Given Colorado’s Aspen-Pitkin County Airport’s (KASE) reputation as an operationally challenging airport, the county board of commissioners last week approved the establishment of a flight operations safety task force. The Aspen/Pitkin County Vision Committee recommended to the commission the establishment of an advisory group composed of 12 local pilots with familiarity of the airport to maximize safety and reduce aviation accidents.

Over the past several decades, KASE has experienced dozens of general aviation aircraft accidents in its vicinity due to factors such as its altitude, surrounding mountainous terrain, weather, and a sloping runway.

This past year alone, the airport was closed on four separate occasions after GA aircraft accidents that, while causing no serious injuries or fatalities, led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in airport property damage. On February 21, a Hawker 800XP overran the runway during an aborted takeoff, seriously damaging the aircraft and causing a fuel spill. This accident also closed the airport for nine hours.

Among the group of seasoned aviators whose attention will focus primarily on general aviation safety are FlightAware founder Daniel Baker, ForeFlight founder and commercial pilot Tyson Weihs, Mayo Aviation pilot William Landis, and retired commercial pilot Brett Detwiler.

The task force will formulate recommendations for consideration by the airport advisory board and the county board of commissioners, as well as liaise with various aviation organizations.