In our previous Super Bowl ATC was a disaster. It took 6 to 8 hours for planes to depart Scottsdale (SDL) Monday after the Super Bowl. This year almost everything went perfect. My accolades go out to the FAA and SDL Aviation Director Gary Mascaro.
Last Super Bowl Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) and SDL used the same departure. This meant only one plane could depart from either DVT or SDL at a time. With great cooperation from the FAA new departure procedures were put into effect so that planes could depart from DVT and SDL at the same time and would not be in conflict with Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX). There were no ground delays at either DVT or SDL this year.
The week leading to the Super Bowl saw the worst weather I have seen here in 36 years. We had thunderstorms with zero visibility Friday before the Super Bowl. Planes had to divert to other cities or just did not depart for SDL. Sunday morning we were fogged in. You could not see 50 feet in front of your eyes, and all airports in Phoenix were closed. Around 11 AM the fog lifted and we had arrivals until the 2 PM cutoff due to the TFR.
The only negative was some clueless person in the Air Force decided this would be a good week to degrade GPS signals that covered New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and parts of California. With the support of AOPA Headquarters we were able to get this lifted the day before, day of and day after the Super Bowl. Whoever decided to do this, did not have much in the way of common sense or intelligence.
Below are some pictures of SDL during Super Bowl weekend. Phoenix is not allowed to bid on another Super Bowl for 5 years, and I am looking forward to another great event.
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