Text by Kelly J. Hayes
Images by Trevor Triano
ASE: Pilots the world over immediately recognize those three letters as the flight code for Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. Sardy Field, as it is sometimes called, is as well known for its challenging, high-altitude flying conditions as it is for the amazing collection of “heavy metal,” including some of the world’s largest private jets, that crowd its tarmac. “For many pilots, there are bragging rights to saying, ‘I landed in Aspen,’” says airport director Dan Bartholomew. “Pilots have to be on their toes.”
The airport’s single runway is tucked tightly into a narrow valley requiring an extra-steep descent, with little wiggle room on a missed approach. Changing weather conditions combined with steady traffic—ASE is Colorado’s third-busiest airport—means that pilots must be precise.
And then there is the notable bling. Bombardier Global and Gulfstream G series jets (whose price tags exceed $60 million) are often lined up wingtip-to-wingtip during ski season and arrive in droves for Aspen’s most significant summer events, when celebrities and the intellectual and corporate elite vie for space in this tony hamlet. “It can be pretty eye opening,” Bartholomew says, referring to the private jet traffic that accounts for 80 percent of all take-offs and landings at the airport.
But for Aspen residents, the airport is about more than just heavy metal. It is a vital link to the rest of the world via daily commercial service by United, Delta, and American Airlines. And it is a place where those with a passion for flight can indulge under pristine mountain skies. Since the field first opened in 1946 with a gravel runway and log-cabin terminal, it has consistently drawn a cadre of local aviators.
The Instructor
“Flight check complete,” says Hannah Simpson, steering one of the Aspen Flight Academy’s (AFA) composite-body, single-engine Diamond DA40 NG aircraft to the runway. As she readies for takeoff on a scenic spring flight through Independence Pass to the Leadville Airport, the highest on the continent at 9,934 feet, she says, almost to herself, “I’m so fortunate to be able to fly here.”
The 23-year-old graduate of Purdue University’s highly acclaimed professional flight program brings a confident and ebullient personality to her position as the AFA’s lead certified flight instructor. The daughter of a commercial aviator, Simpson embraces both the joys and challenges of flying out of ASE. “Aspen is a monolith,” she says. “You see things here that you don’t see anywhere else. And there is a very tight aviation community with committed pilots.”
To help foster that community, the nonprofit AFA was founded in 2014 by a group of passionate local flying enthusiasts to provide tools and instruction to those interested in learning to pilot aircraft. Today, the AFA hosts one of the most innovative introductory flight training programs in the country: Every Student Flies, an initiative in partnership with the Aspen School District to introduce local students to aviation. Every student at Aspen High School has an opportunity to take a free flight and then enroll in elective credit classes that prepare them to obtain private pilot certificates, instrument ratings, and commercial ratings.
“I don’t know of any other place that has a program like this, and the students love it. Just this morning I had a 16-year-old student who made his first solo flight—he was thrilled,” says Simpson, who also sees the program as an unparalleled avenue for offering young women opportunities within the male-dominated aviation industry. “To be able to help young people engage with my passion for flight is an only-in-Aspen experience.”
The Pilot
“When I taxi down the Sardy Field runway in front of the private jets, I can see the pilots in the cockpits with their phones out taking pictures of the Starship,” laughs longtime Aspen aviator Robert Scherer, the proud owner of one of the most unique and rare planes in aviation history. With its rear-facing twin propellers that push the plane forward in a “pusher” configuration, along with its canard design featuring a secondary stabilizing wing near the nose, the Beechcraft Starship captures the attention of not just airplane junkies, but just about anyone who sees it.
“I was looking to buy a King Air because I needed a plane that I could fly in and out of Aspen,” Scherer says. “But one day, I saw an ad for a Starship, and I knew I had to have it. Today, Scherer’s NC-51 is one of just four airworthy Starships left of the 53 that were originally produced in the 1980s and ’90s. As the first corporate craft to feature 100 percent composite carbon-fiber construction and all-digital avionics, “it was supposed to be the future of airplane design,” Scherer says, running a hand over the plane’s wing with obvious affection.
For Scherer, becoming the owner of such a unique aircraft was life-changing. “Everyone in the flight world wants to fly it or be around it. I’ve had an opportunity to fly as a chase plane for [pioneering aerospace engineer] Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, which won the X Prize for suborbital spaceflight. I’ve flown [business magnate] Sir Richard Branson and had astronauts who have been to the moon on board,” he says, pausing. “Sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump.”
