University Airport

One of CAFF's aircraft about to take off from what was formerly called runway 16, recently renamed to runway 17.

Location

1 Airport Road, approximately 2 miles West of UC Davis Campus

Elevation

68 ft. / 20.7 m

ICAO Identifier

KEDU

Control Tower

None

Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF)

123.075

Automated Weather Reporting System (AWOS)

Frequency: 119.025, Telephone number: 530-754-6839

Webpage: http://awos.foua.org

Number of Aircraft Based at Airport

62

Some Useful Links

Pilot information: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KEDU

Management information: http://www.taps.ucdavis.edu/

Friends of University Airport http://www.foua.org

The University Airport, located on the UC Davis Campus, opened in 1946 and was acquired by UC Davis in 1950. It is now under regulation of TAPS. It is the home of Cal Aggie Flying Farmers and Davis Air Repair. The Cal Aggie Flying Farmers are the primary FBO (Fixed Base Operator) on the airport and they offer rental of lightweight airplanes, and low cost flight instruction. Davis Air Repair and Utility Aircraft Corp. (http://www.utilityaircraft.com/aboutus.html; 530-756-1202) offers repair and maintenance of aircraft and aircraft sales.

The airport is a general aviation airport and, as such, it works as a place for the UC's research fields and agricultural endeavors as well as a convenient place for UC employee transportation. It also has a working AWOS weather station which can be heard by phoning 530-754-6839, or viewed online.

Because the earth's magnetic field is always moving, the runway directions at University Airport changed in April 2009. The new runways are Runway 17 and Runway 35

The sign doesn't lie!

A Visiting Aircraft

Another view of Runway 17

Cal Aggie Flying Farmers Fleet

182 (Retractable gear)

2011 Open House scheduled Saturday, October 22, 12 noon to 4 pm.
Should also be a Young Eagles flying event for kids that morning, and Friends of University Airport's dinner that evening.

2010's Open House happened on Saturday, April 24th!

2009's Open House was Saturday, April 25th. http://www.eaa119.org/?q=node/123

2007's Open House happened Saturday, April 28 http://www.foua.org/SourceImages/2007-04-Open_House/index.html.

At night, one can walk down Olive Tree Lane (off Russell) to a road that is just behind the runway. You can watch planes land over your head there - it's a thrill.

Back in the hey-day of SOS, there used to be what was known as the "Airport Party" held every year. This entailed holding the biggest, baddest party of the year right on the University Airport tarmac. The club used to charter out Unitrans buses to pick up Freshmen and take them to the party. They would also rent out a U-Haul truck and fill it with kegs. Fortunately, this tradition stopped after SOS was threatened that they would be kicked off campus if the shenanigans continued.

• This is a really bad idea. Please, if you want a really crazy party, please do it somewhere else. This not only endangers the partiers (it's their own choice, so I don't care all that much), but also possibly innocent pilots and their passengers. Planes are free to land at Davis at any time, and even for a normal flight at night, this could pose a serious hazard. However, if the pilot is trying to make an emergency landing at Davis (not as odd as it may sound), this party idea could have fatal consequences. If a pilot can't land on the runway, they very well may crash. Depending on the state of the plane and the fuel available, once a plane is on final approach for the runway, that crash could even be into the crowd of partiers. If a VFR (non-instrument) pilot was slated to land at another local airport that is blocked by bad weather (such as happened at Nut Tree in Vacaville a year or so back), Davis may well be one of their backup choices, and if they made some bad decisions, they may be coming in on a very empty tank. An IFR (instrument) pilot would probably just divert to Sac Intl. or Concord, but they are a small minority of the flying population. Most pilots will just go for the closest safe airport. I've flown into Davis at night before, and it would have been really upsetting (to say the least) to find the runway clogged with partiers (although, since it was never an emergency landing, hopefully the results would not have been fatal). I would fully support the police arresting the people involved with planning a party like that. —EricKlein
  

• Yeah, no shit it was stupid, that's why it doesnt' happen anymore. Perhaps when it was still an annual event, the UCD airport wasn't getting as much traffic. Sorry, I'm a wee bit inebriated. I'll delete this later. -AbbyLawson
  

• Sorry, I didn't mean to come across so strongly. I was mostly responding to the "So if any other club is up for the job...?" comment. Flying is one of the few things that I actually take really seriously. —EricKlein
  

• Hey don't worry about it. I meant the line as a joke! I didn't realize the airport was so heavily used and wouldn't have said it had I known earlier. :-) -AbbyLawson

Comments:

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2004-12-22 11:48:23   Although, the cops don't really have much of a right to hassle you here (not as far as I know of anyway). In fact, many airports actually have a designated parking lot/park area where people can sit and watch the planes. I think someone was just being a bit of a prick (not really the cop, who was probably just doing his job, but the jerk who called to report you). Seriously. What sort of "terrorist" is just waiting to mess w/ the UCD campus airport? - EricKlein

2005-06-08 19:54:00   I've gone out to the north end of the runway on a limited number of occasions to watch the planes land and take off. One of the days I went there, it was slow, and I only saw two taking off. The other day I went, there was no air traffic. You can park by the bee center and walk right out onto a closed section of road between a field and the dirt end of the runway field. I actually took my camera out there to take pictures, and nothing happened. If they question me, I'll just show them my business card.... The above photos were taken by me.—AndrewLeonard

2005-09-27 19:43:20   I don't know if they still do this, but a few years back they used to take students in EAE 129 (Stability & Control) up in 4-seater Cessnas to let them see what pitch, yaw, and roll were. Students went in groups of three students went up at a time and whoever sat in front with the pilot usually got to try their hand at flying. —TracyPerkins

2006-02-19 22:41:48   I'd be surprised if anyone had objections to someone watching airplanes land or taking pictures. In fact, if you want a ride, you could probably just walk up to someone preflighting a plane and say, "Can I come along?" I fly out there about once a month and I'm always happy to have passengers come along for the ride. —ChrisMoore

2006-02-22 23:03:47   Speaking of that chris.... I posted on the Flying Farmers facebook group, but I'm trying to find someone who's qualified (who has a moderate number of solo hours) who I could go up with soon to take some aerial pictures. If nobody has a plane, I'd be happy to pitch in for rental/gas of a cheapo 152 for an hour or two. —AndrewLeonard

2006-02-22 23:41:03   Dang! I'd love to go up with someone in need of a passenger. —TarZxf

2006-03-17 15:51:19   I fly out there and spend a lot of time messing around in one of the hangars at the south end of the airport. I think it's extremely cool that you guys are interested enough to come out and stand by the runway and watch people land. I'm sure nearly all of the pilots feel this way when they see people taking pics or whatever. I practically grew up at that airport and it would be a shame to see it gone, so the more people that come out to enjoy it, the better. The Cal Aggie Flying Farmers offers reasonably cheap demo rides if you want to go flying. —SteveDold

2006-08-31 14:53:31   So, as of now, I have plans to get my license there in the spring. Expensive? Yes. Always been a dream of mine? Hell yes! Good place to learn. I've put in about 20-30 hours at the controls of a taildragger this summer just because of the nature of my job. I hear the trainers aren't as fun, but hey, once I'm licensed you can rent/get qualified for much more interesting aircraft! —AndrewLeonard

2006-10-12 12:59:04   Posted pilot information link —GrumpyoldGeek

2006-11-25 15:12:16   The cops (UCD Police) have every right to "hassle" you at the airport because UCD owns the airport. Anybody can watch the airplanes without any hassling, or even wander around some and look at the ones parked on the tarmac, though post 9/11 you might get asked what you're doing. Want a ride in a small plane? Ask any pilot you see, or contact me.—RalphFinch

2006-11-27 01:14:08   at least once a month i ride my bike to the airport with my camera and some food and i just sit on next to the tarmac for hours taking pictures and wtching planes take-off and land. I got to go up a an Alon aircoupe at the Young Eagles day. I hope there is another one of those! —AndersYoung

2007-07-22 23:22:45   I want an airport party —ilowis

2008-12-18 09:50:46   I am looking to fly into Davis this weekend and looking for transporation to get around town. Can one rent a Bike at the airport? Any other recommendations? Will be there for only 3 hours, so want to avoid renting a car for a day if possible. —VijayR

• Probably easiest to just call a taxi for a ride into town and then back. Assuming you're not disabled, you can walk most anywhere downtown in a few minutes. You might also find a kind soul at the airport who would give you a ride downtown —JimStewart
  

2008-12-18 12:52:50   Thanks Jim. That is a cool plane you have! —VijayR

2010-08-10 11:24:18   For the past 3 weeks there has been the same plane buzzing west Davis every morning at 7 am. Very unpleasant for those of us who like to open our windows at night. Besides being completely rude, I wonder what are the legalities involved here. It is an obvious case of noise pollution. Does anyone know who I can call? —JonFenske

• If it was a cropduster, there's probably nothing that can be done. They work under a different set of rules than private pilots. All of the cropdusters around here are yellow airplanes with radial engines. I mention the engine because it has a unique sound and you won't mistake it for a Cessna once you hear the difference. If you still think it's a private pilot, you can call the Sacramento FAA FSDO and they will investigate. —JimStewart
  

2011-07-01 13:16:25   I saw a note from Jennifer Cook on my wiki site - I don't check it very often. Thanks for the note. No problem at all with noise since last Summer. I think there was just one very, very rude pilot who enjoyed buzzing neighborhoods and waking people up. I know our neighbors were mad about it too. What made it hard for us is it also woke up our young children. Anyway, it was a one-time (couple of weeks) problem, and all is well now. Thanks! —JonFenske