Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Northwestern Colorado
© 2002, © 2006 by Paul Freeman. Revised 12/31/06.
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39.63 North / 106.51 West (West of Denver, CO)
The single runway of the Avon STOLport was depicted simply as a “Landing Strip” on the 1987 USGS topo map.
This airfield was apparently built at some point between 1977-82,
as it was not yet depicted on the July 1977 CG-19 World Aeronautical Chart (according to Chris Kennedy),
or the 1977 or 1978 USGS topo maps.
The earliest reference to the field which has been located
was in the 1982 AOPA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ed Drury),
in which Avon Airport was described as having a single 4,000 asphalt Runway 10/28,
along with the remark, "Private. Closed to public. Landings prohibited - risk aircraft impoundment."
According to Paul Reinman,
the airport in Avon was previously used to fly well heeled skiers to near the base of Vail.
Avon Airport was run by a commuter airline, Rocky Mountain Airways.
It was a STOLport, and it reputedly had the steepest ILS in the world:
7 degrees, and also surrounded by mountains.
The airline pilots actually needed a specific type rating to fly into Avon Airport.
This was covered in an issue of Flying Magazine.
Avon Airport was located at an 8,500' elevation,
and its approach started after crossing Vail Pass (elevation 10,500')
with an Minimum Descent Altitude of 12,000'.
It took a steep approach to lose 3,500' in 20 miles!
An August 1983 photo by Eduard Marmet of a Rocky Mountain Airways
De Havilland Canada DHC-7-102 Dash 7 (N9058P) taxiing at the Avon STOLport.
Unfortunately for thrill seekers, Avon Airport was operated as a private airport,
and in the event that a private aircraft landed at the field, it would have to be trucked out.
This was due to the fact that many private airports have found that they are incurring liability
for unauthorized landings that don't succeed at their fields.
Moral of the story: don't land at Avon Colorado unless it was an absolute emergency.
According to Kevin Shaw, “In the mid-1980s, a noted sailplane pilot, Dave Allen, and his father
landed their high performance sailplane at Avon after overdevelopment forced them down.
There are no other places in the valley to land safely, so they had no choice but to land at Avon.
Under the terms of a special-use permit from Eagle County,
the only permitted users of the STOLport were Rocky Mountain Airways & med-evac aircraft.
So the aircraft was 'impounded' by the airport officials.
Eventually, the Allens' crew & trailer arrived.
They talked the authorities into letting them disassemble the glider to protect it from the storm & load it into the trailer.
But it was 'impounded' & they were not allowed to take the sailplane from the airport.
I don't know the details, but sometime later that night,
they snuck back into the airport & drove away with the sailplane & trailer.”
Kevin continued, “The next morning, I got a call from Dave
saying he heard that maybe a warrant had been issued for their arrest.
As a fellow glider flight instructor & a lawyer, I set about trying to deal with the legal & political issues.
Dave, who flew for a major airline & is an honorable guy who always wanted to do the right thing,
wanted to demonstrate to the county & Rocky Mountain Airways
that he had done the proper thing by landing at Avon under the conditions.
The lawyers for Rocky Mountain Airways threatened to do whatever they could to the Allens,
since the county was threatening to revoke the special use permit,
and with it, the very lucrative ski-traffic franchise.
It turned out that there had been a number of unauthorized landings in recent months,
and the county was unhappy that yet another had occurred.”
Kevin continued, “I persuaded the county's attorney that they could not lawfully impound aircraft under these circumstances.
We were brought before the county commissioners at a public hearing.
They were not interested in understanding the story of why this sailplane had to land at Avon,
but just wanted the unauthorized landings to stop.
They instructed the county attorney to do everything possible to pursue us.
The county attorney, knowing that the law did not favor the county,
called me not too long after the hearing & said he was leaving on vacation
and, assuming the emotions had cooled by the time he got back,
we would never hear from the county again. And we never did.”
Kevin continued, “The STOLport was in a very tight location & probably should never have been built.”
The earliest depiction of the Avon Airport which has been located was on the 1987 USGS topo map.
It depicted the single runway, labeled simply "Landing Strip".
As depicted in the 1999 USGS aerial photo,
the airfield at Avon consisted of a single paved 4,800' runway,
along with a paved taxiway at the western end of the runway leading to a paved ramp area.
There did not appear to be any hangars or other buildings directly associated with the airfield.
The Avon Airport closed at some point between 1982-2002,
as it was depicted as an abandoned airfield on 2002 aeronautical charts.
Joe Forish reported in 2003, "The airport at Avon is no longer in existence.
It was removed & paved over to allow access east from Avon to a new SuperWalmart & Home Depot development.
The new buildings are located north of Route 6, south of I-70 in the approach to this former airfield.
The new road covers or is right next to what used to be the airfield.
The former buildings at the site have been removed."
Pretty soon every little airport will be covered by a Walmart.
A 2003 aerial view of the remains of the Avon STOLport (courtesy of David Ulane).
David observed, “Portions of the runway & ramp are still visible.
East Beaver Creek Road overlays the old runway, which is still faintly visible.
The road actually curves to overlay the old taxiway that connected the west end of the runway to the ramp.
At the upper left of photo where the road Y's, you can see the old ramp & access road.”
The site of the former Avon Airport is located on the north bank of the Eagle River,
in between the railroad tracks & Interstate 70, southeast of Avon Road.
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