Columbus Municipal
OLU · KOLU · Columbus, Nebraska · Platte County · map
Columbus Municipal is a public-use airport owned by the City of Columbus, 1 mile northeast of Columbus, Nebraska, 1,447 feet above sea level. It has 2 runways; the longest, 14/32, is 6,801 feet of concrete. It has fuel (100LL avgas, Jet A) and about 37 based aircraft. The FAA counts about 8,000 takeoffs and landings a year.
Flight planning warnings, pilot reports, winds aloft, restrictions · for planning, not a briefing
1 warning in force over this field:
- AIRMET TANGO 3W: low-level wind shear (due to air speed loss or gain of 20 knots or more below 2,000 ft above the ground).
Winds aloft at the nearest forecast point (GRI, 52 nm southwest), for use 02:00–09:00 UTC: 6,000 ft: 230° at 35 kt, 21 °C; 9,000 ft: 230° at 23 kt, 13 °C; 12,000 ft: 220° at 20 kt, 7 °C; 18,000 ft: 240° at 25 kt, -8 °C.
No temporary flight restriction within 50 nautical miles.
The full picture: all warnings and reports, winds to 39,000 ft, radar and forecast charts
From the government's aviation weather service and the FAA's restriction list, refreshed every few minutes. This is for planning; the legal briefing comes from Flight Service or the FAA's own tools. Ordinary notices to air missions (closed runways, lights out) are not shown: the FAA's notice search is not open to sites like this one at this time.
Activity now checking the volunteer receiver network…
Within ten miles
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Arrivals and departures, last hour
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From the volunteer receiver network, a few minutes behind at most; aircraft whose owners asked the FAA not to be displayed are left out; no person is named. Open the live map here.
The airport
- Codes
- FAA OLU · ICAO KOLU
- Kind
- Airport · open to the public · publicly owned
- Owner
- City of Columbus
- Elevation
- 1,447 feet above sea level
- Control tower
- No control tower
- Attended
- every day, daylight hours
- Lights
- runway lights see the remarks below; beacon sunset to sunrise
- Fuel and services
- 100LL avgas, Jet A; the services card below
- On the chart
- Omaha sectional
- Magnetic variation
- 3E
- In the FAA's files since
- August 1945
Runways 2
For understanding the field, not for navigation.
| Runway | Length × width | Surface | Lights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14/32 | 6,801 × 100 ft | Concrete, good | Medium-intensity lights |
| 02/20 | 4,135 × 150 ft | Grass, fair |
- Runway 14: LOCALIZER, PAPI, four lights on the left, medium-intensity approach lights with runway alignment lights (MALSR), 6,260 ft available for landing
- Runway 32: VASI, four boxes on the left, threshold displaced 950 ft, 5,850 ft available for landing, tree 60 ft high 1,275 ft from the end
- Runway 02: threshold displaced 101 ft
Radio frequencies
| Common traffic advisory (CTAF) · UNICOM | 123.05 | |
| Olu and aWOS-3PT | 125.525 | |
| Omaha and center (remote transmitter) Low | 128.75 |
Automated weather (AWOS-3PT), by phone 402-563-3895.
Based aircraft as counted for the FAA, fiscal year 2024
Based aircraft, as a table
| aircraft | |
|---|---|
| single-engine | 33 |
| multi-engine | 3 |
| jets | 1 |
Takeoffs and landings a year about 8,000, the FAA's fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024)
Takeoffs and landings, as a table
| a year | |
|---|---|
| air taxi and commuter | 200 |
| general aviation, travelling | 5,000 |
| general aviation, local | 2,750 |
| military | 50 |
Local flights stay in the traffic pattern or nearby, often practice; travelling flights arrive from or leave for somewhere else. Counts at airports without a tower are the FAA's estimates. How this compares nationally: Airports by the numbers.
Wind map live wind over the area, from Windy.com
Colours show wind speed, the moving lines its direction; drag the time bar for the coming days. Map and forecast by Windy.com.
Aircraft registered in Columbus from the FAA register
41 aircraft are registered to owners in Columbus, Nebraska: 29 piston singles, 7 drones, 2 turboprops, 2 weight-shift and powered parachutes, 1 piston twin. Not every one of them is based at this airport; the based-aircraft count above is the FAA's figure for this airport alone.
Companies and organisations in town with two or more aircraft:
Individuals are counted, not named (the site's policy at this time). All aircraft registered in Nebraska.
Fuel and services as reported to the FAA
- Fuel
- 100LL avgas, Jet A
- Repairs
- airframe and engine: major repairs
- Parking
- hangars, tie-downs
- Also here
- air freight, flight instruction, aircraft rental
Other fields with jet fuel nearby: Norfolk Rgnl/Karl Stefan Memorial Field (33 nm north), York Municipal (36 nm south), Wahoo Municipal (36 nm east).
The FAA's file records what is sold and done at the field, as the airport manager reports it, not who sells it or the price; fuel sellers (FBOs) are not named in any public file. Airports selling jet fuel in Nebraska · avgas.
Who works here from the FAA's certificate lists and the register
Flight schools, flying clubs and college flight programmes in Columbus, by their names on the register:
- Kolu Pilots Flying Club LLC 1 aircraft
- Mutual Flyers INC 1 aircraft
Companies in the same town as this airport; not every one of them works from this field. All operators · all repair stations · all flight schools · all FBOs.
Examiners and inspectors nearby designated by the FAA · within 50 nautical miles
3 pilot examiners (the FAA's designated pilot examiners, who give the practical tests for pilot certificates) are based within 50 nautical miles: 3 for private pilot, 3 for commercial and instrument, 1 for airline transport pilot, 3 for flight instructor, 2 for sport pilot; 3 for airplanes, 2 for multi-engine airplanes, 1 for helicopters. Also nearby: 1 sport aviation examiner, 5 aviation medical examiners, 2 mechanic examiners, 1 airworthiness representative (maintenance), 1 administrative pilot examiner.
- Daniel Lee Kelley private pilot, commercial and instrument, airline transport pilot, flight instructor, instrument instructor, sport pilot, instructor renewals, ground instructor; airplanes, multi-engine airplanes · Ignite Flight Academy · Lincoln, NE (45 nm) · (713) 703-8478 · dlk787@icloud.com
- Jeffery Joseph Counter private pilot, commercial and instrument, flight instructor, instrument instructor, sport pilot, instructor renewals, military competency, ground instructor; airplanes, multi-engine airplanes · Performance Aviation · lincoln, NE (45 nm) · (402) 305-2658 · learn2flynebraska@gmail.com
- Jeremy Charles Strack private pilot, commercial and instrument, flight instructor, instructor renewals, military competency, ground instructor; airplanes, helicopters · Ignite Flight Academy · Lincoln, NE (45 nm) · (402) 419-4434 · jeremy.strack@gmail.com
All 13 nearby, by kind, with contact details
What each kind does
- DPE: Designated Pilot Examiner: gives the practical tests (checkrides) for pilot certificates and ratings.
- SAE: Sport Aviation Examiner: gives the tests for sport pilot certificates and light-sport aircraft.
- AME: Aviation Medical Examiner: a doctor who issues the medical certificates pilots must hold.
- DME: Designated Mechanic Examiner: tests candidates for the mechanic certificate (airframe and powerplant).
- DAR-T: Designated Airworthiness Representative, maintenance: issues airworthiness certificates and approvals for aircraft in service.
- Admin-PE: Administrative Pilot Examiner: handles certificate paperwork rather than flight tests.
Designees are listed with the name and contact details the FAA publishes for them on its designee locator (read October 10, 2026): the FAA lists them so that pilots, mechanics and companies can find them. Private individuals are not named, the site's policy at this time. A designee who would rather not appear here can ask us through the contact address on the About page. Each designee is placed at the main public airport of the town the FAA lists (or the nearest one to its zip code), so "nearby" means the town, not an exact address. All examiners by state.
Accidents and incidents at or near this airport NTSB records · 5 since 1982, 0 fatal
Cases the NTSB recorded with this as the nearest airport, newest first. Each opens the full report in plain English. The country as a whole: Where accidents happen.
Nearby within 30 nautical miles
The FAA's remarks as written in the airport file, spelled out
- Activate medium-intensity runway lights runway 14/32; PAPI runway 14; VASI runway 32; runway end identifier lights runway 32 and approach lights (MALSR) runway 14 - the common traffic frequency.
- Shuraya choat, city clerk
- Runway 02/20 not plowed winter months.
- Runway 02 end cones mark displaced thld; not runway end.
- Boundary MARKERS-G.
- Runway 32 clnc slope 37:1 to displaced threshold.
- Waterfowl in the vicinity of airport.
- Deer in the vicinity of airport.
- Runway 32 is designated as the calm wind runway.
Connections how this airport links to the rest of the register
- Aircraft registered in Columbus 41 aircraft · 29 piston singles, 7 drones, 2 turboprops
- Avcraft INC 3 aircraft in town
- Yellow Airplane LLC 2 aircraft in town
- Kolu Pilots Flying Club LLC 1 aircraft · flying club
- Mutual Flyers INC 1 aircraft · flight school
- NTSB accidents and incidents at or near this airport 5 since 1982 · 0 fatal
- Accidents and incidents in Nebraska 763 since 1982 · 108 in the last ten years
- Nearby landing places within 30 nautical miles 8 airports, heliports and seaplane bases
- Public-use airports in Nebraska 78 landing places
- Nebraska 2,943 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/airport/OLU.json.
Facts from the FAA's airport file effective October 1, 2026, written out in plain English; weather from the National Weather Service's aviation weather service; registered aircraft from the FAA register as of October 9, 2026; accidents from the NTSB's public database. Owners are shown only when they are an organisation; no person is named. Check the official sources before a flight: this page is for understanding an airport, not for planning one.