Phoenix Rentals

gprellwitz

gprellwitz

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jun 19, 2005
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Romeoville, IL
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Grant Prellwitz
Leslie and I'll be in Scottsdale in September, and at least one of us will have some free time :). Thinking of doing some soaring lessons and maybe rent a plane to fly up to Sedona. For the soaring I'm thinking of Turf Soaring, and I have no idea where to go for a plane rental. Any suggestions from the Phoenix people around here?
 
Sawyer Aviation at the Scottsdale Airport. They've got some great planes (most with air conditioning) and their prices are too terrible. I can't think of the name of the place at Falcon Field, but they're really good too. Make sure you get down to Gateway (IWA) for lunch, the taxi-up restaurant on the field there is fantastic!
 
Westwind at Deer Valley has some of the best maintained planes in the area. All Cessnas on the singles, though.

I haven't been to SDL since a few months after finishing my PPL. I didn't like the attitudes at the FBOs. They have some new people there, though, and some new planes. Don't remember who but someone is renting Diamonds there.

Falcon has some nice planes, too, but it's a bit of a ride from SDL. Flight time is maybe 10 minutes but it's almost an hour drive getting around the reservation.

Don't go south for $100 hamburger. Boring terrain. Go north. Sedona has a restaurant on the field. Tricky in/out but nothing major. Just ask the FBO for procedures. It's a favorite spot for dual x-c. Payson and Prescott aren't bad either. All are cooler than Phoenix, too.

Watch the DA. Flying gets interesting at 110F and 1500MSL. I've watched 182's barely clear the hills at the end of DVT's runways in mid-afternoon with no winds. On a cool day, they can be at traffic pattern by the end of the runway!

If your rental doesn't have a/c, you might opt for a high wing. Low wings with the bubbly canopy turn into ovens. Plus the Cessnas have the flip up windows. ;)
 
I don't have any rental suggestions, but a few minor ideas from flying quite a bit in that area:

- Sedona is not tricky in the least. It's got a looong runway. The restaurant on the field is hit or miss. Probably 50/50, so I wouldn't bother. Enterprise from the town will come and pick you up at the airport, though.
- Flagstaff, 18 NM north of Sedona, is more interesting IMO. The FBO there is one of the nicest FBOs I've ever been to. You can get a rental car, explore Flagstaff (a great little college town with lots of good restaurants), and drive down to Sedona. It's a great drive. Also, if you stop by the tourist information building in Flagstaff, they'll give you some really cool information about the many things to do in that area.

Enjoy!

-Felix
 
sba55 said:
- Sedona is not tricky in the least. It's got a looong runway. The restaurant on the field is hit or miss. Probably 50/50, so I wouldn't bother. Enterprise from the town will come and pick you up at the airport, though.
-Felix
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Sedona isn't bad, just don't aim for the numbers. If you do try, there is still plenty of room to power up for the go-around, then change your mind and slip it in.... :)
 
sba55 said:
- Sedona is not tricky in the least. It's got a looong runway.
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It's also got tricky wind currents this time of year. The airport sits on a mesa and the hill right before 3's threshold makes for interesting updrafts that suddenly disappear. I keep my speed up a bit, knowing I'm going to lose altitude fast in certain conditions, especially in high temps.

Traffic pattern is landing on 3, takeoff on 21, which makes for interesting traffic with pilots who ignore radio calls. DA can be as high as 7000+ in the summer.
 
I have taken a Discovery Flight out of Westwind at DVT and the plane was excellent, with a very nice CFI (she was easy on the eyes too) - this was 3 or 4 years ago, however. DVT is also very close to Scottsdale, just take 101 around the north side and it's right off the freeway.

I've not flown in to Sedona or Flagstaff, but I have driven between the two. It may be worth the views if you land Flagstaff and drive to Sedona... absolutely beautiful!

Hopefull Bill Williams will pipe in here, since he flies Piper's out of some school in that area (I want to say Glendale).
 
Brian Austin said:
Don't go south for $100 hamburger. Boring terrain. Go north. Sedona has a restaurant on the field. Tricky in/out but nothing major. Just ask the FBO for procedures. It's a favorite spot for dual x-c. Payson and Prescott aren't bad either. All are cooler than Phoenix, too.

Watch the DA. Flying gets interesting at 110F and 1500MSL. I've watched 182's barely clear the hills at the end of DVT's runways in mid-afternoon with no winds. On a cool day, they can be at traffic pattern by the end of the runway!

If your rental doesn't have a/c, you might opt for a high wing. Low wings with the bubbly canopy turn into ovens. Plus the Cessnas have the flip up windows. ;)
Click to expand...

I've driven to the restaurant at Sedona before after my one intro glider ride at Turf a few years back. The food was pretty good, and it was an airport! :yes:

Most of my time is in high-wing Cessnas, so I'm certainly comfortable with them, and would be very open to renting one.
 
sba55 said:
- Sedona is not tricky in the least. It's got a looong runway. The restaurant on the field is hit or miss. Probably 50/50, so I wouldn't bother. Enterprise from the town will come and pick you up at the airport, though.
Click to expand...
I mentioned in another response that I'd been to the restaurant before (driving). We were there on one of the "good" days, IIRC.
sba55 said:
- Flagstaff, 18 NM north of Sedona, is more interesting IMO. The FBO there is one of the nicest FBOs I've ever been to. You can get a rental car, explore Flagstaff (a great little college town with lots of good restaurants), and drive down to Sedona. It's a great drive. Also, if you stop by the tourist information building in Flagstaff, they'll give you some really cool information about the many things to do in that area.
Click to expand...
I'd not realized that Flag was so close. I've been reading a bunch of Tony Hillerman lately, and his stuff is all set in the Four Corners region. Might be interesting!
 
gprellwitz said:
I'd not realized that Flag was so close. I've been reading a bunch of Tony Hillerman lately, and his stuff is all set in the Four Corners region. Might be interesting!
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Four Corners is still quite a ride from Flagstaff, at least by car. If you fly into that area, keep the plane locked. Opportunistic petty theft isn't unknown to happen, even on backcountry strips.
 
Brian Austin said:
Traffic pattern is landing on 3, takeoff on 21, which makes for interesting traffic with pilots who ignore radio calls. DA can be as high as 7000+ in the summer.
Click to expand...

Is that still true? I seem to recall that changing to instead "Land and Takeoff into the wind."
 
Grant, Ben from the board is a CFI at Westwind. I have his cell if interested.
 
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