FAA cites Rocky Mountain Metro as most incident-prone airport in U.S.

By Ryan Fish | Denver7

An aviation expert told Denver7 that most of the incidents are not life-threatening. Superior's mayor, however, is sounding the alarm.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Below the flight path of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA) is the town of Superior.

“We’re hearing the noise,” Mayor Mark Lacis told Denver7 Wednesday. “Our residents have been complaining for years.”

In 2024, the Town of Superior and Boulder County filed a lawsuit against Jefferson County, which owns and operates the airport, over the noise issue. A Boulder County court dismissed that lawsuit earlier this year, though the town said it is considering options, including an appeal.

But Lacis has more concerns, and this week, he reached out to Denver7 about them.

A June memo from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — which Lacis said he first saw after a resident’s Freedom of Information Act request — states RMMA leads the nation in potentially significant events (PSEs), which include both runway incursions and airborne safety incidents. That means it has a higher number of PSEs than the nearly 20,000 other airports nationwide that are part of the National Airspace System (NAS).

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The memo came just one month after a plane crash near the airport that killed two people.

“When the FAA finds that the local airport in your backyard is the most dangerous airport in the country, it’s time to sound the alarm,” Lacis said.

Denver7 took those concerns to the FAA, which said the airport’s air traffic has taken off in recent years. Just days after the memo went out, the FAA said it made changes to improve safety by adding “structured traffic flows to and from the runways.”

• Read the FAA’s statement below

“The FAA adjusted operating procedures at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (BJC) to enhance air traffic safety and efficiency. Effective June 16, 2025, the FAA, in coordination with local BJC airport flight schools and other airport users, implemented structured traffic flows to and from the runways to minimize risk and increase safety.”

The FAA noted it did not make changes to published instrument flight procedures. According to aviation expert Steve Cowell, that means those changes will apply generally to smaller planes, like Cessnas, not larger jets using the airport.

“They’re minor changes leading to major safety improvements, and what they’re going to be doing is improving the communications, improving the charting,” Cowell explained. “The directives that the pilots are going to be seeing on where to fly and the altitudes they’re going to be flying at, and that’s going to contribute, in a positive way, to decreasing the noise footprint as well.”

RMMA airport director Erick Dahl told Denver7 the FAA memos were internal, and that while the airport makes sure its infrastructure is safe, it’s up to the FAA to ensure safety in the sky.

“They didn’t ask the airport what our take on flight paths were,” he said. “As far as I know from our conversation, the FAA, they seem happy with the changes they’ve made and see a significant increase in the safety operating out of the airport now.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER7