As representatives of the Centennial Airport and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continue to disagree about why more aircraft are flying over nearby neighborhoods, residents are frustrated by a lack of progress.
“I’m begging you for solutions,” said Audra Dubler, a Greenwood Village resident, during the Feb. 9 Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority Board of Commissioners meeting. “I think there’s a huge amount of frustration and confusion. I have no rights. Everyone’s telling me, ‘No, the FAA,’ or it’s you, or who is it? Everyone keeps passing the buck.”
Dubler is a leader of Quiet Skies Over Arapahoe County, a group of residents advocating for changes to be made to address safety and noise concerns at Centennial Airport.
For months, they have been attending meetings to raise concerns about increased air traffic, noise and lead pollution impacting residents, specifically those living north of Arapahoe Road.
At the Feb. 1 Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable meeting, roughly 150 people attended either in person or virtually.
“The residents are mad. I’m mad. Because it’s maddening to have as many as two flight school planes at a time or more buzzing over your house for hours on end,” said Greenwood Village Councilmember Donna Johnston. “The residents are not going to stop until there’s a resolution because their homes, their sanctuary, their lives are being affected.”
The increase in noise and air traffic began approximately eight months ago, Dubler said.
“We’re not anti-airport. We’re not anti-pilot. We just want our homes back that we had eight months ago,” she said.
FAA denies making changes post mid-air collision
While residents have reported an increase in the frequency of flights, specifically flight school training aircraft, going over their homes, the Centennial Airport and FAA do not agree on the cause.
During the January roundtable meeting, a few people said traffic patterns had changed due to two planes colliding in midair over the Cherry Creek State Park area in May 2021, leading to more aircraft traffic above neighborhoods.
However, Michael Valencia, general manager of the FAA Denver District, disagreed that there has been a pattern change.
Valencia attended the Feb. 1 meeting in person and was joined virtually by three other FAA representatives. To help clarify what the FAA did after the mid-air collision, the administration gave a presentation.
In its assessment of the mid-air collision, the FAA “determined that we saw some drift,” Valencia said.
“When we looked at this event and how we operate as a whole here in Centennial, and other airports, we determined that we really need to tighten up our ship,” he said.
According to the presentation, air traffic controllers at Centennial Airport “received specific refresher training on the requirement of positive control and the managing of base turns to mitigate potential conflicts with aircraft landing the parallel runway and prevent the reoccurrence of another mid-air collision.”
Valencia explained that in the case of the mid-air collision, if the controller had directed one of the pilots to extend the traffic pattern, the collision likely would not have occured.
“I directed them (the controllers) that if you’re in that situation, then you’re going to take control and you’re going to prevent a collision. And you’re going to extend that downwind and manage those turns to make sure that we are preventing those,” Valencia said.
FAA representatives said this is not a change.
“We made no changes to the procedures in how we operate traffic beyond servicing the demand that is coming in. I want to make sure that I stress that,” said Justin Biassou, an FAA community engagement officer. “There was no procedural change, there was nothing that was written.”
A few members of the roundtable disagreed with the claim that no change was made.
“It’s a matter of semantics, again. The training that the air traffic controllers got caused a difference in their approach to dealing with planes. And that difference in the approach to their dealing with planes has caused the increased noise over the communities,” said Alison Biggs, a Douglas County representative on the roundtable.
Castle Pines Councilmember Chris Eubanks, also a member of the roundtable, added, “When something is done one way and then an event happens and then it’s done differently, I don’t know how else you can classify that as other than a change.”
FAA says increased aircraft in traffic pattern is causing more planes to fly over homes
According to the FAA’s analysis, the primary factor for the increase in the “visual flight rules (VFR) pattern footprint” at Centennial Airport is increased aircraft volume in the traffic pattern.
“We think the causal factor is basically the amount of aircraft that are in the pattern these days,” said Joseph Bert, manager of the FAA’s operations support group.
According to the presentation, as more aircraft are added to the traffic pattern, the pattern elongates due to saturation and having to maintain a safe amount of distance between the aircraft.
When it comes to tracking flight activity, there are two different types of counting — flight tracks versus operations.
For example, if an aircraft does six touch-and-go landings, which is when a plane lands and takes off again without coming to a full stop, it will count as one flight track. However, that same scenario would count as 12 operations, because each touch-and-go landing will count as an arrival and departure, Bert explained.
The FAA said Centennial Airport’s flight tracks were up 23.7% from 2019 to 2022. Specifically over Greenwood Village, the number of flight tracks was up 74.9% from 2019 to 2022, according to the FAA’s data.
The FAA noted there is not a direct correlation between the reported overall track increase and the track increase over Greenwood Village.
“This is due to the daisy chain effect. Once a tipping point is reached where the pattern elongates to Greenwood Village, it is not just that single extra aircraft in the pattern that will overfly the area. Every aircraft in the pattern will, in turn, follow that same elongated ground track,” according to the presentation.
“The substantial growth at APA (Centennial Airport) has resulted in the significant increase of the number of VFR (tracks) over Greenwood Village,” Bert said. “I’m not saying it’s solely the amount of aircraft. There are other situations and examples that would cause this, but the majority of it, we think, is the amount of aircraft in the pattern itself.”
Airport disagrees with FAA’s conclusion
In a Feb. 6 interview with Colorado Community Media, Centennial Airport Executive Director and CEO Mike Fronapfel said the airport believes the change that caused more aircraft to fly over neighborhoods happened well before eight months ago.
The airport thinks that after the mid-air collision occurred, the FAA local control tower changed the way it managed the aircraft in the pattern, resulting in the pattern getting extended more frequently over the community, he said.
“We stand by that, still. We disagree with the FAA’s analysis, or initial analysis, of that,” Fronapfel said.
He thinks the FAA is concerned about changing procedures or changing the traffic pattern because doing so could trigger an environmental process requirement.
“And so, by saying they changed the way they manage the aircraft, not specifically the pattern, I think that they’re trying to get away from getting caught for not doing an environmental (process), essentially,” Fronapfel said. “I would agree with them, maybe specifically, they didn’t change the pattern, but … when they changed the managing of the traffic, that resulted in the pattern changing.
“And their contention is that it wasn’t them, it was the number of aircraft that are in the pattern at any given time,” Fronapfel said. “Well, the numbers we have, that were provided by the FAA’s own tower personnel, prove that wrong.”
During the Feb. 1 meeting, Fronapfel said the airport’s flight operations in 2022 were less than in 2019.
“Looking at our overall operations for 2019, we had 355,784 operations, and that’s based on (the) tower counts. In 2022, that dropped to 302,660,” Fronapfel said. “If we look at just the local traffic — which, in our view … the majority of the local traffic is pattern traffic — in 2019, it was 167,818. And then in 2022, it dropped down to 132,026.”
Local traffic refers to when the aircraft stays within the airspace during their flight, he explained, and most of the local traffic is training aircrafts.
“We do agree that there’s more aircraft over the community now than there used to be. Where we disagree is about why that is occurring,” Fronapfel said. “We disagree that there are more aircraft utilizing the pattern now than there was in 2019. We actually think it’s just the opposite.”
Responding to Fronapfel, Bert noted the difference between flight tracks and flight operations.
“When you say you dispute our data, you’re really comparing apples and oranges,” Bert said. “What we’re trying to tell you is our data is showing that it is because we have more aircraft in the pattern overall, period.”
Fronapfel said there are a lot of different ways the data can be split and the airport will be doing more analysis.
“I’m hopeful that we’re gonna be able to come back to the next meeting and have a unified analysis of what’s occurred,” he said.
Regarding the timeline of when a change occurred, Fronapfel said he can’t explain why some community members noticed a change eight months ago.
“I’m hoping to be able to explain more of that once we dive into the data a little bit more,” he said. “There’s all kinds of variables that could be at play.”
The role of flight schools
Part of the equation in addressing resident concerns is the flight schools, Fronapfel said.
“You need both the FAA and the pilots to, you know, concur and agree and make an effort to keep that pattern south of Arapahoe Road,” he said. “And from what I’ve heard … they want to be good neighbors as much as they can.”
There are four major flight schools — Flights Inc, ATP Flight School, Independence Aviation and Aspen Flying Club — and a few different flight clubs that utilize Centennial Airport, Fronapfel said.
“What we’ve heard from the flight schools is there’s a really strong demand for pilots right now,” he said. “So, the training activity has increased.”
The airport recently had a meeting with some of the flight schools, which Fronapfel said was productive. Part of the conversation was how training aircraft fly in the traffic pattern when they are not being directed by the FAA’s control tower.
There are some scenarios where the pilots are given specific instructions by the FAA to extend the traffic pattern, Fronapfel said. However, there are other times where it is the pilot and instructor who determine whether to extend the pattern.
“When they have the option and when they have control over whether they extend or not, we want them to follow the noise abatement guidelines whenever possible. And so, they were receptive to that,” Fronapfel said. “It’s not the last meeting we’ll have with them. I think we need to continue that conversation.”
Anonymous letter from flight instructor
Fronapfel shared with Colorado Community Media a copy of an anonymous open letter from someone who claims to be a flight instructor at Centennial Airport.
“I write this anonymously because it is clear the public has picked on flight schools and pilots as the one to blame for the recent noise issues since the Key Lime mid-air and now the issues with leaded fuel,” the letter states. “I would like to answer some of the public’s questions from my point of view. You will find that we agree with you on virtually all counts.”
In the letter, the anonymous source said leaded fuel needs to go away entirely, and they rarely think there is a need for any training aircraft to fly over the communities north of Arapahoe Road.
“Virtually all traffic being routed that direction is doing so at the command of the tower, who is operating under the direction of the FAA. We don’t like flying this way … as it puts us over residential areas and increases our time in the pattern,” the letter states.
They said the flight school they work with will commit to voluntary additions to the current voluntary noise abatement procedure.
These additions include: restricting northbound touch-and-go landings to occur between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.; staying south of Arapahoe Road after departure when the control tower and safety of flight allows; and working with the other flight schools towards reforming the practice areas to accommodate the new and existing residential developments.
“Ultimately the responsibility of returning pattern operations to its previous standard rests solely with the FAA. The failures of one private pilot does not represent the capabilities of the hundreds of commercial pilots that operate at this field every day,” the letter states, referring to the mid-air collision.
“The non-standard traffic environment has increased both pilot and controller work-load, reducing safety for us in the air, and the people below us.”
Addressing leaded fuel concerns
Many residents who spoke during the roundtable meeting brought up concerns about lead pollution from aircraft.
According to the FAA’s website, aviation gasoline is the fuel most commonly used in piston-engine aircraft and is the only transportation fuel in the U.S. to contain lead.
“We’re cognizant of the fact that there is one available unleaded product on the market now, and so we have approached all three of our FBOs (fixed-base operators), who are the fuel suppliers on the airport, about transitioning that as quickly as possible,” Fronapfel said.
In February 2022, the FAA announced an initiative to eliminate the use of leaded aviation fuel by the end of 2030.
Later that year, in October, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed an endangerment finding for lead emissions from aircraft engines that operate on leaded fuel.
“When it comes to our children the science is clear, exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan in a news release. “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions to air in the country. Today’s proposal is an important step forward as we work to reduce lead exposure and protect children’s health.”
According to the news release, the EPA’s consideration of endangerment is “a first step toward application of EPA’s authority to address lead pollution.”
Fronapfel said the fixed-base operators are open to doing that transition and are currently talking to their fuel suppliers about what that would look like.
“There’s not a real financial incentive for the FBOs to transition over, but we may be in a position to help out to create a little bit of a financial incentive there to get that transition to occur faster,” Fronapfel said.
Officials ask FAA for solutions
Throughout the nearly four-hour roundtable meeting, officials asked the FAA what recommendations it has for solutions.
“Volume is certainly something that has to be dealt with on the source,” Biassou said. “As you heard earlier, there hadn’t been any changes since the 2021 mid-air other than the recognition that we have an extended downwind due to increased traffic and demand at the airport.”
Arapahoe County Commissioner Leslie Summey asked Valencia what his suggestions are for solving the issue.
“I think everybody here has already said what they feel is the resolution, right? Less airplanes,” Valencia said. “We don’t manage the market portion of it in the public airspace portion of it.”
Bert added that he doesn’t know the FAA has an answer today.
“But what I can say is we’re going to continue to look at it, continue to work with the airport and hopefully come up with some type of solution,” Bert said. “There may not be anything, in the end.”
“There may not be a solution,” he continued.
Greenwood Village Mayor George Lantz expressed his disappointment during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“I’m highly disappointed the FAA, after this period of time has taken place, has no answers and basically hasn’t come up with anything,” Lantz said. “You’re here to take care of the safety of the community. You’ve heard exactly, a lot of the issues that are taking place, and it’s time for some answers.”
Near the end of the meeting, Valencia said he is an optimist.
“I know there’s a solution someplace,” he said.
Can a capacity limit be placed on the traffic pattern?
One idea that was raised during the roundtable meeting was limiting the amount of aircraft permitted in the traffic pattern at a time.
A few representatives of the roundtable inquired whether the FAA would restrict the number of aircraft in the pattern.
“We have strict constraints that are given to us by Congress, and our mandate is to ensure safe operations within the pattern in the local area,” Biassou said. “We know that the airport receives AIP (Airport Improvement Program) grants funding from the federal government. And so to that end, that would also make it difficult for the airport to restrict those.”
Fronapfel said that because the airport has accepted federal funds, it is limited in what it can do, adding that the airport doesn’t have jurisdiction over the airspace as the FAA does. He noted that the federal grant dollars are paid for by the users of the airport, not the taxpayers in the jurisdictions.
When asked if it is possible to establish a capacity limit of how many aircraft are allowed within the traffic pattern at a time, Fronapfel said he is not sure.
“I don’t believe it is. I don’t believe we can artificially dictate what that limit is. However, that being said, we are getting legal advice on that,” he said.
Fronapfel and members of the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority Board of Commissioners met with an aviation attorney in private before the Feb. 9 board meeting to get legal advice and understand what their legal parameters are.
Afterwards, during the board meeting, Arapahoe County Commissioner Jessica Campbell-Swanson said she had a lot more hope going into that meeting than she did coming out.
“I am crestfallen and frustrated about our own ability,” Campbell-Swanson said. “We were very disappointed in what we heard, in what the … airport’s capabilities and authority is.”
Fronapfel said the legal expert will attend the next roundtable meeting, scheduled for March 1, to give the same presentation that was given to the board and to answer questions from the public.
Airport’s next steps
Any solution has to involve the FAA being at the table, Fronapfel said Feb. 6.
“I’m hoping that as we get more evidence that shows that it was the management of the traffic versus the amount of traffic in the pattern, that that’ll help our argument with the FAA to revisit that again,” he said. “I think there are definitely avenues to a solution, we just haven’t reached the final solution yet.”
During the Feb. 9 meeting, Fronapfel shared five measures the airport wants to pursue:
- 1. Communicate with the FAA to find solutions to minimize the extension of the traffic pattern.
- 2. Communicate with the flight schools so they can reduce the number of times the pattern gets extended when they are not actively being given FAA instructions.
- 3. Work with legal counsel to understand the airport’s ability to reduce the community’s exposure to aircraft noise and lead emissions.
- 4. Meet with flight schools, fixed-base operators and their fuel suppliers to expedite having an FAA-approved unleaded alternative fuel available.
- 5. Provide the airport board with recommendations “and possibly a draft resolution” at the March meeting that outlines financial initiatives the airport can provide to accelerate the transition to unleaded fuel.
Dubler of Quiet Skies Over Arapahoe County gave members of the board a document with proposed solutions, such as issuing landing fees for aircrafts and fees for leaded fuels.
It was decided some members of the board and members of Quiet Skies Over Arapahoe County would meet together in a smaller working group to further discuss the potential solutions.
“This group is committed to working with the neighborhood and with you all. We are as frustrated as you are,” said Thad Bagnato, chair of the board of commissioners. “We are, again, as committed as you are to try to find a solution.”