By the time Boulder airport could close in 2040, the main reasons now given for closing it will likely be much improved or gone: Noise and leaded fuel.

It’s crazy but true — most training aircraft now in use were built in the 1970s, over 50 years ago. They are ancient noisy gas guzzlers, getting more expensive to buy, fuel and maintain. While still safe with proper maintenance, they can’t last forever. A new generation is gradually becoming more practical and economically smart. Journeys Aviation flight school at Boulder airport is already operating two new, much quieter training aircraft that use half the fuel. Next year the FAA MOSAIC initiative will further encourage a transition to quieter aircraft. By 2040, my bet is that nearly all training aircraft will be newer and quieter. These aircraft are also great for towing gliders.

Boulder is slowing the transition to unleaded fuel by not taking Federal and state grants, but leaded fuel will be banned by 2030 by EPA order. So that problem will soon be gone as well.

We all know that short-range electric aviation is coming, we just don’t know when. It will be quieter and cleaner. What if someday there were a fast shuttle from Boulder airport to DIA where you could take your vacation flight to Paris? It’s not far-fetched. Do we really want to throw away the only possible location for such a useful service? That in the meantime could save lives the next time there’s a wildfire or flood.

Let’s bring this carefully back to earth — what if everything stays as it is now? The four large flight schools at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport in Broomfield, and the smaller ones at Boulder, Erie and Longmont all use the airspace between Broomfield and Fort Collins for practice. The area is constricted by the Denver airport airspace to the east and the mountains to the west. Lately, the airspace is so busy it is difficult to find anywhere safe to practice. Flights go farther and farther north in search of space, even though this is costly and time-consuming.

If Boulder airport were to close, the airspace over Boulder would suddenly become the most attractive place to practice by most of those flight schools, because it is so close. Airplanes could be over Boulder more than they are now, not less. Boulder could do nothing about it because the FAA controls the airspace.

Whichever future comes to pass, closing the airport would be irreversible and inadvisable. Why throw away a permanent asset because of temporary problems that will inevitably be fixed? Boulder could assist in fixing them instead of spending a fortune on a protracted legal fight with the FAA. Boulder would spend an estimated $40 million over 20 years on maintenance expenses for the airport, because it can’t take Federal and state grants if it wants to close the airport. Instead, keep the airport open, take the grants that have always made the airport self-sustaining, and help solve the noise problem by spending a tiny fraction of that $40 million on encouraging the replacement of the noisy aircraft.

Adrian Nye is a former flight instructor and President of the Colorado Pilots Association.