The Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles, where our March 7th meeting will be held.
Chairman’s Message
By Anele Brooks
The March meeting of the 99s will be held in Paso Robles’ Estrella Warbirds Museum
March is knocking on our door – it is bringing a busy season for us as 99's. Our March 7 meeting will be held at the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles. Three of our 99's will be guest speakers at their monthly meeting and dinner. Grace will explain who the 99's are and what we do, Elizabeth will share her experiences as an air race pilot and Liz Ruth will describe her life as a NASA pilot. We will be able to tour the museum from 6:00 to 7:00, dinner is at 7:00 and presentations are at 8:00. Dinner is $20, if you haven't let Susan Steeb know you plan to attend please let her know so she can RSVP for you. It should be a fun meeting and a chance for us to meet some north county pilots.
The Ninety-Nines Mission Statement:
The Ninety-Nines is the international organization
of women pilots that promotes advancement
of aviation through education, scholarships and
mutual support while honoring our unique history
and sharing our passion for flight.
In April the plan is to first celebrate Elizabeth Dinan's 60th anniversary as a 99(in May Rosemary Lane will celebrate her 70th anniversary, see article about her below) and next to create a committee to plan for the Fall 2019 SWS Meeting. I remember someone coming and seeing we were on the list, but it was several years ago, and well, you know, time flies when you are having fun! 2019 is right around the corner and it is our turn to host. Please start thinking about what special local places and things you would like to share with your fellow 99's who will be visiting.
May 12 is the annual Oceano Airport Celebration, and we will be hosting the Friday Night burger fry and it would be nice to have a few 99's to let attendees know who we are and what we do & to assist with the BBQ. There is live music to dance to and your dogs are always welcome(and usually pretty entertaining). There is a good local turnout at these celebrations as well as a number of people who fly in. The Airport Celebration will be a substitution for Airport Day at the San Luis Obispo Airport this year since parking is a challenge and the airport doesn't have the personnel to put the program together. No tower tours, but maybe a wing walker instead!
Last but not least, Grace has been diligent about getting us out flying. She has been inspiring us to get up in the air at least once a month and always has a good idea for a fly-out destination. Spring is almost here, it is time to dust off our wings!
Minutes of General Meeting
By Grace Crittenden
Oceano Airport Celebration is May 12 this year so save the date for a fun day!
Anele Brooks announced that we have two long term members of The Ninety-Nines in our chapter - Rosemary Lane has been a member for 70 years, and Elizabeth Dinan has been a member 60 years. We all agreed that we need to celebrate their years of commitment.
The Valentines Day fly-in is[was] Sunday. Grace will be flying with Susan and Eric Steeb. Tish Jacobs and her husband will be in another plane. Tiphani may fly in as well with her instructor.
Kevin Bumen, SBP airport manager
Kevin Bumen, the SBP airport manager, was our guest speaker for the meeting. He started in 2013 –“The things they don’t tell you when you are applying for a job…”.
After graduating from Cal Poly, he managed the airport in Truckee. He was hired to come to San Luis Obispo as a deputy director for the airport. Truckee Tahoe is an entirely general aviation airport, so stepping into the commercial aspects of aviation was new for him. The county government structure has changed significantly since then and the airport has separated off from the county general services. The new airport plans were just pretty pictures. He had to mend fences with the FAA. Growth was forecast but there had to be some upgrades handle baggage inspection. In the meantime, the transition from the airlines flying Brasilias to introducing Regional Jets demanded more changes. The FAA recognized that the change would create safety issues so the airport was able to get an FAA grant that provided a significant portion of the funds for construction of the new terminal.
The airport staff were involved in the design of the terminal and the process was lots of fun. The new jet bridges are set up with a special door to handle gate-checked bags, and with glass siding required a special permit. The airplane art came from a plane from Mojave and the airport staff were a part of that project too.
Now the bigger planes are flying a larger pattern so more homes are in the flight path, generating more phone calls to the airport. The developers of the new Avila Ranch subdivision have been in communication with the airport and will actually contribute financially to the airport administration to help cover some of the cost of answering those calls. Currently, the airport is handling 600,000 passengers annually, and it should be able to handle twice that number with the current facilities. The numbers are growing.
The planes are now so much larger and there are 14 commercial passenger flights a day now.
FedEx and Ameriflight are also flying as well.
The airport now has about 80,000 operations annually. Peak activity in the 1980’s was more that 100,000 about the time the tower was built.
Oceano is getting AWOS installed and should be ready for operation by March. The airport is now fully staffed. Three different web cams accessible through the internet website oceanoairport.com. A new aviation beacon is operating. There are hopes to get electricity and a commemorative flag pole at the campground. There was some discussion and suggestions about how to get help with upgrading the campground. Bill Borgsmiller from ACI offered to maintain any work that is done.
Airport Day plans[in SBP] at this time are limited by parking. Maybe it can be moved to Oceano or organized through ACI. There is little staff time available now that the county is no longer providing janitorial services, the airport crew is maintaining the new building. The old terminal is up for lease – hopefully to an aviation related business, but the building needs maintenance at this point and there are no specific plans. The flying cranes sculpture is still hanging in the lobby.
Chairman’s Message
Minutes of General Meeting