Lake County Airport , also known as Leadville Airport, is a county-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located two nautical miles (3.7 km) southwest of the central business district of

Leadville The City of Leadville is a statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 2,602 at the 2010 census and an estimated ...

, a city in Lake County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013, it is categorized as a ''

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

'' airport. At an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 9,934 ft (3,026 m)

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

the

claims the distinction of being North America's highest. Pilots receive a free certificate commemorating their landing upon a successful landing. Aircraft performance deteriorates rapidly with altitude, so many organizations use the Leadville Airport as a base for high-altitude performance testing.

Facilities and aircraft

Lake County Airport covers an area of . It has one

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

paved

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

designated 16/34 which measures 6,400 by 75 feet (1,951 x 23 m). It also has one helipad designated H1 with a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

surface measuring 150 by 100 feet (46 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2008, the airport had 10,000 aircraft operations, an average of 27 per day: 78%

, 20%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, and 2%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

. At that time there were 11 aircraft based at this airport, all single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

. At one point, the airport had scheduled passenger airline service.

Rocky Mountain Airways Rocky Mountain Airways was an American commuter airline headquartered in Hangar No. 6 of Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. It was sold to Texas Air Corporation/Continental Airlines in 1986 and was operated as a Continental Expr ...

operated flights with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft to Denver, thus earning Lake County Airport the distinction of being the highest airfield in the U.S. ever to receive airline service. The highest helicopter flight training school in the world, RAVCO, operates out of the Lake County Airport. Their Mountain/High Altitude Test and Training Site (M/HATTS) is acknowledged as having the highest landing zone for training in the Continental United States of America (CONUS).

References

External links

Leadville Airport

Aerial image as of 12 October 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' * {{US-airport-ga, LXV
RAVCO
Airports in Colorado Transportation buildings and structures in Lake County, Colorado