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Phoenix Goodyear Airport: Difference between revisions
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Located 20 miles west of PHX on Interstate 10. Exit at Litchfield Road and turn left. Drive south on Litchfield Road approximately 1.5 miles and the airport entrance will be on your right. | |||
==Official Spotting Locations== | ==Official Spotting Locations== | ||
=== | ===General Aviation Terminal & Ramp=== | ||
Starting at the airport entrance, drive west. The large hangars on the left are owned by TIMCO and carry out airliner maintenance & scrapping. They are also in charge of the airplane storage. In the past, they were typically unfriendly towards spotters and did not allow any access or photography. There is a small guard shack between the two hangars that you should probably avoid. By staying inside your car, and slowly driving to the west, you will be able to see & read off the aircraft present near the hangars. | |||
At the end of this street is the small but modern Goodyear terminal. Any transient bizjets will be parked here. A request inside to walk to the control tower (which is located south & beyond the TIMCO hangars) may yield in permission granted, you will be asked to not enter the TIMCO property and to remain close to the pavement edge. | |||
From the terminal parking lot, a good view can be seen of the stored aircraft across the runway. Given an early morning with little heat haze, a number of these aircraft can be read off from here. | |||
To the right of the terminal, and north of the TIMCO area, is the Lufthansa pilot training academy. Their light aircraft are tied down on the weekends, and are very active during the week. | |||
==Other Spotting Locations== | ==Other Spotting Locations== | ||
=== | ===South Side of Airfield - View of TIMCO Main Ramp=== | ||
Turning around and exiting the airport back on Litchfield Road, turn right. Cross the railroad tracks and turn right again. Drive west on this highway. A view of the TIMCO ramp area can be seen on your right, a quick stop on the roadway edge can yield some numbers. Continuing west along this highway, more stored aircraft on the western perimeter can be read off. There are a few rural dirt roads on the right that lead northerly to the perimeter, near where the stored aircraft are parked. These are worth exploring as they bring you right up to the perimeter fence. A blast shield is located at the engine runup area, and photographs of aircraft on this ramp can be taken from the south perimeter fence. After completing this, turn around and drive back to the airport entrance on Litchfield Road. | |||
===West Side of Airfield - Desert Storage Area=== | |||
To the north of the airport, intersecting Litchfield Road, is Western Avenue. Driving along Western Avenue to the west, a view can be seen of Goodyear's ramp area, the northern threshold of the runway, and finally the stored aircraft on the western perimeter. Turn left on the first street after the stored aircraft. This unused street (Bullard Avenue) roughly parallels the stored aircraft to the west, and eventually dead-ends. You can park your car and venture on foot to the perimeter fence to read off more aircraft, even taking a photograph or two of the stored aircraft (mostly record shots). Security/police from inside have been known to question you if they see you (as you are in a very remote area) but usually they are kind to our hobby and let you continue, especially if you keep your distance from the fenceline. | |||
==Locations to Avoid== | ==Locations to Avoid== | ||
Avoid close contact with the TIMCO offices and guard shacks. Do not enter TIMCO's property. | |||
==Regular Traffic== | ==Regular Traffic== | ||
No regular traffic serves Goodyear, but airliner maintenance and storage provide random movements of up to five per day. The runway is 3-21, and landing traffic can be photographed from either end. | |||
==Facilities and Transportation== | ==Facilities and Transportation== | ||
A car is required to visit Goodyear. The small general aviation terminal provides basic facilities. | |||