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3/2025 Meeting Minutes
Mar 12 TCAA Meeting Agenda Topics/Outline and Minutes
Pledge
Corban Stenger graciously led us in the Pledge of Allegiance
Introductions
Corban Stenger visiting to gather initial support for his Eagle Scout project proposal
Reports
Treasurer/Secretary Report (Hans)
confirmed $2134.97 in general funds, $518 in Scholarship funds held in TCAA bank account,
$5,000 in Scholarship Fund held by Sonora Area Foundation (SAF) (up $1,000 donated through
SAF from Lyle R. Scott Scholarship Fund)
Airport/County Admin Relations Director Report
Mark Banks was absent - no report
Website/Social Media Director Report (Jake)
Working with Hans to set up autopay with our bank account to cover web hosting.
Discussed acquiring laptop to use for TCAA website and webcam - Hans will look into
purchasing used laptop to install in Jake’s hangar using general funds. The hosting fees are
anticipated to be in the vicinity of $200 per year.
Scholarship Committee Report (Diana & Hal)
Scholarship plan needed
Diana to inquire with SAF to see if there were any applications submitted through their
outreach. TCAA has received two applications through the Explorer’s program and TCAA
website application. Our website indicates we will notify applicants of any selections by April 2.
Kent Delbon volunteered to join the review group for the applications. Scholarship committee
will attempt to convene before end of March to decide on applications/awards pending answer
from SAF. Scholarship Committee to review the plan and information on TCAA website for
completeness and accuracy given current state of information
Old Business
1. Bylaws
Any Progress on review?
Diana Sunday and Mark Banks volunteered in February to review the PML documents and
recommend changes for adoption for our use. Diana reports they have not made any progress.
(My little bit of research into obtaining 501c3 status and State Registration as “Charity” requires
some articles of association and/or bylaws documents be adopted by the organization. Our
registration as either appears to be incomplete. There are requirements for the fed status to be
registered with the state as well, and both require those “necessary documents” for registration.
Without those, I believe our qualification as a non-profit is not a done deal, hence dues are not
specifically tax deductible but our website member forms say they are. If anyone has further
information in this regard that I’m missing or mis-interpreting, do share. Also, is anyone aware
of us being issued a FEIN as part of a past registration effort?)
2. Young Eagles - April 12 Update (Ed Sunday)
Ed reports that there is some possibility of a date change for this event. The event page for the
event shows April 12, but also has a banner that states the event is rescheduled. Registration is
open for the event for the Young Eagles. Any pilots who wish to fly need to email or call Ed
(edsunday@customautoair.com, +1 (209) 743-6350) and give him an email address so that he
may send you an email invitation through the Young Eagles registration system. Pilots need to
be current for their class of license, their planes need to be current and airworthy, the pilots
must be EAA members and must have completed the EAA working with youth training course
(online) and background check, so if you want to participate, you need to get on with meeting
those requirements now as the background check can take a week or two to complete.
Contact Ed as well if you are interested in being a ground volunteer. So far, Ed was aware of
two planes/pilots who have committed.
3. Website Hosting account changeover?
See report section above - in progress
4. Projects/WorkDate: any to bring forward now and set a date?
Kiosk - Del has reviewed list of materials originally developed by Hans and is suggesting a
few changes, particularly with respect to the actual display board, incorporating an enclosed
weather resistant bulletin board (approx $250) and some weather resistant envelope or
document cases such as used for real estate listing flyers. Materials cost not yet estimated.
Del will forge ahead with cost estimates. I will discuss the enclosed case idea and her vision for
funding this activity with Airport Manager more in coming month. On a side note, Del
volunteered that he has a surplus remote site electronics cabinet that he is willing to donate to
the campground facility for storage of disc golf supplies, horse shoe pit supplies and such. It
could be secured to the side of the restrooms or the pavillion building and locked with a lock
box or other lock for security. I will put that offer to the Airport manager before our next
meeting.
Floor in Pavilion - the coating on the floor of the main room is showing signs of wear. To
repaint it and get good adhesion, it is recommended that the old finish be cleaned and scuffed
up prior to putting a new coating on. We don’t have any cost estimate. A scuffing machine can
be rented and requires following close behind with shop vacuums and probably some sort of
wash or tack cloth treatment to eliminate fine dust. Rust-Oleum has a product called Recoat
Primer that eliminates the need for the scuffing which may be considered. Jake brought up a
list of events scheduled for the airport that begin around the middle of April and carry on every
week or two, so we may have missed our window for doing it this spring. It would be nice if
someone among us would volunteer to measure things up and come up with a cost and plan to
implement this project including timeframes to get it done. We must allow for drying time etc.
Then we can consider when implementing it would be feasible. Perhaps this flying season we
should provide a donation box inside the pavillion for users to donate toward the cause of
refinishing the floor. Along with this project, Gretchen suggested that we do the redecoration of
the room which we committed to doing along with the windows. That is something we can
probably bring forward sooner and I will forward that on to the next meeting agenda. On a side
note to this discussion, Jake offered donation of a water bottle filling fountain he has to the
facility. I don’t have a complete vision of this item to describe it, perhaps Jake can share a
photo of it or link to something similar so we can envision it’s use.
S2 - washing and waxing the S2 display seems the most likely project we can implement in
the short term and would not interfere with other planned events. It would be nice to have it
done by the Fly-In date in mid June. At the April meeting, we will look for a date in late April or
Early May to try and tackle this. I will talk to the Airport Manager to try and get Cal Fire or a
county fire truck to come and provide water for the job.
New Business
1. Corban Stenger - Eagle Scout Project presentation
Corban is undertaking the attainment of rank of Eagle Scout this year. As a preliminary step, he
is scoping out the feasibility of making and installing a new sign at the intersection of Parrots
Ferry and Airport Roads to replace the old airport sign that deteriorated some years ago and
was removed. He presented a conceptual drawing and his thoughts and asked the group for
their ideas and whether or not we thought it a worthwhile endeavor. We gave him a big thumbs
up. He will continue on to visit with the Airport Manager with his ideas, and if he goes forward
with it, will likely come back to us with more details
2. News from Explorers
With leadership from Hal Cunningham, the Explorers post is putting together an exhibit for the
STEAM Expo https://www.tcsos.us/about/tcsos/student-events/steam-expo/ to be held next
week at the County Fairgrounds organized by the Tuolumne County of Schools. It would be fun
if a number of us could find our way there to support the Explorers and see their exhibit.
3. Review of Website Information for Currency? Scheduled events, take down Christmas
meeting, Services ?
Gretchen and Kent were volunteered, arm twisted into taking a look at the TCAA website and
provide some feedback to the group of things that might be out of date, overlooked, or
suggestions for new information. Jake put the site together largely by himself and I’m sure that
after looking at it for too long, one can become weary of it. I asked Gretchen because she
brings a perspective of youth but also because she has been such a consistent attendant of our
meetings since the rebirth of TCAA. Kent is newly involved in TCAA and has an advantage of
seeing much of the site’s information for the first time. I look forward to hearing their
perspectives when they are ready to let us know what they see. I would welcome all of us
involved in TCAA to take some time to refresh your memory of what all is on our site and offer
up any thoughts that come to mind. We cannot expect Jake to do this in a vacuum. He
obviously has invested a great deal of effort into getting the site together. Thank you Jake.
4. New/Reprint Brochure? TCAA Logo Sign
decided not to spend any energy on perpetuating the brochure. I forgot to bring forward the
Big TCAA Logo sign. I need to forward that to the next meeting.
5. BarbaraConnelly - Ranaldi Presentation on father Dick Ranaldi Career
Discussed offer from daughter of early aviator Richard (Dick) Ranaldi to make a presentation to
the group about her father’s flying career. Includes slide show and talk. Highly recommended
by Janet Gregory of PML. Group thought it a great idea and we do have the technology to
display her photos. I will contact Barbara and schedule the presentation
6. OTHER
Del suggested that we place a cabinet or locker in the storage area of the Pavillion to store
TCAA supplies for our meetings - plates cups utensils etc. Kathy Aldrich volunteered a
lockable metal storage cabinet for that purpose. She will coordinate with Del.
Thanks all for the great food and the participation, and thanks too to Janet Gregory for
participating from across the river. I appreciate your input whenever you can give it.
-Andy
11/13/2024
TCAA has officially announced its Youth Aviation Scholarship. Apply now through February 28 2025. More info can be found on the TCAA website.
TCAA Christmas Party is Wednesday Dec 11 at 6PM
10/13/2024
Runway 29 has a very soft spot in the middle.
8/7/2023
TCAA Transponder Vol 7 is published. It can be viewed and downloaded below.
7/1/2023
(News taken from the TCAA Transponder to be published 8/1/2023)
- Benedict Stuth is no longer the Tuolumne County Airports manager and has taken a job at Livermore Airport.
- On May 13 2023, the Tuolumne County Airports, spearheaded by Traci-Williams-‘Oneil hosted a tenant appreciation BBQ. There was a great turn out and opportunity for tenants to meet the new airport staff and other airport tenants. Thank you to Tuolumne County Airports Staff for this fun event! Next year’s event will be held at Pine Mountain Lake.
- The TCAA Transponder. It has become too difficult to maintain this newsletter regularly and it has been decided to wind it down and make the website and email list the primary “news source” for the TCAA. Check out the website if you have not, it has a lot of cool stuff and new stuff is added regularly! We also have Facebook and Instagram pages.
- Shawn Price our Treasurer has stepped down and the TCAA has elected Hans Bayer as the new Treasurer of the TCAA! Thank you to Shawn who was instrumental in helping restart the TCAA in 2020. We are so grateful to you for your service and generosity, and awarded Shawn with TCAA Lifetime Membership #1!
- Drew Nijirich who was appointed as the Interim Airport Manager has been officially named the new permanent Tuolumne County Airports Manager. Drew is a Columbia native; a pilot and helicopter mechanic having worked at O22 for many years with different operators. We welcome Drew and look forward to working with him to improve O22 and E45.
- The webcam has been replaced a few times. Apparently, birds liked the aluminum tape used to seal the wire splices and allowed the cameras to short circuit. A new camera was installed by Hans Bayer and was up and running until June. It appears our web host was in Ukraine and we assume it no longer exists! We need a new web host service and it looks like it’ll cost $200 or so per year. We will be passing the hat at the next meetings for donations to support the webcam.
-Since March 2023, the TCAA has been hosting its meetings back at the TCAA Campground Pavilion! Thanks to Traci and Drew at Tuolumne County Airports for making this happen!
- Old news, but in case you didn’t know, the numerous deer inside of the O22 airport fence are gone!
- TCAA is planning to host “Vintage Aircraft Display Days” allowing applicable aircraft owners an opportunity to meet the property tax exemption for publicly displaying your aircraft. A date has not been set. Currently, Monthly meetings qualify as public display days.
- April 22, EAA 1337 Hosted a Young Eagles rally at Columbia Airport.
Organized by Ed Sunday .
76 kids pre-registered,
55 YE flown,
72% of the YE were male,
82% were first time YE,
27% heard through school program and
26% saw a flyer/poster
- Thanks to Robyn Moore - who did ALL the advertising. Pilots, 3 from Columbia: Andy Aldrich, Jim Stenger, Diana Sunday. 5 PML: Armin Abusaidi, Mike Gustafson, Bob Hornauer, Bill Thomas, Greg Triplett. 20 Ground Crew: 11 Columbia + 9 PML Roles: Greeters, Check-in, Dispatch, Hot Ramp, Registration, Post Flight, and more. Hans Bayer, Hal Cunningham (static aircraft), Chris Henningsen, Robyn Moore (post-flight lead), Carson Scheftner (hot ramp), Tonya Scheftner (dispatch lead), Ed Sunday (Rally leader), John Williams (registration) & 3 Aviation Explorers (runners for check-in & dispatch). Thanks to all that helped!
-EAA 1663 is hosting EAA Young Eagles next at Pine Mountain Lake October XX. As always, Wed love to see many TCAA members support EAA 1663 and have a big turnout of pilots and ground volunteers. If you are interested, reach out to Ed Sunday (ESunday@SBCGlobal.net)
- The 2022-2023 Tuolumne County Grand Jury Report was published, and boy did they not have much good to say about the airport. Its worth a read and available online.
4/6/2023 Webcam Back Online!
The webcam is back up and online! It took a few cameras to get it right, the plugs were not as water tight as we thought and we burned through a few cameras before figuring that out. The wet winter didn't help, but we figured it out and can expect a few years out of the new unit. We oriented the camera towards the east and the mid field windsock can be see atop Hangar 4. Thanks to Hans and Dave for working on the camera repairs!
4/2/2023 Deer inside fence at Columbia Removed
After many years, the deer inside the fence at Columbia have finally been removed!
2/15/2023 Columbia Mid -Field windsock replaced.
A new windsock was installed today. Last month the wind sock on top of Hangar 4 (Mid Field Runway 29) was replaced.
2/8/2023 TCAA Transponder Vol 6 is Published
Vol 6 of the TCAA Transponder for November, December 2022 and January 2023 is published and available below in digital PDF and is available in print and can be picked up at Columbia Airport at Bald Eagle Aviation, O22 Campground Bulletin Board and Jake's Air Repair.
2/8/2022 TCAA Webcam Off-Line
The Webcam is currently off line while we look for an IT volunteer to help maintain the webcam. If you are tech-savy and would like to offer to be our go-to tech person, we can better serve visitors with webcams in the future! There is currently no known repair by date. Please check back often.
2/7/2023 Tuolumne County Job Posting for Airport Manager Relief
It is unknown what "Relief" means, but it sounds like our current airport manager is on his way our and the county will be hiring a temporary position.
1/7/2022 TCAA Webcam Moved
Some people showed interest in the webcam pointing towards the north east. We made an adjustment and will see how this orientation works for the coming months!
12/14/2022 TCAA Christmas Party
The TCA had 40 people at our first Christmas Holiday Party! Maybe again next year?
11/19/2022 - TCAA Work Party.
On Saturday Nov 19, TCAA volunteers made numerous improvements repairing and refinishing picnic tables in the campground. Over 13 tables were fixed up for the benefit of campground users!
9/22/2022 TCAA Transponder Published
The Vol 5. (August-October 2022) Newsletter is published and available. Print copies will distributed around typical airport locations, including Bald Eagle Aviation FBO, Jake's Air Repair and at the campground bulletin board. It can also be viewed online at www.TuoCoAA.org under "News". If you'd like a print copy mailed to you, send us an email.
6/17/2022 O22 Runway 17/35 & 11/29 CLOSED
All runways at O22 are closed. 11/29 is closed due to Fathers Day Fly-In set up and Runway 17/35 is closed due to an automobile accident.
7/7/2022 TCAA April - July Newsletter Published
The second Quarter Newsletter is published and available. Print copies are distributed around typical airport locations at Bald Eagle FBO and in the campground bulletin board.
7/7/2022 O22 Columbia South Airport Gate Repair
As of today the south / west airport vehicle gate is still out of commission.
4/4/2022 O22 Columbia South Airport Gate Repair Started
The south gate was removed today and blocked off. Behind schedule and has caused some issues for tenants and business on the west side already.
3/23/2022 O22 Columbia South Airport Gate Repair
Airport manager has advised tenants that the south side vehicle gate will be out of service starting today for repair and replacement. It is expected to be completed in 2 weeks. Until then the east side vehicle gate is operational.
3/22/2022 O22 Columbia Airport Webcams are online!
The first major project of the TCAA has been completed! We now have a webcam available for users to check sky conditions, grass runway conditions and campground use! The camera is mounted south of runway 11-29 facing north towards the campground. Check it out!
3/18/2022 Jan - Feb - Mar 2022 Vol 3 Newsletter Published
The third edition of the Tuolumne County Aeronautical Association Transponder, is published. Print copies to be available in the lobby at Bald Eagle Aviation soon. Pick up a few copies and share them around town! Sign up for the digital mailing list and get the digital PDF version as soon as it is published!
12/6/2021 Oct-Dec Vol 2 Newsletter Published
The second newsletter, now dubbed the Tuolumne County Aeronautical Association Transponder, will aim for bi-monthly editions. Sign up for the mailing list. It is free to anyone. Print copies are available at Bald Eagle Aviation, & Jake's Air Repair.
9/2/2021 Velocity Avionics CLOSED
On Sept 2, the FAA revoked the Repair Station Certificate of Velocity Avionics.
8/26/2021 Newsletter
TCAA newsletter published. Join our mailing list to be included on our newsletter email list.
7/30/2021 O22 100LL Now Available
Bald Eagle Aviation has reported that fuel is back following a supply chain interruption.
7/20/2021 O22 100LL Not Available
Bald Eagle Aviation has reported that due to a driver shortage, fuel deliveries are behind schedule and presently, O22 does not have 100LL available. Fuel is expected by July 29th.
