So, as promised yet very much delayed here's the scoop on why you see the big jets over Bellingham's east side. This comes directly from the tower supervisor at BLI, Bellingham International.
Victoria, BC air traffic control picks these planes up from down south and tells them which pattern to fly. Yes, Victoria is quite aware of the preferred approaches to Bellingham.
They only get handed off to the BLI tower when in close. The pattern, tho, is established far from here when the planes are in the travel lanes.
On a side note there is apparently some new tech coming online someday that keeps better track of aircraft and doesn't force them into established lanes for safety - essentially opening up more of the sky to be used more efficiently. Stay tuned on that.
Bottom line, established lanes in the sky and the approach set up established by Victoria. The airport is nice and all but boy, we sure don't get a whole lot of say in how the whole system works.
Also, you flyers out there, cut me some slack, this is greatly simplified both in speech and explanation. I'm just laying out the bottom line.
