Take the Leap
America’s most scenic airport
This should be on every aviator’s bucket list
Sedona’s Mesa Grill is a popular $100 hamburger destination, but if you’re thinking that you’d like to spend more than a few hours, the Sky Ranch Lodge (www.skyranchlodge.com) is located within walking distance of the airport, and TripAdvisor says it is the best place to view a Sedona sunset.
What you should know
- The calm landing runway is 3 and the departure is 21 to take advantage of a 1.8-percent gradient.
- Large swaths of wilderness areas to the north and southeast of the airport mean no overflying below 2,000 feet agl.
- Airport elevation is 4,830 feet and temperatures can soar to the 90s beginning in June, so don’t skip density altitude calculations.
Have you landed on an aircraft carrier? If you have, please feel free to skip to the next page. If you haven’t, but you’d like to experience that kind of a rush in a single-engine piston aircraft, we suggest a trip to Sedona Airport (SEZ) in Sedona, Arizona.
Perched atop a 500-foot mesa, Sedona Airport is surrounded by red sandstone formations that glow when sunlight touches them. The “red rocks” have been seen in numerous western movies, including Johnny Guitar and 3:10 to Yuma.
The scenery alone would be worth a trip to the airport, but the approach and landing (and takeoff) put it in another category. Steep drop-offs at either end of the runway can create turbulence (see “It’s Going to Be a Bumpy Ride,” p. 42), so anticipate adding power short of the runway threshold on approach.
Why you should go: Sedona Airport Day is September 17, 2017, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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