Date: Saturday, August 22, 2026

Arrival time at KGCN: 8:30am

RSVP required due to restaurant seating limitation

For our August day trip, we’ll be returning to a favorite high-country airport to escape the summertime heat. Our destination will be the Grand Canyon Airport (KGCN). It’s located just a few miles south of the South Rim and about a one-hour flight from Phoenix. The morning air should be cool and crisp. We last visited KGCN in October, 2024, and had a great turnout of APA members and aircraft.

 View of the Grand Canyon Airport

There’s no airport restaurant; however, the town of Tusayan is located just one mile north and is a nice walk from the airport. There is a nice walking path that takes you from the airport to Tusayan. Weisman Aviation (the airport FBO) may be able to provide van transportation; however, it will be on an “if available” basis, so we can’t rely on its availability.

Nice walking path that takes us from the Airport to our breakfast restaurant

Our restaurant destination is the Plaza Bonita Mexican Restaurant which is located on the southern end of Tusayan. After our walk, everyone should have a good appetite.

Our breakfast destination – Plaza Bonita Mexican Restaurant

Please be sure to RSVP so we can give the restaurant an accurate count. They’ve limited our group to 24 people (due to space considerations).

As always, be sure to thoroughly preflight both yourself and your aircraft. The walk from KGCN to the restaurant is mostly a smooth path, but as with any high-altitude location, make sure you’re comfortable and capable of walking at a higher elevation. And do a thorough flight planning as would be required for any cross-country flight. KGCN is a high-altitude airport (6,609 ft MSL) and requires additional flight planning and aircraft performance assessment.

Feel free to contact me with any questions (daytrips@azpilots.org) and we'll look forward to seeing you.

Safe flying,

Mike McCann