Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Scottsdale Airport (KSDL) is a busy general-aviation reliever field in Maricopa County, Arizona, sited about nine miles north of downtown Scottsdale and closely tied into the Phoenix terminal airspace. Operated by the City of Scottsdale, it began life as a World War II primary flight training school and today ranks among the busiest single-runway GA airports in the country, serving as a major corporate-jet base.
Scottsdale Airport is a municipal general-aviation field owned and operated by the City of Scottsdale, lying in Maricopa County, Arizona. It has no scheduled airline service but is one of the busiest single-runway GA airports in the United States, handling a heavy mix of corporate jets, business turboprops and piston traffic, and its history as a wartime pilot training school gives it added interest for the visiting simulator pilot.
The airport sits about nine miles north of downtown Scottsdale, Arizona, within the wider Phoenix metropolitan area and close to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, the other two airports in the Phoenix area that see airline traffic. Traffic to and from Scottsdale is worked by Phoenix Approach/Departure on 120.7 MHz, reflecting its position within the Phoenix terminal environment.
Scottsdale has a single physical runway, 03/21, a hard-surfaced and lit strip. The published lengths differ by direction, with 7,505 ft available on runway 03 and 7,848 ft on runway 21. The field has no instrument landing system.
Pilots inbound or outbound use Phoenix Approach/Departure on 120.7 MHz. The airport broadcasts ATIS on 118.6 MHz, and Clearance Delivery is available on 124.8 MHz. The tower and common traffic advisory frequency both operate on 119.9 MHz, with Ground on 121.6 MHz. A remote radio outlet, Prescott Radio, is available on 122.2 MHz for flight service.
Scottsdale operates a control tower providing clearance, ground and tower services from 1300Z to 0400Z daily (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time); outside these hours the field reverts to non-towered operations on the common frequency of 119.9 MHz.
The airport lies within the Scottsdale Airpark area, north of downtown Scottsdale and in the vicinity of the resorts, golf courses and business districts that characterise the city's northern reaches, useful general landmarks for orienting a VFR approach from the Phoenix area.
The airfield was built in March 1943 and served during the Second World War as Thunderbird Field #2, a primary flight training school for United States Army Air Forces aviation cadets operated under contract by Leland Hayward and John H. Connelly under the oversight of the Army Air Forces Training Command. More than 5,500 cadets graduated from the school before it was deactivated on 16 October 1944, with pilots flying nearly 26,500,000 training miles in that time. After the war, Arizona State Teachers College (now Arizona State University) acquired the airport to run its own aviation programme, but ended it in 1951 owing to falling enrolment and the cost of operating away from the main campus. The Arizona Conference of Seventh-day Adventists bought the field in 1953 and founded Thunderbird Academy there, before the City of Scottsdale purchased the airfield portion of the property from the church in 1966 for $750,000.
Today Scottsdale Airport is a general-aviation reliever facility with no scheduled airline or commuter service, though it is used by JSX for public charter flights, and it is regarded as one of the state's premier corporate jet facilities, home to a large share of the Phoenix area's business aircraft. Three fixed-base operators, Atlantic Aviation, Jet Aviation and Signature Flight Support, provide services at the field, and U.S. Customs is available daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for international arrivals. The control tower operates from 1300Z to 0400Z (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. local) daily.