Chaparral Airstrip 30 miles east of Arapahoe Airport (later, Centennial Airport), Colorado, November 1973


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Chaparral Airstrip 30 miles east of Arapahoe Airport (later, Centennial Airport), Colorado, November 1973

Edited by David Barth January 2016. Photo was taken by David Barth.

Chaparral Airstrip
Chaparral airstrip, November 1973.
This is Chaparral airstrip about 30 miles east of Arapahoe Airport (subsequently renamed Centennial Airport), Colorado, west of the Kiowa VOR (a radio transmitter aid to navigation). The picture was taken in November 1973 when a developer was attempting to establish a rural community in order to sell building plots. To help entice buyers, he put in this asphalt paved runway in to attract aviation-oriented buyers.

My flight instructor, Ron Stoutz, became friends with the developer and took his students, like me, to the airport to practice navigating to and landing on the strip. The developer appreciated pilots flying into the airstrip to help market his land sales.

This view of the asphalt-paved airstrip is to the north with the runway oriented north-south, to take advantage of prevailing winds.

Ron took me to Chaparral twice, once during the day and again on a moonless night when we were able to find the airport by flying an outbound radial from the Kiowa VOR a certain number of miles. I convinced Ron to let me do a touch-and-go in the dark. We touched down on the northbound runway and I immediately applied power to clear the trees at the north end of the strip. That landing gave me confidence for night navigation and landing.