VFR Flight Path Updates

On June 16, 2024, Superior Air Tracker noticed a significant change in the number and intensity of flight school training flights leaving RMMA. These are detailed further in their blog post, which can be found here. Importantly, they note: "Instead of aircraft turning North after taking off and flying over commercial and open space, aircraft instead head Northwest, taking them directly over North Rock Creek and Downtown Superior. On the arrivals side, aircraft now follow 287 over Lafayette. This results in more aircraft over Superior and Lafayette instead of Louisville."

A FOIA was requested following up on this change. The result of that FOIA can be found here. There are many interesting details, but the most potentially significant is the following excerpt from a memorandum:

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport currently leads the National Airspace System (NAS) in the number of Potentially Significant Events (PSEs), which include both runway incursions and airborne safety incidents. This document has been briefed to and approved by the WSA director.