Posted by admin | Posted in Telluride Ski Area, Town of Telluride | Posted on 27-05-2011
According to a story which ran in the Telluride Daily Planet today:
“… the Telluride Regional Airport Authority has voted to set airport operating hours from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. year round, effective immediately.”
The final vote of the TRAA was seven in favor and zero opposed to the extension of operating hours. Previously, the hours of operation were 30 min. before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset … so this essentially really only affects the winter operating hours given the sun sets late in the evening during the summer months.
In any case, I will not be on an inbound airplane to Telluride which is landing in the dark. In my opinion, it’s simply a risky proposition and there are safer and cheaper alternatives; namely, Montrose, Durango, or Grand Junction Colorado.
I also believe it was poor judgment & a slap in the face to the residents of the county to circumvent the provision regarding night flights contained within the original SUP issued by San Miguel County to permit the airport in the first place. If the issue were presented to the residents of SMC or formerly to the Board of County Commissioners (who would be vested official authority to engage in such a decision), then it wouldn’t be an issue. However, TRAA has unilaterally moved forward on this front; apparently under the operating assumption that federal law stipulates that “local zoning” does not have any jurisdiction on operations of an FAA sactioned aiport (to paraphrase).
Regardless, I stand by my original claim that the Telluride airport is not my first choice … due to price, diversion rates, and now what might be a very real safety factor. Remember, Telluride is at about 9,000k, receives tremendous amounts of snow and adverse weather … and if that isn’t enough, it’s essentially a “stationary aircraft carrier” in so far as having threes sides of the runway exposed to extreme drop-offs of several hundred feet.