Fly-In: High-desert get-together
AOPA Prescott Fly-In is an opportunity to fly the Southwest
Ernest A. Love Field (PRC) is a bustling airport. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which since 1978 has operated its second-largest residential campus in the high-desert city about 100 miles north of Phoenix, is responsible for much of the activity. The climate provides nearly 300 days of sunshine each year, and is ideal for the internationally recognized university’s fixed- and rotary-wing flight training programs. What became Embry-Riddle was launched on December 17, 1925, and the institution is celebrating its ninetieth anniversary all year. And its Prescott campus is holding its annual alumni homecoming celebration, OctoberWest, the weekend of the AOPA Fly-In.
Make a weekend of your Prescott visit. From Love Field, storied Sedona, Arizona, with its amazing red rock formations and tabletop mountain runway, is only 33 nautical miles east-northeast. And what pilot wouldn’t want to see the Grand Canyon, which is just is 79 nm north of Prescott. There are two airports serving the Grand Canyon area, and most of Grand Canyon National Park lies below Special Flight Rules Area 50-2, which restricts flights below 18,000 feet msl. Consult the Grand Canyon VFR Aeronautical Chart to plan your experience-of-a-lifetime aerial tour.
Guidance Aviation operates a large helicopter flight school, and its hangarswill host most AOPA Fly-In activities. On Friday evening, AOPA’s Barnstormers Party, presented by Jeppesen, kicks off the event with barbecue, live music, and more. Saturday activities begin with a pancake breakfast, then continue with a full day of educational seminars—there’s lunch, of course—and the program concludes with AOPA President Mark Baker’s Pilot Town Hall presentation.
