FAA panel sees low risk at short FNL runway but keeps it closed

LOVELAND – A risk-management panel from the Federal Aviation Administration that visited Northern Colorado Regional Airport last week determined that a construction trailer that has obscured air traffic controllers’ view of the last 358 feet of a secondary runway poses little risk to pilot safety, but they wanted the runway to remain closed during control tower operating hours while studies continue.

Such studies are “done for anything that affects a runway or tower,” said David Ruppel, interim director for the airport, which is jointly owned by the cities of Loveland and Fort Collins and uses the location identifier FNL. “We met…