Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Board debates whether to formalize landing area for backcountry aircraft amid safety and liability concerns
Summary
Citizens and board members debated whether to allow short-field and tailwheel aircraft to continue landing in the runway safety area, weighing pilot convenience and local aviation culture against FAA guidance, liability and repeated maintenance costs.
Board members, airport staff and several local pilots spent more than two hours debating whether to permit short‑takeoff‑and‑landing (STOL) and backcountry aircraft to land in paved‑adjacent safety areas at Grand County Airport or to create a designated softer surface for them.
The discussion began during the public-comment portion when a pilot, identified in the transcript as Dave, said limiting off‑pavement landings could be a safety concern for “tailwheel airplanes” and other backcountry types that are sometimes safer on dirt when winds are strong. Gary Kelly, another caller, told the board he supported adding “more usable runways” for the same reasons.
Airport staff and several board members described a different side of the issue: repeated damage to lights and ruts created by heavy, wide‑tired aircraft that drive up maintenance time and cost. An interim airport staff member said the airport sometimes must dispatch equipment at roughly $100 per hour plus equipment…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat