Butch Rutt is a 7 year veteran of the United States Navy, 6 year Pilot and Agent with the United States Customs Service, 10 year line pilot with Northwest Airlines and 8 year veteran with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department in the Denver, Colorado area.
During his time in the Navy he received his Commission in Pensacola, Florida in February of 1984 and graduated Flight Training in March of 1985. Butch graduated at the top of his class, on the Commodores List and Commodores List with Distinction for having earned some of the highest flight grades in the history of Naval Aviation. His time in the fleet was flying anti-submarine warfare operations in the P3-C Orion based in Hawaii. This led him to 3 separate six month deployments to WestPac and Adak, Alaska which included Japan, Korea and the Philippines. Butch was designated as a Patrol Plane Commander, Mission Commander, Instructor Pilot, Maintenance Check Pilot, Defensive Air Combat Instructor (DACM), Nuclear Weapons Load Officer, Pilot Training Officer and a graduate of CSSP. His last 2 years in the Navy Butch was a P-3 RAG Instructor Pilot based at Moffett Field, California. Along with flight duties he was the fleet Instrument Ground School Instructor and also augmented the flight crew for CINCPACFLTS personal aircraft.
Butch then spent 6 years with the Customs Service in support of narcotics interdiction based in south Texas. After graduating from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia he was assigned duties that included locating, tracking and intercepting airborne and maritime targets in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and Central and South America. He was designated as a Plane Commander, Instructor Pilot, Intercept Instructor, Maintenance Check Pilot, Flight Simulator Instructor and Primary Fire Arms Instructor. He was designated as a Distinguished Weapons expert and was responsible for the training and quarterly weapons qualification of 40 agents. Butch also worked with the DEA “Operation Snowcap” in Bolivia.
His career with Northwest Airlines began in 1997 where he flew the McDonald Douglas DC-9 domestically for 2 years, the DC-10 internationally for 6 years and the Airbus A-319/320 for 2 years. Butch’s time with Northwest Airlines took him to every corner of the United States, Europe and Asia.
Butch has been with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department since 2007 when he was hired to be a part of the department’s aviation division which was decommissioned prior to his graduation from the Regional Police Academy. He currently works in the Detentions Division where he is a Field Training Officer and occasionally augments Court Security and