Feb. 14--Private-jet travelers have long dealt with frustrating traffic jams in the air around Colorado's small mountain airports, but soon they'll have some relief.
Colorado Division of Aeronautics director Travis Vallin is in Washington this week to finalize plans with the Federal Aviation Administration for a $30 million radarlike system that would help land planes at mountain airports more quickly and more efficiently.
Without the system, air-traffic controllers are less certain of where aircraft are in the air, and must keep them spaced apart more widely, slowing the flow of traffic. Using the new system, called wide-area multilateration, they can "see" where aircraft are, even if they are blocked by a mountain.
"It's being able to see," said Greg Dyer, airspace manager for the FAA's Denver Air Traffic Control Center. "Every place where terrain can block a radar site from seeing in an area, you have a challenge." Officials say it could increase the rate of takeoffs and landings in poor weather at some locations from about three or four per hour to as many as 14 an hour.
"There are lots of people frustrated that they can't get into the mountain airports when they want to," Dyer said. "There are still going to be some really busy days during the ski season," but the new system will help.
The first phase would be installed over about 18 months. The full system's cost includes $20 million for installation and $10.5 million to operate and maintain it over its 15-year life.
The airports that would benefit from the system are at Hayden, Craig, Steamboat Springs, Rifle, Gunnison, Montrose, Telluride, Cortez, Durango and Alamosa. Aspen already has a radar system, and Eagle County is planning to get its own.
State and local governments would be responsible for installation. The FAA would operate and maintain the system.
"We've realized that this is a problem that Colorado faces, but it's also an enhancement to the national air system," Vallin said.
It would be the first time such a system has been used for this purpose in the Lower 48 states.
"We hope it will prove to be beneficial to the mountain regions of Colorado," Rep. John Salazar said.
