Increased air traffic a concern for Jefferson County neighbors far from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport
Neighbors living near two airports in the Denver metro area have long raised concerns over increased noise and health concerns brought on by air traffic.
Both Centennial Airport and Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County hold regular roundtables trying to address those issues, with little resolution.
RMMA and residents of the Rock Creek neighborhood in Superior have been fighting it out in court. There's now a new concern from residents in Jefferson County who live miles from any airport.
"We love the Morrison area; we moved here about 2 years ago trying to be closer to the foothills," Drew Richards said.
Richards says planes passing by is one thing, but having to watch and listen as the same plane circles your neighborhood, your home repeatedly, is an issue.
"Forty, fifty times at some points, and that's recently over this past week we have recorded some of those, and it just seems very strange to us," Richards said.
Richards and some of his neighbors noticed the traffic was picking up about a year ago, so he paid for an app that could help track the activity.
It showed those planes were flying directly from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport to his neighborhood circling. Then, they head back.
"I'm trying to be very logical here, but this cannot be random," Richards said.
He has dozens of screenshots from his flight tracker and has sent equally as many complaints and questions to the airport looking for answers, with no response.
When he noticed similar activity form planes leaving Centennial Airport, they address his concerns almost immediately.
"They were extremely helpful; they went and talked to the flight school over there, and they did some type of redirection or at least had a meeting with those guys," Richards said.
Using the tail number, CBS Colorado tracked one of those planes back to its owner, who runs a flight school at RMMA. He didn't want to go on camera, but says more are people flying and likened it to city roadways. Some airspace is more attractive because there's less traffic and fewer rules when you're outside the airports 5-mile radius.
It leaves those such as Richards in limbo searching for compromise.
"What we have right now is nothing; a compromise is fine with me, you know, make it six days a week instead of seven. Something as simple as that would help us tremendously.
CBS News Colorado asked airport officials as well as Jefferson County, which runs the airport, for a comment.
Full statement from a county spokesperson:
"While we have seen an increase in air traffic over the years, it can also fluctuate with the time of year. The flight schools at RMMA are full and have a waitlist for students looking to be trained. There is a big push to try and backfill commercial pilots following the great retirement that occurred during COVID. In addition, it's important to note that the airport neither directs nor monitors the flight paths chosen by pilots operating out of RMMA."
For more information about airport operations related to noise, visit RMMA's Operations Related to Noise page on its website.
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