Best place to watch the planes come in at Phx Sky Harbor? (Phoenix: mover, taxi)

[azcater]

My 2 yr old loves planes and I'm trying to find a good location to sit and let him watch some planes come in, obviously close would be good! Any ideas?

[Robert A]

There is a little dirt parking lot I've seen people park at to watch airplanes. 40th St and Air Ln. It's on the NE side of the runway, so you'll likely see planes taking off in the morning, landing in the afternoon.

[uconn99]

I believe the dirt lot is fenced off, at least it was last time I checked 2 months ago.

[exit2lef]

That's right. That dirt lot is not longer available. I'm not sure if it's due to security concerns or some plans to develop the property. My guess is that it might have something to do with the airport people mover, which will pass near that location. Regardless of the reason, it has been fenced off for a while now.

Since that option is no longer available, I'd suggest the west end of Tempe Town Lake. If you park at Tempe Beach Park (north end of Mill Avenue) and walk west toward the Tempe Arts Center, you should get some good views of landings or takeoffs depending on the wind direction. Unfortunately, you won't get to see plans taxiing since you'll be about two miles east of the actual airport.

There's a site devoted to plane spotting, but it has no data for Sky Harbor, just a redirect to the official airport site:

www.planespotting.com

[azcater]

Ok, we went to where Robert suggested and just pulled off into a tiny dirt patch next to stop sign and watched for a bit, but the planes were taking off to the east, so by the time they came our way they were pretty far up and they were using the south runways a lot more. So, we decided to venture to the west side of the airport and sure enough we found this great spot where the planes were flying in literally right over our heads, it was awesome!!! It's basically a big dirt lot (I didn't see any "no trespassing" signs) behind a building. It was near the I-10 overpass and the Sky Harbor Circle intersection. I'm going tory and post a map link so you can see where I am talking about.

Thanks everyone!
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=S+40th+St+%26+E+Airlane, +Phoenix,+AZ+85034&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.589577,70.664062&ie=UTF8&ll=33.4 41209,-112.039411&spn=0.004709,0.008626&t=h&z=17>

[joninaz]

It'll cost a few dollars but you can always drive into the main parking garage and have a bird's eye view of the airport below and surrounding areas.

[Elmonellie]

Your little boy is lucky to have such a fun parent! If you are ever in Los Angeles, you MUST go to the Santa Monica airport. Your son will LOVE it! It's a small airport but busy and it's just packed with interesting planes. Plus there used to be a really neat restaurant there. Also, 45 minutes away is the Van Nuys airport where they have a cool little airplane museum.

Here in the Valley, you should check out the Carefree airport. Teeney-wienie but fun.

[NytoPhx]

Originally Posted by azcater

My 2 yr old loves planes and I'm trying to find a good location to sit and let him watch some planes come in, obviously close would be good! Any ideas?

I would say far away from the airport. Not the greatest area. I live on Priest in Tempe, and driving north it is pretty cool seeing the planes fly overhead, with the mountains (Camelback?) in the background.

[teepolo]

I see the map posted for sigthing the planes but i am not seeing exactly where.

[sassieb75]

My three year old loves that too! We like to go to the top of the parking garage....so you come out and have to pay a few bucks! You'd pay the same at McD's....LOL