Cheyenne Regional Airport

41°09′20″N 104°48′38″W / 41.15556°N 104.81056°W / 41.15556; -104.81056

Cheyenne Regional Airport Jerry Olson Field
AMSL		6,160 ft / 1,878 m
Website	www.CheyenneAirport.com
Map
CYS Show map of Wyoming CYS Show map of the United States
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 9/27 9,270 2,825 Concrete 13/31 6,690 2,039 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Aircraft operations 33,250 Based aircraft 49
Sources: airport website[1] and FAA[2]

Cheyenne Regional Airport (IATA: CYS, ICAO: KCYS, FAA LID: CYS) (Jerry Olson Field) is a civil-military airport a mile north of downtown Cheyenne, in Laramie County, Wyoming. It is owned by the Cheyenne Regional Airport Board.^[2]

Cheyenne Regional Airport is the home of Cheyenne Air National Guard Base, the main operating base for the Wyoming Air National Guard (WyANG) and the Wyoming Army National Guard (WARNG).

History

The U.S. Post Office gave Cheyenne's aviation its first boost. With the introduction of airmail routes after World War I, Cheyenne civic leaders lobbied to establish Cheyenne as a stop. Buck Heffron piloted the first air mail flight to Salt Lake City on September 8, 1920. He flew a DH-4 that could barely get high enough to clear the mountains and had a maximum speed of 100 mph (160 km/h). The pilot was one of the brave aviators who was guided by a few instruments, maps and landmarks. By the latter 1920s, Cheyenne had become an important crossroads for mail and passenger flights on a transcontinental route between San Francisco and New York as well as a north–south route from Cheyenne to Pueblo, Colorado. Cheyenne was chosen over Denver due to the mountain peaks exceeding 14,000 feet immediately west of Denver. The initial carrier operating on the transcontinental route was Boeing Air Transport. By the early 1930s, Boeing had merged with three other carriers to form United Airlines.

Cheyenne's airport saw its first paying passengers in the 1920s. The first was Elizabeth Brown, a female barber. She enjoyed a ride with World War I pilot, C.A. McKenzie, in a Curtis Oriole biplane. With the step up to the DC-3 in 1937, passengers enjoyed greater comfort and safety. Soon United DC-3s were flying Cheyenne passengers to both coasts and south to Denver.

The Boeing/United Airlines Terminal Building, Hangar and Fountain, built for what would become United Airlines between 1929 and 1934, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During World War II the airport was a completion and modification center for B-17s. Captain Ralph S. Johnson was a test pilot for the then United States Army Air Corps, forerunner to the United States Air Force. The tail turret on the B-17 is known as the "Cheyenne" turret because it was invented at Cheyenne. United Airlines maintained its Douglas DC-3s at Cheyenne; in 1946 it had 1400 employees based locally.^[3] Until 1961 the airport was the training center for United Airlines stewardesses from across the country.

The airport was visited by Charles Lindbergh, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis, and Amelia Earhart. Many historic events are chronicled on the walls of the airport restaurant. One of the airport's celebrated visitors in recent times was child aviator Jessica Dubroff, who lost her life when her small plane crashed after takeoff in terrible weather in April, 1996.

Because of its high altitude, aircraft manufacturers test their new jetliners at Cheyenne. Recent tests have involved

The airport terminal contains plaques of the inductees into the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame. The 2013 inductee is Raymond A. Johnson, who lived primarily in Cheyenne after 1960.^[4]

Facilities

The field covers 1,060 acres (430 ha) and has two runways: 9/27, 9,270 x 150 ft (2,825 x 46 m) concrete and 13/31, 6,690 x 150 ft (2,039 x 46 m) asphalt.^[2]

A new passenger terminal opened in 2018 which has three gates and room for one more in the future if needed.

In the year ending December 31, 2020 the airport had 33,250 aircraft operations, average 91 per day: 62% general aviation, 34% military, 3% air taxi and <1% airline. 49 aircraft were based at this airport: 30 single-engine, 7 multi-engine, 2 jet, 2 helicopter, plus 8 military aircraft.^[2]

Occasional charter flights ("casino or gamblers' flights") operated by Sun Country Airlines and IAero Airways go to Laughlin or Wendover, Nevada using Boeing 737 aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

Frontier Airlines and United Airlines use Cheyenne as a diversion airport on occasion for flights to Denver International Airport.^{[citation needed]}

Historical airline service

In July, 1927, the

In 1996, upstart carrier Western Pacific Airlines began serving Cheyenne by way of their feeder carrier Mountain Air Express using Dornier 328 prop aircraft. Initially flights went to Colorado Springs but were changed to Denver in 1997. The carrier ended service later in 1997 and Western Pacific went out of business in early 1998.

The city of Cheyenne continued to work with SkyWest Airlines and reinstated service to Denver as United Express using CRJ-200s beginning on November 12, 2020 (SkyWest operates for both American Eagle and United Express). Service was suspended on April 16, 2021 for runway upgrades and returned on November 1, 2021 with two daily flights to Denver. Service was suspended again from April 4, 2023 through August 31, 2023.

As can be seen, there was a significant drop in air travel and air service beginning in the late 1990s. This is believed to have been caused by a trend in the general public preferring to first drive to a larger airport, such as Denver, rather than fly from a smaller hometown facility.^{[citation needed]} This has been the case at most smaller cities around the United States, many of which have lost all air service.

Airline and destination

Destinations map
Cheyenne Denver class=notpageimage| Destinations from Cheyenne Regional Airport

Statistics

Cargo

Cheyenne Air National Guard Base

Cheyenne ANGB occupies approximately 77 acres of leased land on the Cheyenne Regional Airport. Within this area was once the facilities of the former United Airlines Modification Center and former stewardess training center for UAL. The host wing is the

• On October 8, 1946, United Airlines Flight 28, a Douglas DC-4, crashed on the second landing attempt when the pilot approached too high and tried to maneuver to another runway at low altitude. The wing struck the ground and the DC-4 skidded 700 feet. Two passengers out of the 41 on board died.^[25]
• On October 9, 1949, a Slick Airways Curtiss C-46 Commando, a cargo flight, crashed 2.5 miles NW of the airport because of loss of control during an instrument approach to Cheyenne with heavy turbulence and heavy icing. All 3 occupants were killed.^[26]
• On February 9, 1956, a
  Douglas C-47 veered off the runway on takeoff and struck a snowbank. Out of 9 on board, the co-pilot was killed by a broken propeller that had penetrated the cockpit.^[27]
• On April 25, 1971, a USAF Douglas C-47 crashed while attempting to land at CYS. All 5 occupants were killed.[28]
• On February 27, 1979, a Rocky Mountain Airways de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed into rolling terrain shortly after takeoff in visual flight conditions 1.5 miles E of Cheyenne Airport because of maintenance issues and pilot error. There were no fatalities of the 16 on board, there were only 2 minor injuries. The aircraft was later repaired and placed back into service.^[29]
• On April 11, 1996, seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff, along with her father and flight instructor, died when her general aviation aircraft crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne Regional in a storm. Dubroff was attempting to be the youngest person to fly across the United States.

See also

• List of airports in Wyoming
• Wyoming World War II Army Airfields

References