This is a story about an airport in the American West surrounded by towering mountains, an airport nestled amid staggering scenic beauty and smack in the middle of an exclusive playground for celebrities and the quietly rich. It is also an airport beset with land-use issues, zoning fights and noise squabbles.
Aspen, you say? Nope. Jackson Hole Airport (JAC), Wyo. This bustling multi-use field serves everything from home-based Cessna 172s on up to Air Force Two, the official designation attached to the aircraft (more often than not a USAF VC-32A, the militarized, VIP transport version of the Boeing 757) preferred by Vice President Dick Cheney when he commutes to his favorite “undisclosed secure location,” his nearby ranch hideaway. No airports in America can boast such scenery: to the west the nearly vertical ramparts of the Grand Tetons, rising from the 6,400-foot msl base of the valley floor to summits as high as 13,770 feet msl (in the case of the tallest peaks of the range, the Grand Teton). Standing on the ramp at JAC, no fewer than 12 mountains towering more than 12,000 feet msl can be seen.
