HikeArizona.COM

While having supper at sundown in Garden Valley a lot of commercial jets flew overhead. At one time most of the Superstitions were in a military operations area and no commercial traffic. The military no longer uses the area and now more and more commercial jets are intruding into the Superstition Widerness Area. Any one know what happened to the previous air lanes and why the no longer use them ?

I seem to remember reading in the newspaper, something about airlines can save fuel by cutting across just about anything they want to. The regulations have changed to accomadate them. They still have landing and taking off lanes, but everything else has been de-regulated. Of course this is just from memory, so a search of the Republic might turn up something specific.

One thing I hate about Glendale is, we are on the Western fringe of sky harbor's landing pattern and on the Eastern fringe of Luke AFB approach pattern. You get a commercial jet every 3 to 5 minutes and an f-15 ( or whatever ) about every 30. Depending on which Runways are in use.

Everything in the Phoenix area is totally regulated except some very low altitude areas around some of the outlying little airports. It is class B airspace and no plane is allowed in without permission. All commercial craft and all others too, coming into Sky Harbor are given explicit directions on which path to take. Sky Harbor is one of the busiest airports in the world.

The exact shape of the controlled airspace is sort of like an upside down wedding cake. The further out you are, only the higher altitudes are controlled but the floor drops as you come in closer to the airport.

I noticed more commercial planes flying over the area a few months ago and asked a commercial pilot friend. He said the main take off and landing flight paths were changed to accomidate noise complaints in Scottsdale.

All I can say, it the siund of freedom :o