work.
When is Travis Busy?
When is Travis Busy?
Surprise! The military doesn't publish a public schedule. That being said, there is information that can be gained from past trends. The table to the right (or below if you're on a phone) shows the percent chance you have of seeing something fly based on historical data over many weeks (it is important to understand that the historical data gives statistics that can help predict when planes are likely to fly, they do not say when planes will fly). A graphical version of the data is also shown below. A few more tips and hints are below in bullet form:
First things first, you have to understand that AMC bases generally aren't that busy compared to commercial airports. A good rule of thumb is that you can roughly expect 1.3 planes/hour. As you can imagine, there tends to be a lot of dead time when nothing is happening.
Planes fly 2 main banks for training sorties. The first bank starts at around 8AM and closes at 3PM at the latest. This bank is captured in the table to the right (or below if on mobile). The night bank starting between 7 and 8PM is not captured in the table.
C-5's tend to leave last for training sorties out of the 3 Team Travis jets. They leave anywhere between 10AM and 11AM and return 2 - 3 hours later.
C-17's tend to leave after the KC-10's. They tend to go up between 9AM and 10AM and return around 1PM - 2PM.
KC-10's tend to leave first for training sorties. They can leave as early as 8AM, but usually leave between 9:30AM and 10AM. KC-10's return as early as noon and as late as 2PM.
Pattern work, or where a plane works touch and goes, is what makes a day interesting. Pattern work essentially means that a plane will fly multiple approaches and departures in a short period of time.
C-5's often work pattern only sorties. In these cases, they will go up between 10 and 11AM and work the pattern for 2 - 3 hours
C-17's tend to work the pattern right when they leave and/or when they return. C-17's also tend to work the assault strip (see the above base diagram to see where the assault strip is).
KC-10's almost always work the pattern when returning from a sortie. In the table to the right (or below if on mobile) has very high odds seeing a plane between noon and 2:15PM. This is due to multiple KC-10's being in the pattern at once. It is fairly rare for KC-10's to work the pattern immediately after departing.
Weekdays are best for spotting at Travis, but not all weekdays are created equal. Fridays are the most hit or miss. Tuesday through Thursday tend to be the busiest. These days, in general, are the most common for planes working pattern sorties.
Weekends generally are dead. If it's drill weekend, then there will be a few planes going up on sortie, but otherwise don't expect much to fly on weekends.
In general, nothing flies on federal holidays and the day or two surrounding that federal holiday.
Note that the graph below and the table are generated from the same data, but the data was simply processed differently. The table uses time windows of 15 minutes whereas the graph uses time windows of 5 minutes.
How Do I Know What's Going to Fly?
How Do I Know What's Going to Fly?
Specific odds of what will fly/how many of each aircraft will fly can be found in the What Planes Can I see section.
In general, you won't know what's going to fly on a specific day other than the scheduled civilian flights. Scheduled civilian flights will show on Flightradar/Flight Aware/Radar Box and other tracking apps.
Listening to Air Traffic Control helps to give a good idea of what will fly. LiveATC has a Travis feed that includes clearance, ground, tower, and approach. The frequencies used can be seen to the right (or below if on mobile). If you have a scanner, you can also input these frequencies into a bank. Note that the approach and departure frequencies are often clogged by Concord general aviation traffic.
Planes will first request clearance and then from there they'll start up, taxi, and takeoff. Clearance is what informs you of where to be and what to expect for a given departure. Between clearance and taxi is usually 15 - 20 minutes. For example, if a KC-10 is cleared to Hawaii, there's a good chance it will be heavy. Approach frequencies are the same, but in reverse for arrivals. If you were wondering why I listed callsigns for everything flying, this is why. It really helps to be able to identify what is flying.
It helps to cross reference what you hear on ATC with what you see on flight tracking apps. For military spotting, the most useful app is ADS-B. The web based version can be found here. While Flightradar does show military aircraft, ADS-B shows more aircraft. For example, Royal Australian Air Force transport and tanker aircraft show on ADS-B, but not Flightradar.
ADS-B also helps you to know what is at Travis already. Many planes overnight at Travis when flying to/from Hawaii. Seeing planes go in the night before is what has helped me photograph planes like the E-3. In general, if a plane is transiting through, it will spend the night at Travis and depart the next morning.
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