Tempe/Mesa Fields

[Jeff H.]

All,

Possibly headed to the Phoenix area and looking for guidance on a good field.  Tempe area.  Is Falcon the best choice?

Any recommendations or guidance would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Jeff

[MB65E]

Stellar air park has fuel I believe, it's private but I know they have public transient parking. Chandler is pretty nice. Only been to falcon a few times. Uber and "Discount cabs" work pretty well in the area. 

Stay cool!

-Matt

[carqwik]

Several airport choices available in Phoenix area to get to Tempe. 

1) Falcon Field-Mesa is probably the closest.  Busy place with lots of training.

2) Scottsdale (KSDL) is next closest...straight shot down the 101 freeway to Tempe.  Very expensive but two excellent FBOs. 

3) Mesa-Gateway (KIWA) is a bit futher but huge runways, easy to spot from the air.  Taxi instructions can be daunting.

4) Chandler (KCHD) is slightly closer than KIWA but has cheaper fuel,

I wouldn't recommend Stellar since it's a private field and really doesn't offer FBO services.  Very hard to find Stellar from the air unless you're familiar with it.  For a first class experience, go to Scottsdale but you'll pay mighty dollars for that experience.

If you are doing this soon, just be prepared for sweltering heat, lots of thermals (with nasty bumps below about 10k-14k feet after 0900 in the morning), and make sure you are staying hydrated!!!  You won't know you're sweating out here....it evaporates so fast...but it's real and will affect you if you aren't drinking lots of water. 

[N201MKTurbo]

Sky harbor is the closest to Tempe except Steller. I live in Tempe and keep my plane at Chandler. With the freeway it only takes 10 min to get to the airport. Falcon is a lot further drive from Tempe.

[Jeff H.]

Thank you very much, I appreciate the feedback.  Probably could pick a better season for my first trip in . . . 

Jeff

[carqwik]

Flew to KCHD this morning for bkfst with another Mooniac (his 201..(.I am grounded for a month plus due to upcoming cataract surgery and the glasses I have to wear now aren't working well enough to fly at all.)

Two updates to my post above.  1) I forgot about the somewhat new 202 freeway that runs very close to CHD.  Now CHD is closer to Tempe than before as N201MKTurbo pointed out.  Last time I drove to CHD there wasn't a freeway!  2) They repaved (maybe just a top coat?) the 4L/22R runway...looks great now and easy to see from the air. 

[rbp]

I'll be flying into CHD around Jun 15 for about 5 days to do some glider flying at Estrella, if anyone wants to grab dinner