Well if you read my posts on the "Trips" forum you would know the adventure I had getting out of NY last Wed. BUT....we made it and it was fantastic. Tucson Airport
is a small airport,and you are in and out. When we departed on a Southwest 737 yesterday we had a 7AM departure time and had wheels up by 7:02!!!
Not sure of spotting locations but it seems like they dont get a huge variety of jets. Lots of GA planes mixed in.
So on Thursday as we walked around the beautiful University of Arizona campus you constantly hear jets buzzing overhead. A number of fighter jets, a few C-130s
but the most were A-10s. They all are from nearby Davis-Monthan AFB which has the largest training center for A-10s. We saw single flights and flights of two.
Well on Friday I blew off the 10AM seminar for parents (thet get pretty much repetitive after awhile) and with two hours before I had to meet up with my son I decided
to go exploring and find D-M. Well after a few wrong turns (some almost to base gates) I found a road that runs along the perimeter and THERE IT WAS!!!!, the
"boneyard" which is actually the Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center. Now I've seen pictures of the facility but to see it live, all the aircraft from different eras lined up in rows it is just overwhelming. Thousands and thousands of them, many looking like they could fly after some work and many definitely in their final resting place. It was very cool and I took my son there later and being an 18 year old he usually could give a crap but even he was impressed. A few times I had to stop on the side of the road to take it all in. I wish I had more time as they give tours of the AMARC but since I'll be back a few more times to the Tucson area I will make it
a priority.
And of course I was helicopter spotting and I had a perfect location. Our hotel room was on the 7th floor across from the University Medical Center,with a balcony and
just a wonderful view of the mountain range and the city to the NE and NW. And an incredible view of the LifeNet medical AS350B that made numerous flights into and out of the UMC. And on more than one occasion when they took off they pretty much flew just above the balcony!! Nice!! I am so glad I brought my little binoculars with me. In fact Friday night I was watching a helicopter working the north part of Tucson by the mountains and as they flew closer I saw it was a Tucson PD ship. I had no idea they had an air unit but research showed they fly two JetRanger B3s (fairly new) and have a hangar queen. And unlike what we are used to they are limited to evening and weeknight ops due to money restraint. And since Tucson is close to the Mexican border the Border Patrol has a facilty by D-M and fly Astars and I also saw a Bell 407.
All in all it was a great time. Tucson is a nice little city with much to offer especially hiking in the parks and mountains which I enjoy. Oh it is hot but they always stress that it is a "dry heat". LOL which is so true. No humidity at all and very comfortable in the shade and nice at night.
Oh and coming home it was a breeze. Southwest into Midway (Chicago) then after a 2 hour layover, into Islip. Southwest has some nice looking color schemes on their planes and I also saw a number of Frontier aircraft with animals and birds drawings on their tails. Midway was also easy to fly in and out of though you have to be careful of weather delays (T-storms in the summer and snow in the winter).
http://www.pimaair.org
