{"id":44808,"date":"2021-09-08T00:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T06:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-fly-in-to-take-place-at-cortez-airport\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:21:56","slug":"first-fly-in-to-take-place-at-cortez-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-fly-in-to-take-place-at-cortez-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"First fly-in to take place at Cortez Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Cortez City Council awarded the operation contract of the Cortez Municipal Airport to the Cortez Flying Service over another company it had considered Tuesday evening.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Fly alongside Mesa Verde National Park in a chartered sightseeing flight.<\/p>\n

Residents can do this and more at the Four Corners Fall Fly-in Sept. 25 \u2014 the first event of its kind in Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an open house into the local aviation community, which hasn\u2019t really been facilitated much in the past,\u201d said Cortez Airport manager Jeremy Patton. \u201cSo, my goal is to open people\u2019s eyes to their airport locally, and then the general aviation in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s organizing the event with the airport and the Cortez Flying Service.<\/p>\n

Visitors can dive into the history of the airport, as well as what Patton says has come to be known as \u201cThe Miracle at Cortez\u201d \u2014 a Lockheed U-2 spy plane emergency landing at the airport \u2013 with special presentations from the airport and Cortez Flying Service.<\/p>\n

Gerald Vincent from the Cortez Aviation Heritage Society will help facilitate the presentation.<\/p>\n

Vincent will dive into the history of local aviation, as well as remarkable events in the airport\u2019s timeline \u2013 like the emergency landing and a single-engine aircraft that traveled around the world, taking off and landing at the Cortez Airport, he said.<\/p>\n

Another local veteran flying enthusiast, Garth Greenlee with the Cortez Flying Service, will share his aviation expertise at the event.<\/p>\n

In 1953, at 14 years old, he got his first job at the airport fueling airplanes. It wasn\u2019t the airport Cortez now knows \u2014 rather, it had a dirt runway to the west of where the planes take off today, he said.<\/p>\n

That sparked the start of his 49-year flying career, which saw him leave and return to Cortez. He was compelled to write a book about his flying career, and tells the story on Youtube at https:\/\/bit.ly\/GarthGreenlee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n