Surrounding BDU

Three miles from downtown Boulder, BDU is surrounded by businesses, residences, schools, argriculatural areas, and designated open spaces

179 acres located three miles from downtown Boulder
  • ~145 acres City owned, balance owned by FAA
​Used by tenants, and flight schools, tours, recreationists from other airports
  • Students from flight schools within 40 - 60 miles often use BDU for training
  • Sometimes up to six planes practicing touch and go at once
​There is a tow plane box area for take off and a southerly path out of the airport region.
​
The airport is adjacent to
  • 4 schools, 3 churches, many residences, several farms
  • Agricultural land, Walden and SawHill ponds open space ​
  • New Velo housing development immediately west of the airport
    • low cost and student housing
  • Growing Minds Learning Academy day care center planned for Diagonal Crossing
  • ​Pleasantview Soccer fields
    • used by 100s at times
  • New East Boulder Subcommunity planned adjacent to the SE of the airport
    • business and housing, including low cost housing 
    • under the current tow plane path

Active Airports near Boulder

A big part of recreational flying and flight training is flying from airport to airport and performing maneuvers in between.   Eastern Boulder County skies have been completely coopted by this behavior and the volume continues to grow.

There are two airports within Boulder County, BDU and Vance Brand.   Two others are immediately adjacent - RMMA is just outside the southern edge of the County, and Erie is on the east edge.   RMMA and Erie students and recreationists fly and pollute in Boulder County, while the economic benefits of those and other airports go to their respective counties.

There are 4 regional airports withing 15 miles of downtown Boulder.
​There are 11 airports within 50 miles of Boulder.

East Boulder County is taxpayer subsidized mecca for pilots.
Airport
Miles from downtown Boulder 
Boulder Municipal
3
Vance Brand
13
Erie
13
Rocky Mountain Metro
15
Parkland Estates Airpark
17
Northern Colorado
40
DIA
43
Centennial
45
Century Heliport
47
Colorado Air and Space Port
50
Greeley-Weld
51
<update w/ space port location>

East of BDU

BDU flights take off directly over two dedicated open space areas, Sawhill and Walden Ponds.   East of that more preserved open space for wildlife habitat.    Underneath BDU's nonstop touch and go activity, these beuatiful areas are now subjected to propeller plane noise for nearly 70% of the day.   (See OSMP Soundscape.)

Shunting air traffic over open space is not the solution to getting relief for residents.   Wildlife depends on hearing to survive.  The answer is less traffic.
Sawhill Ponds
Walden Ponds
Dedicated open space: Bald eagle nesting, Great Blue Heron Rookery

Boulder County flight school training areas

​Flight schools and other invested organizations have agreed to divide up Boulder County airspace into named training areas.    This is informal in that this is not recognized by the FAA in any way.   It is, however, very real and impacts life on the ground tremendously by attracting students from everywhere to come to Boulder to train, including usage of BDU.

This is how aviation controls and uses our sky for the benefit of the industry.
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