The City of Longmont has hired an aviation safety consultant\nto inspect and analyze the safety and configuration of public use areas at\nVance Brand Municipal Airport, including the parachute landing area or drop\nzone designated for use by skydivers, ultralight aircraft, balloons, and other\nhobbyists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quadrex Aviation, LLC, owned and operated by Florida-based\naviation expert David Byers, Ph.D., is conducting a Safety Risk Management\nAnalysis (SRM). The SRM is a process that includes stakeholder engagement,\nreview of current airport uses and regulations, and comparative analysis of\nsimilar airports that accommodate recreational users such as skydivers.\nPrompted by concerns raised by Mile Hi Skydiving, independent skydivers,\nairport tenants, the Longmont aviation community, residents, and elected\nofficials, the consultant will lend independent and objective expertise to\ninform possible adjustments to the public use area, as well as any other\noperational area of the airport for effective, efficient, and safe aviation\noperations now and for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is first and foremost about safety,\u201d Airport Manager\nDavid Slayter said. \u201cThe analysis is part of a process that will identify any\nchanges we may need to make to ensure the airport operates at the highest level\nof safety. Under federal law, the airport must accommodate all aeronautical\nuses, but we also need to take appropriate steps for the safety of airport\nusers and those on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SRM is a common and informative review done routinely by\nairports across the country. Vance Brand Airport has never conducted this type\nof analysis in its 70-year history and City officials believe the time has come\nto conduct this comprehensive review to make the best and safest use of the\nairport\u2019s 40-acre footprint of public use area. This review will also provide\ninsight for safety recommendations for the airport\u2019s layout, operations, and\naircraft mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quadrex has performed similar analyses at other airports\nthat accommodate skydiving and other recreational users and will assist\nLongmont\u2019s Airport Manager in ensuring that pubic use area designations are\nfully informed by safety considerations appropriate to skydiving and similar\nuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quadrex will identify and invite stakeholder\nrepresentatives, including a selection of airport tenants and operators, to\nparticipate in the overall examination in order to fully consider the\nhistorical and projected uses of the airport\u2019s public use areas. The review\ncommenced in January 2019 and is expected to conclude by April of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The SRM is not related to concerns about noise produced by\naircraft operating at the airport. The SRM consultant is expected to work\nindependently of this issue and will engage the FAA in the overall safety\nanalysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vance Brand Municipal airport is an important economic\ndriver for the city and the surrounding region. With nearly 15 businesses\nlocated the airport, serving the community\u2019s business, travel, and recreational\nneeds, the airport generates a total economic output of $27 million, according\nto a study by the Colorado Department of Transportation. The airport also\nprovides an important training space for military and firefighting aircraft and\ncan be used as an emergency operation base. The Airport Fund, which receives\nrevenues from airport user fees, funds all airport operations and is the\nfunding source for the engagement of the aviation safety consultant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The City of Longmont has hired an aviation safety consultant to inspect and analyze the safety and configuration of public use areas at Vance Brand Municipal Airport, including the parachute landing area or drop zone designated for use by skydivers, ultralight aircraft, balloons, and other hobbyists. Quadrex Aviation, LLC, owned and operated by Florida-based aviation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colorado"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vance-Brand-Airportedit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11958,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11956\/revisions\/11958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}