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Nasty Airport Alert

D

dwilson

Well Known Member
Had a very distasteful experience at Airport 1GF in the west end of the Grand Canyon last Tuesday.

Early morning flight from Las Vegas to Albuquerque. Flying over west end of the grand canyon and noticed a nice paved runway. Identified it on the sectional ans West Grand Canyon.

Tuned to the ctaf and announced intentions to land. Heard other traffic as well and followed a twin propjet commercial plane in.

Landed and taxied up to the ramp.

No tie downs, no marks as to where to park. Sort of wandered around the ramp trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.

Finally noticed a fellow motioning us to one side of the ramp. Followed his directions and shutdown.

He said "welcome to Canyon West airport, why didn't you make a radio call before you landed?" I said I did, he said I didn't.

He said " there is a landing fee here. You either take the bus tour, or pay the fee. "
I said, "How much is the fee?"
"$100" he said.
"How long is the tour?"
"All morning"
"I don't have time to take the tour, so I am out $100????!"
"Well, since you didn't call on the radio and we didn't warn you, you get a Get Out Of Jail Free card this time. The next AF/D will have the landing fee printed in it. Then you will be stuck with the fee. But that is not out yet so you are off the hook. But you won't be able to take off for the next hour or so because we are just about to get very busy with inbound tours."

We deplaned and went in to see if we could walk over to the edge of the canyon and look down.

We were told inside that we could not walk over to the edge of the canyon but that we had to take a bus over to the lookout area. The bus fee was only $23.

We looked at each other, headed out to the airplane, got in and took off -- no other traffic in sight.

I don't know if the ramp guy was legit or not, but I would not recommend anyone just "drop in" on that airport until you do a little research and maybe take a lawyer or a 357 along.

That was, by the way, the only negative experience we had on our trip from Kelso Washington to Grady's paint shop near Dallas Texas!!!!!!!

Duane
 
AOPA Pilot magazine said:
Airport improvements

Grand Canyon West Airport, sometimes referred to as Peach Springs Grand Canyon West, serves the skywalk. This should not be confused with Grand Canyon National Park Airport, located 80 miles to the east.

As of this writing, the airport is undergoing substantial improvement. The project involves moving the current runway (17/35) approximately 1,000 feet to the north and widening it from 60 feet to 75 feet. The runway will remain at 5,058 feet long but with a new full-length parallel taxiway and connector taxiways. New lighting, a new terminal, and an expanded aircraft parking apron will replace the makeshift facilities and mobile units currently in place. Also in progress are the upgrading and full development of utility infrastructure, relocation of roads, and installation of airport perimeter fencing. The FAA reports that the new field will remain nontowered. The agency estimates that the upgrades will become functional by spring 2008. The Hualapai Tribe has received Airport Improvement Program grants from the federal government so the airport will continue to operate under FAA purview.

Flying in

Beware, there is a $100 landing fee at the airport, but it is waived if you are taking a skywalk tour. Although it is under construction, the airport continues to function. Currently there are no accommodations or avgas available at Grand Canyon West Airport. Be aware of the numerous sightseeing helicopters that operate from the area. The unicom frequency (122.9 MHz) is alive with helicopter chatter, a strange lingo of situational vernacular. With no taxiways, back-taxiing is required so be on the lookout for landing aircraft or conflicting ground traffic. High temperatures and an airport elevation of 4,825 feet make density altitude an important consideration, especially in summer, as do the frequent afternoon thunderstorms that typically build up in northern Arizona. Peach Springs VOR (112.0) is 25 miles to the southeast and an approach along the canyon edge makes for some great Grand Canyon views. You can best beat the crowds, and the bumps, with an early morning arrival. Although the Las Vegas Sectional covers this part of the country, it is suggested that you also have along a Grand Canyon VFR Aeronautical Chart that covers the Grand Canyon National Park area and is designed to promote aviation safety and facilitate VFR navigation in this popular flight area. The chart contains aeronautical information for general aviation VFR pilots on the front side and commercial VFR air-tour operations on the reverse side. Also check AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner online.
Click to expand...
I copied this from the current edition of the AOPA Pilot magazine online. This is an excerpt from an article about this airport. If you are a member and receive their monthly magazine this article was in this months edition.

Interesting that I just read it two days ago and that you mention it in this thread. It is even more fascinating to me that I just posted a thread to inquire about a picture on the home page of a plane that turns out to be yours, that you posted a message a little while ago in reply. Now here we are conversing about this topic having never known each other before and having officially never met.

Doug has surly created a fantastic thing, this forum! :)
 
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A small correction, it is 1G4. This is the same reservation (Hualapai) where there is a $25 charge to take a walkway that extends out over a side canyon of Grand Canyon. It also costs plenty to visit the Shangi La like Havasu, also on a reservation. The reservations that tend to do this are pretty poverty stricken and are trying to make a buck.

Sorry about your bad experience. I have considered landing at that airport but decided, as you found, that it wouldn't be worth it.
 
Thanks for posting this!

Thanks for the warning, I'v been thinking about flying out to that airport just for fun, and would not have been a happy camper to get slapped with a $100 landing fee. And here I've been thinking the $20 that they're asking for at Catalina was a rip off.

I have the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix sectionals laid out on my wall here at work, and often waste time by planning flights out of Santa Monica to wherever. From SMO to 1G4 looked like a fun one, to bad I won't be making it.
 
n5lp said:
A small correction, it is 1G4. This is the same reservation (Hualapai) where there is a $25 charge to take a walkway that extends out over a side canyon of Grand Canyon. It also costs plenty to visit the Shangi La like Havasu, also on a reservation. The reservations that tend to do this are pretty poverty stricken and are trying to make a buck.
Click to expand...

Larry, I understand from our mutual friend, another Larry, that the $25 dollar charge is also mis-leading. You apparently have to be on a tour, which also costs.

I wish the Hualaipai well and know first-hand their struggles for economic independence, but I hope they learn to be a little more up-front about the true costs of the experiences they are offering visitors.
 
Louise Hose said:
...I wish the Hualaipai well and know first-hand their struggles for economic independence, but I hope they learn to be a little more up-front about the true costs of the experiences they are offering visitors.
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The Skywalk is a controversial project that I would have just as soon not seen done but now that the subject is broached on the list, it is quite interesting from an engineering standpoint. To cantilever this thing 70 feet out over a canyon was a feat. They used big anchors and big counterweights.

http://www.contractortoolsandsuppli...r_profiles/07MA_ReachingBeyondGrandCanyon.htm
 
i didn't know anything about flying around there but I'd like to take that walk since I get phobic about heights. !

sorry about that incident, takes the fun out of flying.
 
Go to this link on Air Nav http://www.airnav.com/airport/1G4 and scroll down to the "comments" section on the right, and you will be able to make a post regarding the fees. The honorable thing to do is to have actually flown there and encountered this situation first hand. This would help out the pilots that don't frequent The Van's website, but that do frequent Air Nav. At least it willl give some poor, unsuspecting pilot advance warning.
 
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Posted on AirNav

This was posted on Feb 5 2007 in the comments section for 1G4 on Air Nav:

This airport is the home of the new Grand Canyon Skywalk, due to be opened to the public in March 28, 2007. The shuttles to the Grand Canyon West lookouts are immediately outside the airport area. Private vehicles are not allowed to drive to the canyon rim. Visitors park near the airport and purchase a $50 shuttle package that includes bus transportation to the rim and lunch. The 4800' runway is currently being expanded to 5280' to accommodate jets. According to the new onsite airport manager, $100 landing fee for all aircraft is due to be implemented by the end of February 2007, however, it is waived upon the purchase of at least two shuttle packages.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/1G4/A#c
 
jtrusso said:
This was posted on Feb 5 2007 in the comments section for 1G4 on Air Nav:

This airport is the home of the new Grand Canyon Skywalk, due to be opened to the public in March 28, 2007. The shuttles to the Grand Canyon West lookouts are immediately outside the airport area. Private vehicles are not allowed to drive to the canyon rim. Visitors park near the airport and purchase a $50 shuttle package that includes bus transportation to the rim and lunch. The 4800' runway is currently being expanded to 5280' to accommodate jets. According to the new onsite airport manager, $100 landing fee for all aircraft is due to be implemented by the end of February 2007, however, it is waived upon the purchase of at least two shuttle packages.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/1G4/A#c
Click to expand...

I guess I should change the thread title to:
"Uninformed (read stupid) pilot lands at expensive airport"

Being a rather low airtime pilot, I didn't realize that a public airport could charge such a large fee. You live and learn.

Duane
 
ya what's up with that?? Can a public airport charge that kind of fee? After all wasn't it built with tax payer dollars?
 
It is listed as publically owned I think due to the native american indian tribe owns it (a government body). The landing fee can be set by the airport owner.
 
Speaking of nasty, or perhaps just small plane unfriendly airports, I found one in Palm Springs, PSP.

A few days ago I stopped in for an overnight in a friend's RV-4, but public parking isn't available so you gotta park at one of the two FBO ramps. I read the Airnav comments and kinda expected to get reamed, but jeez. At Signature, the 15 bucks for overnight tiedown I can deal with, but how about the $27 "handling" fee? They didn't "handle" anything, never touched my airplane, but I still got hit with the fee. Oh sure, they'd waive the fee if you buy 7 gallons of overpriced avgas at $5.73/gallon, but I'm just not gonna buy fuel at that price. So there it was, 44 bucks for a crappy tiedown and no service. Signature sucks.

But the best part was the next morning when I needed a quart of oil... no problem says they, "that'll be 14 dollars." 14 bucks. For a quart of oil. Absolutely freakin' insane. I told 'em politely to pound sand, then flew down the valley to Thermal to get some reasonably priced gas and oil.
 
Yeah, the big airport FBO's don't want you taking up ramp space, so you pay for it... I have a friend that works at Atlantic at PSP and it's $25 ramp fee.
 
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