What Changed?

In the Spring 2023, it seemed like all hell broke loose in the skies above Cottonwood and Clarkdale. There had always been airplanes in the sky but now there seemed to be a LOT more of them and they were flying over areas they had not below. What happened?

This was a surprisingly difficult question to get a straight answer to. But things did change. There were was more flight training and there were administrative changes made at the Cottonwood Airport. Here's what happened and why.

Flights Have Significantly Increased

Flight activities have nearly tripled* over the past 5 years, and are projected to continue to increase as flight school enrollments increase and increased activity at the Prescott Airport pushes training traffic elsewhere. (*based on estimate)

The Cottonwood Airport had a Virtower flight tracking system installed in 2020, and in use by 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 hours of quiet skies 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." In 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. 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 ("the pattern") and perform a landing from the opposite side.

In the revised Noise Action Plan, the AGL for the AGL for turning into the pattern 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 Grosetta Ranch Road.

Airport Administrative Changes

However 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. It also redirected all calm-wind traffic over Clarkdale, which does not have any jurisdictional authority over the Airport.

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