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By Mark Spencer
APA’s last organized event for the spring went off without a hitch on the weekend of May 19th through 21st. The only challenge was keeping up with parking of the 30 aircraft! According to Kit ad Brad, our hosts for this weekend, there were a total 64 attendees throughout the weekend. Everyone pitched in with food
Read more: Grapevine, Final Spring Fly In
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By Mark Spencer
A beautiful thing happened last week as the new Phoenix FAA sectional has removed the circle with an X through it that occupied the sectional for the last 20+ years, replacing it with the new Grapevine Airstrip symbol! It's taken nearly five years of collaboration between the APA, the RAF, the USFS, and even national MOU
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By Mark Spencer
Who would believe that 12 years after Tuweep’s closure by Arizona’s State Trust Land Department that we’d still not see the end of our struggle to regain access to this long established and historic airstrip? The APA’s and RAF’s efforts here might win a record for tenacity or
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By Mark Spencer
As 2017 flying season enters full swing so does our backcountry schedule! If you’ve got the right aircraft and skill, you’ll find Arizona’s backcountry to be among the most beautiful places in the country to fly and camp. Arizona’s backcountry airstrips provide everything from the
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By Mark Spencer
As 2016 sets and the sun rises on 2017, we have a lot to look forward to in the Arizona backcountry. We’ve received word that Grapevine has been assigned an identifier, 88AZ, and what a way to start this new year! Don’t expect it to show up on the sectional for some time still, as the process of
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By Mark Spencer
Saving the Tonto National Forest Grapevine airstrip, once E75, but closed and abandoned for roughly 20 years, could be one of the greatest challenges ever taken on by the Arizona pilot community. It all began in 2011 with some 80 volunteers over 3 days clearing the runway edges of Ironwood, Cat Claw, and Palo Verde
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By Mark Spencer
As the Tonto national Forest enters the next phase of the forest planning process, APA members help fulfill our mission as “The voice of General Aviation in Arizona!”
To many, the Forest Service planning process is a mystery, but thanks to RAF’s Ron Normandeau, the curtain has been pulled back on this
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By Mark Spencer
By the time this is published we will have had our first fall backcountry fly in behind us. I am itching to jump into the Cub and head up to 24AZ, Young Arizona for the Labor Day weekend. Temps are cooling, the Monsoon is nearly dissipating, and we’ll have several months ahead that folks in other parts of the country
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By Mark Spencer
This weekend’s fly in camp and Labor Day celebrations in Young would be hard to describe as anything but incredible, so much so that it will likely become an annual APA event! Of course, every successful fly in starts with participation, and from that perspective, we had no issues. In all, 20 aircraft and roughly 20
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By Mark Spencer
It took me a while, but finally got the completed FAA Form 7480-1 over to District Ranger Kelly Jardine a couple of weeks ago for re-charting Grapevine! Fire season is incredibly busy for USFS folks, but DR Jardine signed it and got it back to me quickly, and it is now in the hands of the FAA. This first step in re-charting
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