Ocean Ridge Airport

At long last, our airport is now fully OPEN! The X’s at each approach have been removed and the NOTAM has been lifted.

E55 was closed since January 9, 2023 for a total of 228 days or 62% of this calendar year.

Please be aware of the four newly added holding position lines when you drive onto the airport property and operate your aircraft. 

Soon, we will have some additional signage at the main entrance to alert drivers of the new lines and what they mean. As always, only authorized people are allowed to cross the runway (east hangar tenants, owner employees, and pilots accessing their tied down aircraft or parked cars).

Some of the tie down loops still need to be replaced in the newly replaced pavement in the tie down area. So be aware of that when you select a spot to tie down your aircraft.

The Bower Family would like to thank Pacific Gas and Electric Company for making good on its commitment to have the repairs done to return the airport to prior use and to their contractors that did all of this work. Namely, Ghilotti, Wipf Construction, Pavement Recycling Systems, and Chrisp Company. Every one of them did high quality work and acted as our partners over the many months it took for this effort.

Remember that the airport is private property and is only open to the public for aircraft operations. The airport is not a public place for non-aviation activities. As you know, the airport owner, John Bower, lives at the airport so please continue to be respectful of his private space and his efforts to keep this airport open and accessible to the public for the last 49 years and into the future. 

We hope to see you soon! Fly safely!

The bad news is that painting was slightly delayed due to contractor scheduling. It should be happening this coming week. But the good news is that we still made progress: a layer of material that will help prevent erosion was applied to the bare soil. Once the fall rains come we should see some seed germination and vegetation return to these areas.

Once we know when the markings will be applied, we will post another update.

Thanks for your continued patience!

The contractors have just a few more areas to tidy up around the fancy new pavement before they will prep for painting. 

There will also be some hydroseeding of the now-bare soil around the runway to prevent erosion. A botanist has been consulted about the best options for us given that we need something hardy as well as low-growing.  

As of right now, the painting subcontractor is scheduled for next weekend. We should be able to reopen the airport shortly after that. 

We’re almost there! 

Although the airport is still closed, we do have some great news! The repairs have commenced! PG&E’s contractors arrived in full force a few weeks back and got right to work.

Asphalt paving should happen in the next couple of weeks if the weather and geology cooperate.

Until then, here are some photos of the work:

As always, thanks for your patience while our runway is repaired. We will be sure to post when we have a firm re-opening date.

Ocean Ridge Airport remains closed to all air traffic. A NOTAM for closure is still posted. However, PG&E has had its hired contractors working to determine what needs to be done to make the necessary repairs.

This prep work includes mapping the runway with Trimble GPS for high accuracy locations of all key features, soils and materials testing, as well as the creation of a stormwater pollution prevention plan.

The contractor reported today that the first round of soil samples came back from the soils lab. One of the samples was mixed with concrete and tested for strength to ensure that the paving contractors identify the right formulation for optimum pavement material durability. Unfortunately, this first batch failed the strength testing. So three more formulations have been sent off for testing. Those results should be back to the contractor by the end of next week.

This winter and early spring have continued to be very wet by recent standards. It has taken a while for the soil under the damaged runway to dry out in order to get to the soils testing stage of this process. Luckily we’ve been without rain for several days now and there is nothing but dry weather in the immediate forecast.

Hopefully the next time we talk to the contractor, they will have a repair start date for us to look forward to.

California has been experiencing a series of intense rain storms for the last week. This extreme weather is expected to last into next week. It has caused extensive damage to the power infrastructure throughout the region, with most people having lost power for days on end. Down trees and power lines, flooded rivers, and mudslides are common sights around here right now.

The airport is closed to the public. Additionally, the runway has been closed to all aircraft through a NOTAM issued this weekend. This closure will last for at least several weeks. 

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has taken over the airport for staging of personnel, materials, and equipment while it works to repair damage throughout the region caused by this current series of storms. We’ve been told there will be 300 people on the site–it’s a big operation!

Airport tenants (hangars, minstorage, and industrial building) are being notified of this closure. They will have access to their units once PG&E has finalized the staging of its materials and equipment.

Despite the immense personal cost, John Bower has worked diligently to keep the airport operational and available for decades for uses exactly like this–as a public service to the community and greater region. As you all know, many of us (including the owner, who lives on the property!) still do not have power and therefore no heat, lights, or the ability to cook and clean as usual. Our region’s students will be out of school until power is restored. It’s important that we cooperate with PG&E so it can get reliable power back on for all its customers. 

We appreciate your understanding and patience during this experience. We’re all in this together.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the airport manager, Julie Bower at 925-337-4145 or at juliebower001@gmail.com. 

The NOTAM for runway closure has been extended through Friday night, September 17, 2021 to allow more time to finish the painting. The airport was socked in with fog all day today (forecast again for tomorrow), which resulted in extra work of reapplying all our chalk lines that had washed off over night. But we’re getting there! Your patience is appreciated.

A NOTAM has been issued for runway closure for Saturday, September 11, 2021 through Wednesday, September 15, 2021. This is probably more time than we need for applying the markings but we want wriggle room just in case.

We are all noticing supply chain issues with materials these days and this runway project is no different. The intense winter storm that hit Texas back in February affected some manufacturing plants that supply resins for paint and other industries. As a result, it has been difficult to track down white traffic paint to apply the markings on the runway. Luckily our paint suppliers and local businesses have been helping us find a few buckets here and a few buckets there.

Have a great weekend everyone! We look forward to welcoming you back to E55 soon.

Hello friends of Ocean Ridge Airport!

The airport will be closed in the next week for some runway pavement work. We’re not sure how much time will be needed before the actual slurrying to get things prepared or afterward to get the markings applied. So we can’t give exact closure dates yet. But we are told that the contractor will be doing the slurry work on Saturday, September 11.

As always, please check the appropriate resources for NOTAMs. For general information, you can also check here on the airport website for closure information as it becomes available. 

It’s been 7 years since we last had the runway reslurried and it’s long overdue. The price has more than doubled and, just as it was back in 2014, we’re lucky to have found a company willing to come all the way up here to do the work. It’s getting harder and harder to find–and of course more and more expensive. If you care to donate toward the cost, it would be most appreciated.

We appreciate your understanding and patience while this work is done! 

At long last, we are very excited to host a webcam and a weather station on the east side of the Pilot Lounge. This allows you to check the live weather conditions on the runway to the north, east, and south at any time: www.webcamwx.com.

If you are planning a flight along the coast, you can check the weather at a several locations.

Fly safely everyone!