Colorado pilot seeks permission for a driveway-to-office flight

CBS Colorado's report follows Jonathan Sawyer's effort to resume an electric-plane commute halted by a county complaint.

Channel: CBS Colorado Story of October 28, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 134,347 views a day, 65 times a normal first day on this channel (2,069).

Colorado resident fights to use small electric plane for commute

Jonathan Sawyer says his flight to work takes 16 minutes and uses less electricity than driving his Tesla. The obstacle is getting permission to leave from his own driveway.

The Jefferson County resident's dispute has brought an unusually large audience to CBS Colorado's report, with an estimated 134,000 views in its first day, far beyond the channel's usual start for a Short. A second upload about Sawyer's commute is also drawing substantially more views than usual.

In Tierston Roth's report, Sawyer explains that he wants to fly between his home and his office beside Erie Airport. This is not his first attempt to make private air travel part of his routine: the report revisits an earlier dispute over helicopter landings on his property, which courts eventually prohibited.

The electric aircraft offers a different proposition, particularly on noise. Neighbor Patrick Sullivan describes it as barely noticeable: "Yeah, it was super quiet. I mean, if you weren't actually looking around, paying attention, you wouldn't hear it."

Sawyer also says the flight uses less electricity than the same journey in his electric car. But a new complaint to Jefferson County has halted the commute. He is advocating for county zoning rules to be updated to accommodate electric aviation, turning a driveway departure into a question about what local rules should allow.

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More from CBS ColoradoVideo taking off 56x its usual first dayWolf Creek's early ski season pauses over flooding threatsCBS Colorado reports that the closure is precautionary, tied to mandatory evacuation orders in Archuleta County.Channel: CBS Colorado · Story of November 3, 2026 Also in Local news stationsVideo taking off 11x its usual first daySeattle dog that protected his owner from gunfire needs surgeryFOX 13 Seattle reports that bullet fragments left in Judah's head have shifted, prompting his owner to seek help with the operation.Channel: FOX 13 Seattle · Story of November 3, 2026 A different discovery todayVideo taking off 12x its usual first dayFrom "please don't leave" to "ask Grok": John Oliver's midterm tourThe election-week main story drew about 3.8 million views in under a day, and its comment section filled more than twice as fast as usual.Channel: LastWeekTonight · Story of November 3, 2026

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Colorado pilot seeks permission for a driveway-to-office flight The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/cbscolorado-18649/?from=kit

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The numbers

Both reports about Sawyer's electric-plane commute drew unusually strong starts for CBS Colorado's Shorts.

the video's first day

usual first day here

2,069

this video

134,347

subscribers

175,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

216,452,412

views per day

391,108

typical day: 236,527

the video

views

167,003

likes

657

comments

263

days online

2

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

CBS Pittsburgh

209,000

FOX 7 Austin

193,000

CHCH News

180,000

WJZ

178,000

CBS Colorado

175,000

CBC British Columbia

160,000

As of October 28, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.