What Changed?

1. Flight activities have nearly tripled* over the past 5 years, and are projected to continue to increase. *Based on estimate

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 2024 was 56,662. Through May of 2025, the actual flight activity is 30,174, which projects a total 72,417 for the year 2025.

In May 2025, the number of single engine take off and landings was 4,911.

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