GA landing KPHX?

J

Jamie Kirk

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
645
Display Name
Display name:
JamieK
Daughter has a soccer tournament right down the street, would prefer to land there over KFFZ as it’s 2 miles verses 22 miles.

We would be staying the weekend, departing Sunday afternoon.

Any PIREPS on GA landing at Phoenix? Favorite FBO?
 
KFFZ should be fine. That fuel price seems very high. I have landed there many times. Of course avoid KPHX with heavy airline traffic. Since you did not say where you are coming from it's hard to suggest a route but staying away from other airports is obvious.
 
Snowmass said:
KFFZ should be fine. That fuel price seems very high. I have landed there many times. Of course avoid KPHX with heavy airline traffic. Since you did not say where you are coming from it's hard to suggest a route but staying away from other airports is obvious.
Click to expand...

I don’t want to go KFFZ, too far out of my way as the accent field is 2 miles from KPHX and 22 miles from KFFZ.

Not needing routing, just need PIREPS on landing KPHX and FBO.
 
I've been told landing at PHX is super easy and they are very GA friendly. The only fees are from the FBO, no landing fees. I haven't done it yet myself though, just what I've been told by a person I fly with.
 
MonkeyClaw said:
I've been told landing at PHX is super easy and they are very GA friendly. The only fees are from the FBO, no landing fees. I haven't done it yet myself though, just what I've been told by a person I fly with.
Click to expand...

PHX is very easy and GA friendly.I personally fly a small corporate in and out of there occasionally and have seen lots of small GA over the years.

Always request 7R/25L. The controllers do a great job getting you to that runway even coming from the north. Then it’s just a simple taxi over to Swift. There is Cutter and Swift as the FBO there. My company uses Swift. They will work with you and you can negotiate with them.

Swift FBO has a van and they may even give you a ride to the game. Have a great trip.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
It's been awhile, but Swift has always been great to us back in my Citation days. Easy airport since they'll land you on the south runway to keep things simple. Kind of like CLT in that regard.
 
We go into PHX a few times a year in our Citation and also use Swift.
 
We landed at KPHX several years ago when we had a problem with our landing gear. It would not retract and they have an excellent shop (Cutter Aviation) there that is open 7x24 and is quite familiar with Bonanzas. We flew it from Tucson because their shops were closing for the weekend. PHX ATC was very helpful and courteous, especially when they heard about our problem. After they fixed the problem and before we left, their mechanic went up with us to test things out. We told ATC what we were doing but since it was their busy time with jetliners they said we would have to fly a holding pattern for a while until they could fit us in to land. They actually got us in rather quickly.

The funniest thing was when we called for a briefing before leaving (we still called in for briefings back then) and when we told the briefer we were in a single engine Bonanza departing Sky Harbor, he paused for a second and let out a long "R e a l l l y"?

It was very much a non-event as far as landing and talking to ATC. They even held up our final takeoff clearance for a few minutes to allow the jetwash from the Airbus taking off in front of us.
 
Super GA friendly, and cheapest JetA in Phoenix, not sure about Av gas. Just watch for wake turbulence. Getting out is usually quite easy from the GA side.

It is typical Class B, if you are not used to it, get your clearance on clearance delivery prior to going over to ground for taxi instructions, and then of course tower then departure on the way out.
 
Echoing others here, PHX controllers were always nice and very helpful to me, just don't call them Albuquerque approach.....

When I used to go there often I always got the same treatment as everyone else no matter if I was in the 206, 210, 340, 414 or 425.

Cutter has, or had a radio in the pilot briefing room to use to get ATIS and then call and receive clearance delivery before going out to the plane. That was really nice in the summer.
 
No worries about using PHX in a GA airplane. The south runway is pretty much GA only, and the FBOs are right there.
I have had many pleasant experiences with Cutter and highly recommend them at PHX and anywhere else they operate. Can get rental cars delivered easily, or use shuttles, Uber/Lyft etc. Last time there no fees for a single night stay with fuel purchase.
Jon
 
I will second Swift. I work with them but I never have actually flown into PHX. From every one I’ve spoken with it is easy, and they can keep you away from the airline traffic, even VFR.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
The south runway is pretty much GA only
Click to expand...
This statement is a bit misleading. 7R/25L is NOT GA only. Typically, PHX uses 7L/25R as the departure runway and 7R/25L as the arrival runway much the same as LAX or ATL use their parallel runways. So you WILL be mixing it up with the airline traffic.

I think what you meant was they will usually send GA traffic to the south runway since both FBOs are there.

It is an important distinction because if you arrive at a busy time, you can expect to be asked to keep your speed up and be careful of wake turbulence. As long as you keep that in mind, you'll be fine.

Honestly, I MUCH prefer flying into PHX whenever I fly out there to visit family because it is a much more controlled environment than FFZ. FFZ can be an absolute zoo with all of the flight school traffic.

I have always used Cutter and have zero complaints.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Let's just say that AVGAS at PHX is 2 bucks cheaper per gallon than SDL!
Click to expand...

Last time I was at SDL I remember a phone conversation with my wife where she asked me where I was. I said I was in Phoenix and a random woman walking by apparently overheard and said, "Sir, you're in Scottsdale."
 
Never used Swift, but been to Cutter - no issues. Ramp fee was $20. Would probably give you a ride in their van also.
 
JOhnH said:
They even held up our final takeoff clearance for a few minutes to allow the jetwash from the Airbus taking off in front of us.
Click to expand...

You should get that treatment at any airport. If you were departing from the same point as the Airbus, it would be two minutes, if at an intersection, three minutes.
 
PHX is easy, probably the easiest/friendliest bravo I've been into. I've been in there in turboprops, piston twins and light jets quite a bit, but my most memorable flight was in a Decthalon. I think the controllers and the FedEx heavy that was following us down the taxiway got a kick out of it. So yeah, go for it! Cutter is super nice and had reasonable fuel minimums for light GA.


https://www.instagram.com/p/BtxIMX-lM5M/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
 
Based on pricing, Cutter's great treatment at ABQ and all these threads, I've decided that I'm never going to SDL again and doing PHX instead. PHX is actually more convenient to the more touristy parts of SDL anyway.
 
kayoh190 said:
Last time I was at SDL I remember a phone conversation with my wife where she asked me where I was. I said I was in Phoenix and a random woman walking by apparently overheard and said, "Sir, you're in Scottsdale."
Click to expand...

Haha! So typical...
 
Yep.... Everything in “Scottsdale” comes with the “Scottsdale” price attached as well.... and when you use “Scottsdale” and “Airplane” in the same sentence.... watch out! ;)
 
I don't know if they still do this or not, if it is a little busy when in line for departure at PHX the tower used to not want you to call ready for departure. Instead they call you first.
 
Zeldman said:
I don't know if they still do this or not, if it is a little busy when in line for departure at PHX the tower used to not want you to call ready for departure. Instead they call you first.
Click to expand...

That’s been my experience. Like many Bravos, PHX is a ASDE-X airport, so transponder is required to be on while on taxiing. They know you are there. No need to clobber the freq.
 
Zeldman said:
I don't know if they still do this or not, if it is a little busy when in line for departure at PHX the tower used to not want you to call ready for departure. Instead they call you first.
Click to expand...
If they don’t want you to call they should tell you to “Monitor tower xxx.x”. In that case I’ll switch and not say anything. If they tell me to “Contact tower xxx.x”, that’s what I’m going to do.
 
Btw, Cutter are a major Piper dealer. They know light airplanes in and out. You don't have to worry about that.
 
Sluggo63 said:
If they don’t want you to call they should tell you to “Monitor tower xxx.x”. In that case I’ll switch and not say anything. If they tell me to “Contact tower xxx.x”, that’s what I’m going to do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was always my thought as well.
 
Zeldman said:
Yeah, that was always my thought as well.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that is what we're supposed to do. Monitor means keep your mouth shut. Contact means they want to hear from you. Monitor is usually at busy airports that use ADSE-X to supplement their eyeballs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top