Bones wrote:
I may be relocating to Phoenix in the not so distant future so I'm looking
for airplane rental or flying club recommendations. I'm currently flying
Warriors, Archers and 172s but having a high performance or complex airplane
available would be a plus. Info on rental charges, airplane availability,
quality of the airplanes, airspace considerations and user friendliness of
the airport/FBO/club would all be appreciated.


In the west valley, the choices are dwindling. Glendale Aviation recently
sold and stopped renting aircraft. At GEU, there's still Air Safety
Academy (http://www.airsafetyacademy.com/), which primarily focuses on
renting Cirrus aircraft, but they have some Cessnas on the line as well.
Their costs may rise though since the new FBO owners have raised their gas
prices, presumably in preparation for Super Bowl.

Glendale Aviation's birds were sold or the leasebacks transferred to other
FBO's. Two of their leased 172SP's are now rented out by Angel Air (based
at Stellar) out of Goodyear Airport (GYR). Some of their better CFII's now
operate out of GYR as well. Angel has plenty of planes at Stellar (P19) as
well. Angel Air can be found at http://www.flyangelair.com/ . They rent
172's (steam and G1000, though only steam at GYR), a 182T G1000 (high
perf), a late model Arrow (complex) and a Seminole twin (multi).

I was sad to see Glendale Aviation stop renting as they had the cheapest
rates in the valley Example being (wet, hobbs) $68/hr for a 152
Sparrowhawk, $88 for a 172N, $114/hr for a 172SP, and $125/hr for a 172SP
G1000.

Angel rents the same 172SPs at $120/hr, which is still reasonable given
the rise in cost of AvGas. The 172SP's they have at GYR have seen student
abuse, but are still in reasonably nice shape - being that everything
still works.

Hope this helps,
-Rick (PPL ASEL)