The airport was the origin for an emergency supply airlift to the Watsonville Municipal Airport following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake , after mountain and coastal roads were blocked , cutting off Santa Cruz and Watsonville from relief efforts by ground . The Watsonville Airport estimates that it received 100 tons of supplies via the airlift during the week following the quake . John McAvoy and Bill Dunn of the Reid – Hillview Airport Association received the 1990 Grand Award from the Bay Area 's Metropolitan Transportation Commission for organizing the airlift
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
Reid–Hillview Airport