Stapleton highlighted on this map of Denver's neighborhoods.

Stapleton International Airport was Denver, Colorado's primary airport from 1929 to 1995. At different times it served as a hub for TWA, People Express, Frontier Airlines and Western Airlines as well as a hub for Continental Airlines and United Airlines when the airport was closed. In 1995, Stapleton was replaced by Denver International Airport. It has now been decommissioned, and redeveloped as a neighborhood. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (794x650, 197 KB) Summary 2006, Julio Trujillo Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (794x650, 197 KB) Summary 2006, Julio Trujillo Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1. ... This article refers to the state capital of Colorado. ... Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Largest metro area Denver-Aurora Metro Area Area  Ranked 8th  - Total 104,185 sq mi (269,837 km²)  - Width 280 miles (451 km)  - Length 380 miles (612 km)  - % water 0. ... The Twa, also known as Batwa, are a pygmy people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the Great Lakes region of central Africa. ... People Express Airlines, aka PEOPLExpress, was a U.S. no-frills airline that operated from 1981 to 1987. ... Frontier Airlines was formed by a merger of Arizona Airways, Challenger Airlines, and Monarch Airlines on June 1, 1950, with headquarters at Stapleton Field in Denver, Colorado. ... A new restoration of a Convair 240 sports a Western Airlines paint scheme. ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is a US certificated air carrier. ... United Airlines, also known as United Air Lines, Inc. ... Denver International Airport (IATA: DEN, ICAO: KDEN, FAA LID: DEN), often called DIA, is, by land size, the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world, after only King Fahd International Airport[1], and Montréal-Mirabel International Airport. ...

History

Former Stapleton International Airport from the air (6 February 2006)

Stapleton was opened on October 17, 1929 as Denver Municipal Airport, which was later renamed to Stapleton Airfield after expansion in 1944. The renaming was in honor of Benjamin F. Stapleton, the city's mayor most of the time from 1923 to 1947, and the major force behind the project when it began in 1928. Concourse A, the original building from 1929, still was in operations when the airport closed. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 650 KB) The former Stapleton International Airport. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 650 KB) The former Stapleton International Airport. ... is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Benjamin F. Stapelton was the mayor of Denver, Colorado for two periods, the first from 1923-1931 and the second from 1935-1947. ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ...

The facility received a new jet runway and terminal building in 1964. After deregulation, three different airlines operated large hubs out of Stapleton (Frontier Airlines, Continental Airlines, and United Airlines), leading to large levels of congestion. In order to combat the congestion, a new runway was added (18/36) in the 1980s and the terminal was again expanded. Concourse D was built in 1972, and Concourse E was built in 1988. At the time of its closure in 1995, Stapleton sported six runways (2 sets of 3 parallel runways) and five terminal concourses. President Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation Act. ... Frontier Airlines was formed by a merger of Arizona Airways, Challenger Airlines, and Monarch Airlines on June 1, 1950, with headquarters at Stapleton Field in Denver, Colorado. ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is a US certificated air carrier. ... United Airlines, also known as United Air Lines, Inc. ...

The airport scenes in the film Die Hard II were filmed at Stapleton.^[1] One scene of The Shining was shot there as well. Die Hard 2: Die Harder, the second Die Hard movie, was released on Wednesday, July 4, 1990 and starred Bruce Willis as cop John McClane. ... The Shining is a 1980 British horror film by Stanley Kubrick based on Stephen Kings novel of the same name. ...

Stapleton Airport was the subject of studies by Ted Fujita about microbursts. Tetsuya Theodore Ted Fujita (藤田哲也 Fujita Tetsuya, October 23, 1920–November 19, 1998) was a severe storms researcher of the twentieth century. ... A photograph of the surface curl soon after an intense microburst impacted the surface A microburst is a very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straight-line winds at the surface that are similar to but distinguishable from tornadoes which generally have convergent damage. ...

Decommissioning

By the 1980s, plans were underway to replace Stapleton with a new airport. Stapleton was plagued with a number of problems, including:

• inadequate separation between runways, leading to extremely long waits in bad weather
• little or no room for other airlines that proposed/wanted to use Stapleton for new destinations
• a lawsuit over noise, brought by residents of nearby Park Hill community
• legal threats by Adams County to block runway extension into Rocky Mountain Arsenal lands.

The Colorado General Assembly brokered a deal in 1985 to annex a plot of land in Adams County into the city of Denver, and use that land to build a new airport. Adams County voters approved the plan in 1988, and Denver voters approved the plan in a referendum in 1989. It has been suggested that civil trial be merged into this article or section. ... For the Irish mythological figure, see Naoise. ... Adams County is the fifth most populous county of the State of Colorado. ... The Rocky Mountain Arsenal is an area in Commerce City, Colorado. ...

On February 27, 1995, the last commercial flight left Stapleton (a Continental Airlines flight to London Gatwick). Stapleton was closed later that evening, and a massive convoy of all airport vehicles (everything from baggage carts to rental cars) headed for DIA, which opened the following morning. Yellow "X"es were placed across all Stapleton runways to keep aircraft from landing at the now-closed airport. DIA dropped DVX and KDVX as its temporary airport codes, adopting Stapleton's DEN and KDEN. Visitors to Denver at this time had the experience of flying out of a different airport as the one they arrived at, although the airport had the same code. is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is a US certificated air carrier. ... Gatwick Airport (IATA Airport Code: LGW, ICAO Airport Code: EGKK) is Londons second airport and the second largest airport in the UK after Heathrow. ... A convoy is a group of vehicles traveling together for mutual support. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... “Flying Machine” redirects here. ... An airport code is an acronym used to identify a specific airport. ...

All of Stapleton's airport infrastructure has been removed except for the control tower and a parking structure which remain standing as a reminder of the site's former days.

Facilities

At the time of its decommissioning, the airport had the following runways [2]:

• 18/36 (7,700 ft)
• 17R/35L (11,500 ft)
• 17L/35R (12,000 ft)
• 7/25 (4871 ft)
• 8L/26R (8599 ft)
• 8R/26L (10,004 ft)

The old airport terminal had five concourses [3].

• Concourse A (Commuter flights, Mesa Air Group, United Airlines)
• Concourse B (United Airlines)
• Concourse C (Continental Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Mexicana Airlines)
• Concourse D (Trans World Airlines, MarkAir, Delta Air Lines)
• Concourse E (Northwest Airlines, American Airlines, Sun Country

Mesa Air Group (NASDAQ: MESA) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based commercial aviation holding company that operates three regional airline subsidiaries: Mesa Airlines, Freedom Airlines, and Air Midwest, and five supporting subsidiaries. ... United Airlines, also known as United Air Lines, Inc. ... United Airlines, also known as United Air Lines, Inc. ... Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) is a US certificated air carrier. ... Frontier Airlines was formed by a merger of Arizona Airways, Challenger Airlines, and Monarch Airlines on June 1, 1950, with headquarters at Stapleton Field in Denver, Colorado. ... Mexicana de Aviación (commonly known by the shorter name Mexicana) is Mexicos second largest airline company, after Aeroméxico, and the worlds third oldest airline still using its original name, after Hollands KLM and Colombias Avianca. ... Trans World Airlines (IATA: TW, ICAO: TWA, and Callsign: TWA), commonly known as TWA, was an American airline company that was acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. ... MarkAir was an Alaska-based regional airline which closed down in 1995. ... Delta Air Lines, Inc. ... Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA), occasionally known as NWA, is an American airline headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, near Minneapolis-St. ... American Airlines, Inc. ... Categories: Airline stubs | Airline companies of the United States ...

Redevelopment

While Denver International was being constructed, planners began to decide how the Stapleton site would be redeveloped. A private group of Denver civic leaders, the Stapleton Development Foundation, convened in 1990 and produced a master plan for the site in 1995, emphasizing a pedestrian-oriented design rather than the automobile-oriented designs found in many other planned developments. Nearly a third of the airport site was slated for redevelopment as public park space.

The former airport site is now being redeveloped by Forest City Enterprises as the largest new urbanist project in the United States. Construction began in 2001, and as of 2004, over a thousand homes have been built on the Stapleton site. The new community is zoned for residential and commercial development, including office parks and "big box" shopping centers. Stapleton is by far the largest neighborhood in the city of Denver and an eastern portion of the redevelopment site lies in the neighboring city of Aurora. Forest City Enterprises is a diversified real estate management and development company based in Cleveland, Ohio. ... The New urbanism is an American urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. ... A typical zoning map; this one identifies the zones, or development districts, in the city of Ontario, California Zoning is a North American term for a system of land-use regulation. ... Nickname: The Gateway to the Rockies Location of Aurora in Colorado County Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas  - Mayor Ed Tauer (R) Area    - City 369. ...

Eventually, Stapleton is expected to be home to at least 30,000 residents, four schools and 2 million square feet (180,000 m²) of retail.^[2]. Northfield Stapleton, one of the development's major retail centers, recently opened. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Incidents

Several major air crashes involved Stapleton as the origin airport, with three actually occurring at Stapleton. Additionally, a United DC-8 was destroyed after landing at Stapleton. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

• On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner, exploded over nearby Longmont, Colorado while en route to Portland, Oregon from Stapleton, killing all 44 persons aboard. A man named John "Jack" Gilbert Graham was found to have planted a dynamite bomb in a suitcase that was loaded onto the plane in order to murder his mother in revenge for the way he was treated by her as a child. He was executed two years after Flight 629 exploded.
• On July 11, 1961, United Airlines DC-8-12 N8040U was destroyed after landing. Asymmetric thrust on the numbers 1 and 2 engines forced a loss of control on the runway. The aircraft ended up striking a maintenance vehicle, killing the occupant. In the ensuing disaster, 17 of 122 occupants on the DC-8 perished.
• On August 7, 1975, Continental Airlines Flight 426 crashed due to windshear after taking off and climbing to 100 feet on runway 35L. Fortunately, nobody was killed in the accident.
• On November 16, 1976, a Texas International DC-9 Series 10 aircraft stalled after takeoff at Denver Stapleton International Airport and crashed. The 81 passengers and 5 crewmembers escaped but with 14 injuries.
• On December 28, 1978, United Airlines Flight 173, which took off from Stapleton, ran out of fuel circling near Portland, Oregon, due to pilot suspicion of landing gear problems. Ten people died while 179 survived.
• On November 15, 1987, when Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashed on takeoff during a snowstorm. The probable cause of the crash was the failure of the flight crew to have the aircraft de-iced prior to take-off and the over-rotation of the aircraft on take-off. Twenty-eight persons were killed, while 54 survived.
• On July 19, 1989, United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10-10, crash-landed at the Sioux City, Iowa airport on a flight which originated at Stapleton. Flight 232 experienced a catastrophic engine failure over Alta, Iowa on a flight to Chicago, Illinois. One hundred and eleven people died in the crash, while 185 survived.

is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... United Airlines Flight 629 was a flight that flew from Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colorado to Portland, Oregon. ... The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1959. ... The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder County and Weld County, Colorado, United States. ... Nickname: Location in Multnomah County and the state of Oregon Coordinates: , Country United States State Oregon County Multnomah County Incorporated February 8, 1851 Government  - Mayor Tom Potter Area  - City 376. ... John Jack Gilbert Graham (January 23, 1932 - January 11, 1957) was a mass murderer who killed 44 people by planting a dynamite bomb in his mothers suitcase that was subsequently loaded aboard United Airlines Flight 629. ... Dynamite is an explosive based on the explosive potential of nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth (kieselguhr) as an adsorbent. ... is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... United Airlines Flight 173, registration N8082U[1], was a Douglas DC-8-61 en route from Denver to Portland, Oregon on December 28, 1978. ... is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas DC-9-14 aircraft, crashed on take-off in a snowstorm from the Denver, Colorado Stapleton International Airport on Sunday, November 15, 1987. ... The Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engined jet airliner, first manufactured in 1965 and, in much modified form and under a succession of different names. ... is the 200th day of the year (201st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... United Airlines Flight 232 was a scheduled flight operated by United Airlines between Denver and Philadelphia via Chicago. ... Biman Bangladesh Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engined long-range airliner, with two engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. ... Sioux City (IPA: ) is a city located in northwest Iowa in the United States. ... Alta is a city located in Buena Vista County, Iowa. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ...

External links

• Stapleton redevelopment project
• Airport history
• Stapleton Terminal History
• Stapleton retail center
• Example of Stapleton Builder
• Stapleton Airport Photogaphs
• Maps and aerial photos for 39°46′45″N 104°52′55″W / 39.779255, -104.88184Coordinates: 39°46′45″N 104°52′55″W / 39.779255, -104.88184
  • Maps from WikiMapia, Google Maps, Live Search Maps, Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest
  • Topographic maps from TopoZone or TerraServer-USA

Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

References

1. ^ IMBD [1]
2. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-26-100-million_x.htm USA Today