Hello everyone! With IFATC at Home day coming up, I’m going to open some airports in Colorado!
History and facts about both airports:
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport/Jefferson County Airport (BJC/KBJC,) is an airport 16 miles NW of Denver, CO, and also the closest airport to my house is a primarily GA airport. It was opened in 1960 and has been serving the NW Denver Metro area ever since. It is the 4th busiest airport in Colorado, behind Colorado Springs, Centennial, and Denver International. It has the capacity of up to a DC-10, which occasionally comes during firefighting season. Air Force one has also landed here. It also houses a corporate office for Pilatus and their PC-24 jet, which opened in 2018. Multiple flight schools are also on the airfield.
Denver International Airport (DEN/KDEN) is a major airport located approx. 22 miles from Denver, CO, and is a primary commercial airport, and is the second closest airport to my house. It was opened in 1995 to replace the aging Stapleton Airport, which was a lot closer to Denver and had no room to expand. Denver has 6 runways, all at least 12,000 feet in length, and the possibility to build at least 6 more. DEN has 3 concourses (A, B, and C) all with more than 30 gates, and multiple airlines in each (Except B, I’ll get to that in a bit.) DEN is the busiest airport in Colorado by a landslide, with 70,000,000 (70 Million) passengers served last year! It is also the 5th busiest airport in the United States, behind Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago-O’Hare, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. United Airlines has a large operation at DEN, being DEN’s largest airline with about 35% of the market share here. Southwest Airlines also has a large operation here as well, being DEN’s 2nd largest airline, with about 30% of the market share. Frontier Airlines, DEN’s 3rd largest airline, has its headquarters in Denver, so they have a hub here. Frontier has about 15% of the market share. Denver is also the second-largest airport in the world by land area, only behind Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Airfield operations:
JeffCo is a primarily GA airport and has 3 runways.
Runway 12L/30R: Is the main runway at BJC, with a length of 9000 feet and a width of 100 feet. Jets, larger turboprop aircraft, and all aircraft departing and not remaining in the pattern use this runway. If you are remaining in the pattern, I will send you here, clear you for pattern traffic, then send you to 12R/30L.
Runway 12R/30L: This runway is the primary pattern runway at BJC, with a length of 7002 feet and a width of 75 feet. Light aircraft such as C172s, C208s, SR22s, TBM9s, and others would utilize this runway for patterns.
Runway 3/21: 3/21 is the least used runway at BJC. It has a length of 3600 feet and a width of 75 feet. It features a one way in and out system. Aircraft would land on runway 3, and leave on runway 21. The primary reason is that if you were to land on 21 or depart 3, right after takeoff, there is a large complex of office buildings that are all about 4 stories tall and aircraft would most likely collide with those buildings. I know this because my dad used to work in one of those buildings. The main purpose of 3/21? I don’t know. I most likely will not use it.
Aircraft park anywhere at the ramp, as this is G/A unless it’s at an FBO or at a flight school.
Denver is a commercial airport, with 6 runways.
Runway 16R/34L: 16R/34L is DEN’s largest and primary runway, with a length of 16,000 feet, and a width of 200 feet. 16R is the primary landing runway during N to S flow, and 34L is the primary takeoff runway during S to N flow. It can land the A380, as it’s been done once and only once before. (so kids, don’t bring your Emirates A380 to town and hope to find parking as no gates can fit it and it’s also super unrealistic.)
Runway 16L/34R: 16L is a commonly used runway for landings, but 34R is sometimes used for takeoffs. For the rest of the runways, including this one, the runway is 12000 feet long and 150 feet wide. Takeoffs are rare off of 16L, but landings are common on 34R when the airport is using S to N flow.
Runway 17R/35L: 17R/35L is a North-South runway. 17R is sometimes used for takeoffs, while 35L is for sometimes cargo departures. 17R is used to land when DEN is using N to S flow, while 35L is the primary landing runway during S to N flow.
Runway 17L/35R: 17L/35R is a North-South runway. 17L is a main takeoff runway, while 35R is not used for takeoffs. 17L is sometimes used to land during busy times and 35R is used to land often when there is S to N flow.
Runway 7/25: 7/25 is an E to W runway, SW of all the terminals. It’s a one way in/one way out runway. Landings occur on 7 and Departures occur on 25.
Runway 8/26: Like 7/25, it’s E to W, it’s also one way out/one way in runway, with departures leaving on 8 and arrivals on 26.
I will assign runways to where you are heading (Say you are heading to Chicago, I’ll most likely send you to 8 or 34L or something like that.) I will also (most likely) use progressive taxi instructions.
and here comes the fun part…
Concourses at DEN:
Concourse A: Concourse A is used by all airlines except Spirit, Alaska, United (domestic) and Southwest (domestic.)
All international heavies and international arrivals arrive at the north A A gates (A31-45 odds), such as BA, LH, ICE, UA, AMX, VOI, SWA, and all other international airlines.
Delta uses gates A24-A29, and A30.
Frontier uses Gates A32-A46 (evens), A52, and A60.
American uses gates A47-A53.
United (express) uses gates A71-A81.
Concourse B: Concourse B is used solely by United and United Express.
United (mainline) uses gates B11-B55, and B56-60 (evens.)
United Express uses the rest of the gates in Concourse B.
Concourse C: Concourse C is used by Southwest, Alaska, Spirit, and sometimes United.
Alaska uses Gate C39 and sometimes C38.
Southwest uses Gates C23-C37, sometimes gate C38, Gates C40-47, C49, and C51.
Spirit uses Gates C48 and C50.
United (sometimes) uses Gate C38.
Now on the issue of Gate C38, United, Southwest, and Alaska all use this gate. It’s really up to you what airline you want to use, as these three options are all realistic.
Routes:
Since BJC is a general aviation airport, you can fly wherever your hopes and dreams desire! You could fly to Vail, Centennial, or even farther!
Denver has some popular destinations such as:
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Phoenix (PHX)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Chicago-O’Hare (ORD)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Seattle (SEA)
and others!
Have a fun day tomorrow and I hope to see a lot of the community at my sessions! I don’t know when I will be open, but I will post in this topic when I am open!