The changes are to ease the potential conflicts between aircraft 200 to 250 miles east of Phoenix, he said. Doing that allows other changes that potentially help the West Valley, he said. Those changes, he said, are the higher altitudes for planes coming and going from Sky Harbor. Glendale council members said they had gotten reports that residents had been seeing more commercial planes in unaccustomed places. That, Nezer said, was a result of a change in the prevailing wind pattern last year.
Planes take off and land into the wind.
And, Nezer said, in Phoenix, the winds tend to alternate pretty consistently from east to west. However, for an extended period, the prevailing winds required planes to use an approach to the east. That is why planes were seen in what appeared to be unusual places at unusual times, he said. The winds have returned to a historically consistent pattern, he said, so that the breakdown now is about 50-50 for east and west takeoffs and arrivals. Under Northwest 2000, which is the name for the FAA's proposed changes, the number of flights over the West Valley will not decrease.