The Federal Aviation Administration is restricting takeoffs at Centennial Airport after identifying dozens of safety-related incidents, including two verified near-midair collisions. Local flight schools say the changes are disrupting training, with one instructor saying they are losing business as pilots look for other airports.
CBS Colorado obtained a new FAA safety assessment outlining the agency’s concerns. The report reviewed flights from May 2025 through April 2026 and classified Centennial Airport’s parallel departures as high risk for safety incidents involving deviation or “drift resulting in unmitigated convergence.”
The FAA directed air traffic management at Centennial Airport to pause simultaneous departures from parallel runways on Oct. 1. The FAA’s assessment is dated Sept. 29, and a memo to an air traffic official is dated Sept. 30. The airport says they did not receive that memo until Oct. 1…