Arizona Pilots Association
Preserving
Promoting
Protecting

General Aviation in Arizona

Advocating the common interests of Arizona's general aviation community at the local and state level.

Arizona Pilots Association
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The Voice of General Aviation in Arizona!

Scholarships

Scholarships are given each year to help fill the financial need of students pursuing aviation related educational opportunities at accredited colleges.

Backcountry

Safety briefing pamphlets, map, and videos for the backcountry airstrips in Arizona that the APA and volunteers have worked to reopen and currently maintain.

Airparks

Information regarding properties and contacts in a listing of the airparks located in Arizona, with special articles detailing the ins-and-outs of many of them.

Passport App

Win awards and stay proficient by visiting Arizona’s public-use airstrips and airports, as well as many airport restaurants and aviation themed museums in our #FLYAZ Passport App.

Safety

The APA provides safety seminars around the state, as well as articles on various safety topics each month. We also have available for download GAJSC safety presentations.

Calendar

The APA maintains a comprehensive calendar of many aviation events around Arizona, as well as our monthly Grapevine BBQ and special getaways. Find out what's happening.

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We would like to thank our corporate sponsor!

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Latest News Articles

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By Mark Spencer

Our partnership with the Recreational Aviation Foundation and USFS is paying off at the Grapevine Airstrip, 88AZ. One of the accomplishments of then RAF President John McKenna a few years ago in Washington D.C. was the addition of language to the Department of Agriculture budget language that directed the USFS to invest $750,000 into backcountry “rural” airstrips each year. While it’s been a real struggle to actually spend that money due to the long term effects on manpower the USFS faces due to overall budget cuts, Region 3, that’s AZ and NM, has benefited from this funding on several occasions. For example, the Negrito airstrip, 0NM7, received funds from this money for fencing and a vault toilet over the last couple of years.

grapevine funding usfs

I received a call from our friend and ardent supporter, District Ranger Kelly Jardine, a few weeks ago letting me know that he’s been given $10,000 this year to be invested by August 30th at the Grapevine airstrip. Kelly has his hands full with the mop up of one of the largest fires the Tonto has ever experienced, the Bush fire, and was grasping at straws as to how to spend this money while he has no manpower to spare at this time. We discussed the best possible options and decided that purchasing materials needed for shoring up the runway edges, along with gabion baskets, a culvert, and associated materials for erosion control would be the best plan. This money will purchase roughly 300 tons of material, after the baskets and their fill rock. That’s a lot of material! Thanks to the quick work of Grapevine’s APA/RAF sponsor, Mike Andresen, we have a plan for storing the material within the airport fenced area. Meanwhile Paul Pitkin has been busy priming the pump on material deals to get the greatest bang for the buck here.

All this material means that, come fall, and the re-opening of the Tonto National Forest, we’ll need plenty of pilot volunteers at Grapevine to help install this material along the edges of the runway, along with filling the gabions and placing them in the severe erosion area near the north apron. Stay tuned for this effort!

 

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“The backcountry success of reopening airstrips in Arizona which the APA has accomplished through volunteer efforts is unsurpassed.”

Brian Schober, APA President
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We would like to thank our partners!

2022 bill robinson blue skies light sport repair

Bill Robinson
Arizona Light Sport Airplane Repair
(623) 218-4646

2022 photos happen

Karyn King
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(206) 795-2796

2023 pilot clinic

The Pilot Clinic
Flight Physicals
(623) 469-4688

2022 steven huff designated airworthiness representative

Steven Huff
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(602) 390-4246

2022 arizona skies aviation

Glenn Roberts
Arizona Skies Aviation
(602) 463-5528

2022 10 partner91

Steve Thompson
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(480) 980-9846