News
Please contact us with any relevant news that should be published here.
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.
2/8/023 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.
