Phoenix Deer Valley Airport is a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

north of central Phoenix, in

Maricopa County Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States, within the Phoenix city limits. It is owned by the City of Phoenix. The FAA's

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. With the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of September 3, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was required to develop a ...

for 2009–2013 categorized it as a '' reliever airport'' for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. In 2020 the airport recorded 402,444 aircraft movements, making it the 5th busiest airport in the world by aircraft movements and the busiest

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport in the world. The airport's high ranking is attributed to its large

business and its status as the home of two popular flight schools.

History

In the 1950s, the Sperry Flight Systems Company established an aerospace/defense manufacturing facility on land north of Phoenix's city limits in what was mostly undeveloped desert. While the plant was under construction, roughly 480 acres to the north nearby was also leased as the potential site for a new flight testing facility. Later on this land was developed into a private airport and then sold, in 1971, to the City of Phoenix. A number of flight research and general aviation firms soon made the new airport their base of operations.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

funding enabled upgrades to the terminal building, flight control tower, runways, and many other facilities and safety features.

Usage

There is no scheduled airline service, but charter service is available through several companies.

Facilities and aircraft

The airport covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 1,478 feet (450 m). It has two asphalt

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 7R/25L is 8,196 by 100 feet (2,498 x 30 m) and 7L/25R is 4,500 by 75 feet (1,372 x 23 m). In 2020 the airport had 402,444 aircraft operations, average 1,102 per day: 99%

, <1% military, 1% air taxi, and <1% airline. 920 aircraft were then based at the airport: 773 single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

, 93 multi-engine, 22 jet, 18

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, 10 glider, 2 ultralight, and 2

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

In popular culture

Several scenes of the 1980 aerobatics movie Cloud Dancer were filmed at this airport.

Incidents and accidents

*On August 20, 2018, an accident occurred when an Acroduster airplane crashed at Seventh Street near the airport as it was trying to land on it, killing 54-year-old pilot Theodore Rich and his 49-year-old passenger, Elaine Carpenter. *On April 19, 2025, an accident occurred when a Senior Aero Sport aircraft experienced an engine issue and crashed into a carport near the airport. The pilot sustained minor injuries.

Gallery

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport has hosted various air shows of vintage World War II aircraft. Among the events which have taken place is "Wings of Freedom".

References

External links

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport
official site
Phoenix Deer Valley Airport
at Arizona DOT website * * {{Authority control Airports in Maricopa County, Arizona Airports established in 1960 1960 establishments in Arizona