I live about 26 miles from Denver International Airport. I am directly underneath the landing patterns. Every other wendsday planes land about 1000ft over my house. Most other days they are 3-4000ft high. Why is this?
Aircraft have to land into the wind. So depending on the current wind conditions, they could be landing straight into a runway, or at the higher altitudes that you see, overflying the airport and coming back to land the opposite direction (downwind leg.)
ALL aircraft land at 0 feet AGL (above ground level).
To further clarify for you by adding to what rw812 said.
The Approach is what your seeing. Not the Landing. They LAND on the runway but they
are on approach at the altitudes you are seeing them. Where is your house and
I can look up the approach plates and see what is causing this.
Maybe he lives here:
161e 131st circle Thornton,Colorado. Very close to DIA.
From what I can tell if they are landing on 17 or 18 (to the south) that near your house they would be around 5-8000 feet above you
running the inbound to what they call the ILS approach fix, depending on what Approach control has them do.
When they are landing on 7 or 8 which is Landing to the east they come right in over you house and looking at your distance
they are about 1500 feet up.
So that would be why you see the difference.
Listen to liveatc.net/search/?icao=KDEN which is for Denver and listen to the Approach control and you will hear them vectoring the airplanes
to the runways.
Thanks, I really appreciate it w7psk!
His coordinates are 39.935 north 104.9350 west.