The FAA ordered Centennial Airport to pause simultaneous departures from its parallel runways on October 1, 2026, after a safety review identified two verified near-midair collisions. The limits also block touch-and-go training and pattern work, forcing flight instructors to look elsewhere for practice space.
The agency said the restrictions will stay in place during its review of parallel departures. It expects updated measures after a safety risk management panel scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday. The panel is the next stated step.
The safety assessment carries a September 29 date. A memo to an air traffic official followed on September 30, but airport officials said they did not receive it until October 1, when the directive took effect.
The airport called the move “highly unusual.” Its statement said the tower and airport authority had received no advance notice or standard opportunity to discuss the restrictions before they began.
The tower barred touch-and-go training without advance notice
The change reaches beyond simultaneous takeoffs. Centennial’s control tower is also stopping touch-and-go maneuvers, in which a pilot lands and immediately takes off again during training. Pilots received a tower message stating: “All runways unavailable for touch and goes, pattern work.”
The airport said the decision came from the agency. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) objected to the way pilots learned about it, particularly the lack of an advance notice to air missions, or NOTAM, and an update to the airport’s automatic terminal information service, or ATIS.
Brad Schuster, AOPA’s Northwest Mountain Regional Manager, said the sudden halt to touch-and-goes and pattern work without notice appeared unprecedented. He said pilots still lacked a NOTAM or ATIS update nearly a week after the restrictions began.
Schuster also called for the aviation community and nearby residents to have input before operational changes affect traffic around the region. He said training activity could be shifted to other Front Range general aviation airports as well as away from Centennial.
Training flights are shifting toward other Front Range airports
J.T. Murphy, an independent instructor at the airport and owner of Breakthrough Aviation, said he and other instructors had to find alternative places to train. Flying to those locations eats into time students can spend practicing basic skills.
“Myself and several other instructors were kind of scrambling to find other locations to train. As we have to fly to other airports, that's less time that we're able to practice the skills that are vital to becoming a private pilot.”
Murphy said some students canceled lessons or considered other schools. He estimated his business had lost about 50% as students moved to airports where training costs less.
“I've had a number of students that have canceled flights and are looking at other opportunities. So that's lost business or about a 50% loss in business as they move to other airports that aren't going to cost as much to train at.”
The travel also uses more fuel, according to flight schools dealing with the new limits. They said students and instructors must fly farther to practice repeated takeoffs and landings.
Centennial handles more than 300,000 aircraft operations annually and hosts flight schools and other general aviation businesses. AOPA warned that displaced training could increase traffic and noise concerns in neighboring communities, while other airport officials raised concerns about putting more pressure on already busy facilities.
The review classified parallel departures as high risk
The agency’s assessment covered flights from May 2025 through April 2026. It rated parallel departures as high risk for incidents involving aircraft deviation or “drift resulting in unmitigated convergence.” The report tallied 54 recent safety-related incidents, including the two collisions.
The assessment also identified aircraft drifting toward other planes departing at the same time. The parallel runways sit approximately 700 feet apart.
The airport has faced a previous safety concern involving those runways. In 2021, two aircraft collided while approaching separate runways.
Airport leaders have no timetable for normal operations
Centennial Airport CEO Mike Fronapfel told flight school operators the restrictions had immediately affected training, general aviation activity, pilots and local businesses. He said the airport did not have a specific timeframe for when normal or semi-normal operations would resume.
Fronapfel said the airport wanted to find a workable way forward while addressing the agency’s safety concerns and ensuring future procedures provide an appropriate safety level. The Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority separately told tenants that flight schools, instructors, pilots and airport businesses were affected, and acknowledged uncertainty among airport users.
The airport said it wanted local stakeholders involved as the agency considers additional measures. That request follows the airport’s complaint that the directive arrived without the usual chance for engagement.
Murdock framed the directive as a new centralized safety approach
Peter (Sandy) Murdock, writing for JDA Aviation Technology Solutions, offered an interpretation of how the directive came about. He connected it to Administrator Bedford’s Flight Plan 2026 and the Enterprise Safety Management System Office, describing the action as an early, prominent instance of the new office imposing real-time operating restrictions at a busy general aviation airport.
Murdock also wrote that drift events and conflicts involving parallel departures had persisted for months without formal safety-risk documentation, as training traffic grew. He said local air traffic control adjustments had not been sufficient or formally recorded. Those are his characterizations, separate from the agency’s assessment.
He described the order’s organizational route as “SEO → Denver TRACON → KAPA Tower.” Murdock said the lack of warning to pilots about restrictions imposed in response to safety concerns would be a lesson for the new safety-management office.
