FAA curbs pattern work and parallel departures at Centennial Airport

Federal regulators have placed new limits on flying at Centennial Airport near Denver, barring touch-and-goes and restricting parallel departures and other pattern work. The airport's two parallel runways sit roughly 700 feet apart.

According to a pilot advocacy group, the FAA told controllers to stop launching aircraft simultaneously from those runways while further safety steps are worked out. Agency officials pointed to possible conflicts involving departing instrument and visual flight rules traffic. FAA material for pilots already flags the danger of entering neighbouring departure corridors.

The group criticised the timing of the change, saying pilots at one of the country's busiest general aviation fields were not given advance notice. Its Northwest Mountain regional manager, Brad Schuster, said the decision came without notification and called it unprecedented, adding that close to a week had passed without a NOTAM or an update to the airport's automatic terminal information service.

Centennial logs over 300,000 aircraft operations a year and is home to many flight schools and other general aviation businesses. The advocacy group warned that training could move to other airports along Colorado's Front Range, which might add traffic and noise for nearby residents. The airport has drawn safety scrutiny over its parallel runways before, including a 2021 midair collision involving two aircraft on approach to separate runways. Flight schools, instructors, pilots and airport businesses are all being affected, the group said, acknowledging the frustration the limits create.