Ryan Field in Tucson (KRYN)

For my second flight today, I had planned a cross country to Ryan Field (KRYN). My flight instructor likes this airport for some strange reason... Here's a little history...

The U.S. feared a coastal invasion following the attack on Pearl Harbor, so the Ryan school sought an inland training sight. Arizona's clear blue skies were perfect. On June 13, 1942, ground was broken in a field 13 miles west of Tucson and in three months the desert was transformed into an Army base with paved runways, aprons, hangars, barracks, mess hall, classrooms and recreational facilities.

The PT-22 planes used for training stood up well to heat, wind, and dust storms. They were so rugged they went through the first 7,200 air hours with only one engine failure. Morale was high and contributed to the speedy execution of Ryan's purpose. A full course of flight instruction normally required four months, but at Ryan it was compressed into just nine weeks. At war's end, demand for pilots dropped and Tucson's Ryan School closed in September 1944--two years and 6,000 pilots after it first opened. The State of Arizona and a three year old Tucson Airport Authority executed a 10-year lease for the 906 acre facility in 1951.

To make development opportunities more attractive to tenants, a 99-year lease was drafted and signed in 1954. Today Ryan has its own restaurant, aircraft refueling and service facility, lighted and paved runways, and manned six story control tower. More than 20 tenants--ranging from aircraft maintenance shops to charters and flight instruction facilities, as well as 220 based aircraft--call Ryan home.

In 2005 Ryan recorded over 160,000 general aviation operations.

We flew down to KRYN did a full-stop and taxi back then left. This time I planned for the return trip so I was confidently tracking back to KFFZ when RC told me to divert to Eloy. OK. Start the timer, turn the plane in the general direction of Eloy, get the chart, calculate distance and heading, calculate amount of time it should take to get to Eloy. Fly. Look at the timer. Spot the airport. Approach. Land. Timer was 5 seconds off of my calculated time!

That was fun. Flew back to KFFZ with GPS...

Flight time: 2.1

Total time: 48.8