I am sorry that we have had a few problems in the production of our new Forum.  There are only a few things we need to know about the use of the forum.

There are several catagories or articles that you all can comment on.  If you would like a new one just let me know.  By making a comment, you add to the thread and it becomes an interesting column of comments and ideas.

1.  If you want to comment on a thread (a thread is a story line that has been built on by various readers).  First click on comment under that thread.  If you add a comment to a thread but at the end of the wrong original article, it will not make much since as your comment will not be of the same subject matter as the rest of the comments in that thread.  It won't make sense to most readers.  So...just make sure that you are in the correct thread or article before you submit the comment.

2.  On the right border you will find the different threads and the number of comments.  By clicking on the article that interests you,  a new page with all the comments to that entry thread will appear.  A LINEAR listing of original article and then all comments will be seen.  Make a comment where it asks for one.  Your email and other information is not shared.  

3.  Articles and original subjects are by the moderator at this time.  Original "articles" are welcome.  Just contact me and we will make you a contributor.  

4.  This is the WEB.  Be careful about the information you offer.  Phone numbers are OK but only if you want anyone and everyone in the world, even Al-Qaida, to know it.  Personal information is risky so be careful.  I will call you or send you an email if I see something that puts you at risk during the moderation process, prior to publishing.

That is it. .  Changes will be made as this thing evolves.  Hopefully you will all visit often and comment as you wish.

        

The Vacaville Reporter did a nice job telling Vacaville about our forum on Wednesday, December 26, 2007.  Brian Hamlin, the author of the article,  conducted a fast phone interview last week.  It is amazing that he got so much out of a 5 minute call.  I think he might of visited one of our websites.  We are also featured on the "WebCentral" page where the Reporter hosted blogs are listed.  This was a welcome bit of coverage.  Thanks Brian and The Vacaville Reporter. 

        

I read with great interest a few months ago that the Nut Tree Post Office had been offered a home at the airport.  The news, that the post office branch bearing the Nut Tree name was being resurrected, was indeed good news.  Even better, to have found a home at the Nut Tree Airport.  My first question was why didn't the Nut Tree Associates want this bit of Vacaville nostalgia for themselves.  A nice addition to their Market Place.  Was there a deeper story yet untold?  The Powers control the right to the name and concept of the Nut Tree Post Office.  The Post Office is a federal operation for sure, but this is a special Postal outlet like the one at DisneyLand.   Not funded by federal money, staffed by private employees who wear postal uniforms.  I think this is correct.  If not someone please let us all know. 
What happened to the plans to bring it to the Airport?  Andy Swanson, our airport manager, advised me that he is surprised that the deal hasn't been finished by now.  He is waiting on those who make the decisions about the post office.  In other words,  Solano County has done everything they can to help this thing along.  They don't know why it hasn't happened yet.  Have the County people made a phone call to the Powers people to get this thing happening? 

The reasons for wanting the Post Office and it's special Nut Tree Postage Stamp at the Airport are quite basic.  It will increase the number of public visits to the airport.  It will bring Vacaville residents onto the property so they can witness that we actually have an airport.  The postal outlet will bring another business to the site, make it easier for future renters, vendors and the new F.B.O. to do their mailings.  There are not many special Postal Codes around.  This one commemorates a part of the important history of this area.  I hope it continues, especially at the airport.  Comments?

        

I am happy to present a forum that allows you to talk publicly about our airport.  My hope, as moderator of this interactive part of space, is to promote meaningful dialog about the Nut Tree Airport.  I hope that the Vacaville community as well as airport vendors, renter, aircraft owners, hanger owners and all those interested in the airport will consider participating.

Our rules are these:

No profanity
If you have a complaint, follow it up with a solution.  Doesn't have to be the end solution, just something positive.
Be kind to the other posters.  No slamming allowed.  Violators will be ejected.
Original comments only. No forwarded emails will be published.  Let the author of the email know about the forum and ask them to submit directly. Thanks

My first action is to invite your all to join in and post questions that you would like our airport manager, Andy Swanson, to answer.  Don't hold back, ask what is on your mind.

The next thing on this site's agenda is to invite you all to list what the airport has meant to you over the years.  Or, how about, what the airport could do for you or your community in the future. 

Now let's start...........

        

A COMMUNITY TREASURE

Solano County Airport Vacaville, Nut Tree
Originally published in Vacaville Magazine

By David Aronson

I had an after school ritual, I rode my bicycle to the local airport and watched the airplanes take off and land.  Thoughts of flying were a distraction for me.  I would dream of what kind of airplane, where I might go and how it would feel.  Drawing and making model airplanes, playing make believe air-combat games, complete with sound effects, was a regular past-time.  My fantasies of flight have been shared by many young men and women since the Wright brothers’ first successful flight in 1903.

This same joy, seeing young people live their dream of flight, is available every month at our own Vacaville Nut Tree Airport .  In fact, any child from 8 to 18 can fly free due to a program named “Young Eagles”.  A project jointly sponsored by the local Tuskeegee airmen and the E.A.A. Chapter 1230. It is only a single event in the life of our local airport.  A place that many Vacaville citizens don’t realize is still open and thriving.

On any Saturday you can tour the AircraftMuseum hangars of one of the Nut Tree Airports biggest supporters, Duncan Miller.  Duncan has the donuts ready and his three Stearmans, Piper Cub, Vultee BT-13, T-28 and other historic aircraft polished and ready for viewing.  Duncan, an airport landmark, is a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and local volunteer for just about every worthy project.  Loves and Fishes, Community Food Bank, his local church are just a few. His love, of course, is airplanes and people.  Duncan has sponsored so many young aviators that it is hard to count them.  Many are currently serving their country or flying passengers for a living.  Others help fuel the interest of aviation by hanging out, telling stories or adding to the “gift of flight” by flying others.  Duncan’s collection takes up 3 large hangars.  He will no doubt invite you into his “living room” for a soda.  There you will find wonderful pictures and stories, mostly first hand accounts involving the likes of Chuck Yaeger and Bob Hoover.

During your visit to our local airport you will also note many experimental aircraft being stored and assembled.  The trend toward small experimental aircraft leading the way for designing and testing new certificated aircraft is real.  Two new certified aircraft manufacturers, Cirrus and Lancair (Columbia), began as “kit” manufacturers.  In fact they remain in that business alongside the certified aircraft direction.  In fact, every aircraft that you have every flown in,  all commercial airliners, began as experimental aircraft.

During your visit to the nut Tree Airport you will also find large corporate hangars filled with exotic aircraft, aircraft repair businesses and also the Solano Community College Aeronautics Division.  This school curriculum teaches the science of aeronautics to young and old.  These well trained students are ready to take certification examinations and will join the ranks of commercial aircraft mechanics, aviation business management and aircraft design.

The NutTreeAirport is not just a recreational and historic-rich destination though.  It is a dynamic part of Northern California’s economic vitality.  It is one of approximately 19,000 airports in the United States.  During a typical day, you would see approximately 297 flight operations at the NutTree Airport.  These would include commercial flights like corporate jets flying execs from one of our biotech/pharmaceutical manufacturers or oil line inspection flights by a company hangared at the airport.  Some are light jets carrying packages for delivery, medical flights, law enforcement operations, weather monitoring and aviation training flights.  Other flights are commuting pilots who use aircraft for work travel.  It is a busy place that adds to the diversity of our community’s transportation options as well as growth options for our community.

The Nut TreeAirport is a “general aviation” airport.  “General Aviation” is all civilian flying except scheduled passenger airlines.  Our local airport currently has no air carrier flights but does support commercial aviation every day.  An estimated 65% of general aviation flights are conducted for business and public services that need transportation more flexible than the airlines can offer. That flexibility can be a local businessman flying his own small airplane to see four clients on a one-day trip to Oregon or a CEO and five staff members working at 30,000 feet while en route to a meeting.  The efficiency of this type of transportation is proven.  General Aviation carries more than 13% of all air passengers while using less than 5% of the total fuel.  In a typical year, General Aviation aircraft carry about 90 million passengers.  In 1999, the air carriers consumed an estimated 19.43 billion gallons of fuel.  Because of the efficiency of smaller corporate and personal aircraft, General Aviation consumed only 1.2 billion gallons.  Barely 5.8% of all the fuel used for air transportation in the U.S.  Smaller Commercial Jets is where air flight is headed.  Our Nut Tree Airport will be a destination in the future.

The airplanes that “live” at our local airport are part of roughly 215,000 civil aircraft registered in the Unites States.  200,000 are general aviation airplanes.  This fleet or aircraft is the mainspring of a $20 billion a year industry which generates more than $102 billion in economic activity nation wide.  Our community benefits as the airport creates a positive ripple effect in our local economy.  Business people take advantage of rapid, on-demand air transportation, and the airport helps attract corporations that would never locate a plant, headquarters or distribution center in a town without an airport.  Imagine Genentech and  Alza (J&J) not having chosen Vacaville for their operations.

Our local airport began as a dirt strip in the 1930 when Ernie Smith made an emergency landing next to the Eucalyptus grove.  Ed Power Jr., the former Nut Tree Restaurant owner, constructed an improved airport in 1955.  It was a popular destination during the height of the Nut Tree Restaurants’ success.  It was also the home of the Vacaville Rotary Clubs’ Fly-ins.  These events brought the likes of John Glenn, General Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yaeger and others as guest speakers. Ed Power donated the airport property toSolanoCounty in 1968.  The airport remains a SolanoCounty operation to this date.  There has been some confusion on the part of the community about the airport’s future and the surrounding land.  The land around the airport is in the City of Vacaville’s jurisdiction.  The Nut Tree property, to the east/southeast of the airport, is Vacaville Redevelopment land.  It is being developed and some of it purchased by Snell and Co.  

OUR AIRPORTS FUTURE

The current management of our Nut Tree Airport is very aggressively promoting the Airport General Plan.  The airport has received a runway extension, re-alignment and enlargement of the taxiways, totally new airport apron and tie-down parking.  A new environmentally friendly wash-area has been installed and we now enjoy a new automobile parking lot as well as a wider entry road to the airport .  The new security fencing and an upgraded pilot lounge in the County Building were completed in March of 2007.  Approximately 18 acres of land have been purchased for future expansion just north of the airport.  The County is planning to purchase more land to protect the airport from developer’s encroachment.  There is a lot more development planned and the City and business community should be really glad!  A formal connection between the airport and the Nut Tree development is a must.  It would allow an easy walk for airport arrivals to take advantage of the new shopping and restaurants.  Expansion of the city bus line to the county airport building would encourage more fly-in business for our shops and Vacaville community activities like Fiesta Days, Saturday Downtown Market and other downtown events.

Our NutTreeAirport is a very important part of what Vacaville is.  It is an asset that only a few communities enjoy.  Once gone, it will never return.  Like a prized, one of a kind treasure, it is well worth protecting and supporting.  Come out and see for yourself.

For more information about the NutTree Airport.  www.nuttreeairport.org

        

We have all been listening to the rumor-mill at the airport.  Rumor slinging is a natural part of being in aviation.   Story telling takes practice and spreading rumors is like telling stories.  Just my theory.  I would like to list the current rumors for you.  I am convinced that by the time I did, the rumor would have already changed, like a mutating virus.  By the time you identify it, it has been changed by the next teller.  I invite you to share the latest rumor that you have heard about the Nut Tree Airport.  Maybe a way to start such a track would be to write;  "I just heard that __________.  Is it true?"  Just a suggestion to show you how easy it is. 

        

The Nut Tree Airport is an important part of our community.  A gift from the Power family, it has been "managed" by the County of Solano since 1968.  The airport, until recently, has not had the kind of support that it deserves.  The airport has not grown as feverishly as the community surrounding it.  Vacaville's growth has put a great strain on the future of the airport.  Land value increases put development strain on the use of the land.  The land could contribute more revenues as a shopping mall or residences,  making the airport an under-achiever in some minds.  The Airport General Plan  is 15 years old and needs immediate updating.   The Nut Tree Airport Advisory Committee voted to ask Solano County to contribute funds for the new general plan, to the tune of $300,000.000.  These funds would come back to the county from FAA grants.   This would allow  Andy  Swanson to  proceed immediately with General Plan, not wait another year for FAA funding to be approved. What do you think about the Solano County support for our airport so far?

We will discuss ways to promote our airport in this forum.  I hope to also cover methods that might help us support the future of the Nut Tree Airport. 

The Friends of the Nut Tree Airport, (FONTA) is forming.  Organizing at this point, developing the charter, by-laws, incorporation papers and non-profit status.  The board of directors will be announced soon, as the paperwork is completed.   The mission of this group is published at www.friendsofnuttreeairport.com.  If you would like to get active go to their website.  Use it as a resource for your advocacy activities concerning the Nut Tree Airport.  You will find contact information for those State and Federal elected officials, County Supervisors, City officials and others.  The site also lists a chronological events report for Nut Tree Airport News.

Visit the Airport and look around.  Also, visit the websites:  www.solanopilots.com, www.Nuttreeairport.com, and www.EAA1230.com.  These sites are informational only.  Nothing to purchase, just more input about what the airport and it's users are about. 

You can also become active in our local Chamber of Commerce, attend City Planning Commission and City Counsel meetings and let everyone know about your views here at the NTAF (Nut Tree Airport Forum).