First trip to Arizona and California. Any tips?

[b707fan]

Hi everybody,

Am planning my first trip to California and Arizona for two weeks next September. Would appreciate any tips/help as I want to visit as many museums/graveyards as possible and also main airports and maybe some of the lesser known airports (at least on this side of the pond). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[felipegcmh]

For Arizona:

Not sure what the deal is with accessing graveyard airports, never been to one.

-Pima Air & Space Museum, you definitely want to plan on spending a full day there, it'll be hot, but worth it. If you're visiting during the week (and not a federal holiday) you can go to the AMARG for some extra money, not sure how it's going to be for photography that time of the year, but you can definitely get some shots.

-Grand Canyon/Valle Airport, the extension of Planes of Fame, nice museum with some older planes, mostly military, but they do have a Martin 4-0-4 (which was the last airworthy 4-0-4, and landed there under its own power), a Connie of sorts and parts of a 377 / C-97.

-The Lauridsen collection in Buckeye, it has a few warbirds, I haven't visited there, but some people from PHX Spotters have, it's varied and all outdoors (including a C-119 from Flight of the Phoenix).

-Sky Harbor for commercial aviation, and Deer Valley for GA (busiest GA airport in the nation).

-Sedona usually has a fly-in near the middle of the month, can't shoot arrivals because they're backlit, but the ramp has good action, last year (and by last year I mean 2012) we got a crew of T-34s and Nanchangs, a Vultee Vibrator, Homebuilts and it's also a car show with some exotic stuff.

-Coolidge doesn't start the monthly fly-ins until October, and the 1st one is not exactly great. That said, if you want to visit the airport (they've got a DC-7 and some ex-H&P C-130s), you probably could.

-IWA and GYR would are a bit of hit and miss, GYR would be good if you're renting an SUV or pickup and want to do the tour of the fenceline, which I never got to do, I believe it's also possible to get a few shots of the ramp from the fence. IWA has a T-38 gate guardian.

California
-There is a small museum, I believe in Lancaster/Fox Field, that has a former HVFS C-119 and some other random warbirds, but I didn't visit it.

-San Diego has the USS Midway (CVN-41) museum and the Flying Leatherneck museum (which I understand is public but on Miramar MCAS land), I only had time to go to the Midway when I was in town.

Let me know if you're interested in any of those places and I can write more about them if I know more about them.

[b707fan]

Thank you very much Felipe. Much appreciated that you took the time to reply.

[Gerard]

For Arizona:

Not sure what the deal is with accessing graveyard airports, never been to one.
-Pima Air & Space Museum, you definitely want to plan on spending a full day there, it'll be hot, but worth it. If you're visiting during the week (and not a federal holiday) you can go to the AMARG for some extra money, not sure how it's going to be for photography that time of the year, but you can definitely get some shots


My son went to University of Arizona so I was in Tucson many times!! Did the Pima Museum and loved it!! You get to wander around a large collection of aircraft and you can get the ticket for the bus ride to AMARG!! Just to let you know you dont get off the bus and it could be a little slow moving but it was enjoyable.
http://www.pimaair.org/
If you have time drive over to Tucson Airport. You can drive around the GA areas and get some nice views!! And you never know what you might see there. One time Pratt & Whitney had their 747 parked there and Rolls Royce was getting there 747 repaired!! FedEx flies in and on the south side of the airport there is a mini graveyard for commercial aircraft!! Also on any given day the Arizona ANG 162 Fighter Wing that is based there could be doing training in their F-16s and flying touch and goes into the airport. There is a road, South Park Ave off of East Valencia Road where you can park by the fence and watch the aircraft come in right over your head into Runway 11. Never been hassled there but that doesnt mean it cant happen!!
Nearby Davis-Monthan AFB has A-10s and C-130s flying around just about every day!! Hard to find a spot to get closeup to them but a good lens can catch them buzzing around.
And YES it can get HOT in Sept!! You are in the desert. When I went it was usually Oct and it was pretty warm but comfortable at night!! My son has since graduated but I would love to take a vacay there again, combining a football game at UA, some spotting and hiking in the mountains around Tucson. Get a good map and enjoy!!

[Jared Blech]

Just went to lax for the weekend two months ago... I have some good info I'd love to share, but it will have to be later today as I'm currently not able to type that much.

[deltaA330]

Cali- LAX is a must visit obviously. But for a lesser known airport, Palm Springs regional is great. Great views in the morning of the planes coming down in the mornings with the mountains in the background, and decent traffic flow. Also a must check out is the Palm Springs Air Museum, which is chalked full of classic War Birds, mainly from WWII if that floats your boat. Here's a link to their website- http://palmspringsairmuseum.org/ If you need sample shots from Palm Springs, you can check out my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltaa330/ or posts on this website. If you decide to go here and need tips on spotting locations, etc, feel free to message me. Hope I helped and have a great trip!

[disco stu]

Surprised nobody mentioned this---there's a great airplane graveyard in Victorville, CA just off I-15 roughly halfway between LA and Vegas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California_Logistics_Airport

[b707fan]

Thank you all very much for the replies and help. I knew this wa the site to go to.