Airport Advisory Board to consider turning pilot flight-safety task force into standing subcommittee; county to take task to two readings

Pitkin County commissioners on Sept. 30 reviewed a proposal to elevate a pilot-run Flight Safety Task Force to a standing subcommittee of the Airport Advisory Board (AAB), and gave staff direction to advance the proposal to two readings.

Diane and Nora, county staff working with airport advisory efforts, told the board the task force began in 2022 with 12 pilots focused on pilot safety on the ground and in the air. The recommended change would formalize that group as a standing AAB subcommittee with appointees vetted by the county.

Proponents said the group’s narrow focus on pilot-to-pilot education—briefings, videos and peer outreach—is intended to improve safety for pilots landing at Aspen-area airports and to help visiting pilots understand local approaches and wind conditions. The group would also support AAB priorities such as the wind study and training for new pilots.

Commissioners and other board members questioned whether the subcommittee should be limited to pilots or include scientists, tower staff and other subject-matter experts. Commissioner Greg Poschman asked why the group would be pilot-only and suggested that nonpilot perspectives, including scientists, have provided useful review in prior safety investigations. Diane and Nora said the subcommittee could invite outside experts to attend meetings and that the AAB would remain the oversight body; appointees would come through the existing advisory-board appointment process.

Commissioner Kelly asked how the subcommittee would reach visiting pilots who have never flown into Aspen; staff said outreach tools could include the airport’s fixed-base operator (FBO) and dispatcher channels, and that the group could develop materials or prompts for pilots filing flight plans. Board members emphasized that the group is advisory: county staff and commissioners reminded attendees that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) retains regulatory authority over airspace and operational rules.

Board members and staff discussed oversight and potential conflict of personalities in an advisory group; Nora said she would attend the subcommittee meetings to provide county oversight. The board’s consensus was to ask staff to proceed: Diane told the commissioners she would take the proposal to the AAB, and staff asked the BOCC to allow the matter to advance to two formal readings.

Commissioner Jeffrey Woodruff summed the administrative decision: the county will treat the conversion as an AAB matter with oversight and will return to the BOCC after the AAB and two readings. No binding change to FAA authority was suggested: staff and commissioners repeated that the subcommittee’s role would be advisory only.