What Changed?
1. Flight activities have nearly tripled* over the past 5 years, and are projected to continue to increase. *Based on estimates provided by airport manager.
2. Administrative changes were made at the Cottonwood Airport which resulted in a significant change to the flight pattern for training activity in the area.
The Cottonwood Airport had a Virtower flight tracking system installed in 2020, and in use in November. Prior to that, the actual number of flight activity was estimated for each year. The estimated activity for 2018 was 18,000. The actual flight activity in 2023 was 50,303. Based on the projections for 2024, extrapolating from the actual flight data through April 2024, the projected activity for 2024 is 64,508.
In April 2024, the average number of daily takeoffs from the Cottonwood Airport was 109. The actual daily activity varies widely from day to day, as the schedules of the students and trainers at the schools, as well as weather conditions, are ever changing. The highest number of daily takeoffs in April was approximately 230.
On some days there may be spans of hours of blissful silence when there is no aircraft activity directly overhead, while at other times the takeoff frequency is one every 30 seconds.
In 2018, the City of Cottonwood implemented a new "Airport Noise Action Plan". Within this plan, changes were made to the Airport Facilities Directory, which instructs pilots on the recommended flight patterns for use at the airport, specifically in regards to training activities, where planes take off to the north, climb to a recommended altitude (known as AGL) prior to initiating a turn, and then loop around the airport and perform a landing from the opposite side.
In the revised Action Plan, the AGL for the loop was changed from 800' to 1000', however, it stated to not begin the turning maneuver until after reaching 500' altitude. Turning at this level, the planes would regularly begin turning prior to reaching Gorsetta Ranch Road.
Airport Administrative Changes
During the May 2022 airport commission meeting, it was proposed to change the AGL to 700' prior to turning on takeoffs (pages 59-61 of pdf). At the next meeting in July 2022, a motion was made to change the AGL to 1000' prior to turning, and was unanimously approved (pages 4,5 of the minutes).
This change in the pattern effectively pushed the aircraft traffic about 2 miles further out from the airport, adversely affecting over a thousand MORE homes, several parks, larger sections of the verde river, Tuzigoot National Monument, Dead Horse Ranch state park with the bald eagle nesting habitat, and several churches.
Link to minutes May 2022: https://cottonwoodaz.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05042022-777
Link to minutes July 2022: https://cottonwoodaz.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_07062022-785
The signs instructing pilots when to turn were modified, and the changes were implemented. The results of this change is that the flight training pattern was expanded, allowing for more planes to safely and comfortably fly loops around the area, and it pushed the flight path of the planes taking off deep into Clarkdale, often as far as Clarkdale Parkway.
Noise Complaint Maps
