Prescott Tower - PRC

buckeye10 Junior Member

My TOL is for PRC...just waiting for academy date....and was just curious if anyone on here works there or knows anyone that does?

Stan Marsh Senior Member The Beach

I've flown in and out of there numerous times. That's about it

Roddy_Piper Resident Knucklehead Vegas baby

be ready for a shitload of ER airplanes.

buckeye10 Junior Member

lol yeah that's probably the majority of the traffic

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

I've been to Press-kit, but don't know much about the tower other than the ER traffic. The town itself is a step back in time. They have the nation's smallest Best Buy (seriously), ONE main road cut through the mountains, and I honestly don't think they had seen a black person until my friend showed up for Lockheed Martin training.

buckeye10 Junior Member

Yeah definetely looks like a step back in time...thats ok though, I'm just glad to have a spot somewhere. Looks like I will be down to phoenix quite often

opie stepchild ATL

well, there are 2 towns basically side by side.

Prescott is older, but lots of charm and a casino

Prescott valley is newer with a mall, restaurants and new neighborhoods.

they are both along highway 69 and both are 2 hours from flagstaff, phoenix, and Sedona. 4.5 hours or so from vegas.

there is also Chino Valley just north of the airport. kinda run down town, but im sure it would be very cheep to live in.

Stan Marsh Senior Member The Beach

Having spent 4 years there and visiting frequently before that... here's how Prescott breaks down. It's basically a rapidly growing mid-level income town. They're trying to grow and become a "big city" but can't work through the growing pains. Some residents want to keep it Pres-git (also known as Arizona's #1 Christmas City...if you don't believe me, just wait. It's a lot of fun). Some residents want to make it into another east L.A. suburb. If you want to be recognized as an outsider, be sure to pronounce it "Pres-scott".

Housing:
There is a LOT of new construction in the Prescott and Prescott Valley area. If you want to live in Prescott Valley, Highway 89A gives you quick and easy access to the exit for the tower. I'd highly suggest living in Granville. Because Embry-Riddle is in Prescott, a lot of students rent houses in Granville and in the surrounding area, so renting can be somewhat cheap as well. If you're renting, stay away from apartments in Sandretto (AKA San-ghetto) in Prescott. The housing community next to it is nice with a lot of families and everyone has their garage open. To get to work you just hop on Willow Creek Road and head out towards Highway 89A. If you have any question as to whether or not an area is "good" to live in crime-wise, let me know. I worked for Prescott PD for a couple years while I was out there. Chino Valley makes up the third part of the tri-city area and is a little bit run-down in some parts. If you're all about living out in the country in a small house with lots of land, check out Chino Valley or Williamson Valley. The only downside is that it's a long drive anywhere from those two places.

Sports:
The Arizona Sundogs CHL hockey team plays at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley and has a huge fan base. Since they are the first real major sport for the tri-city area, people show up in vanloads for the games. I think they also added an arena football team. There are also numerous club sports around town like softball, baseball, football, etc. if you're into playing group sports.

The Great Outdoors:
Prescott is full of outdoor activity areas. You can pretty much camp everywhere in the area. There is some fun off-roading on the forest roads up Thumb Butte that lead down into a small town called Skull Valley. Lynx Lake, Willow Creek Reservoir, and Watson Lake all have decent fishing depending on the season. There are a ton of hiking trails around the outskirts of town, it really just depends on how long you want to be out.

Dining:
There's one thing Prescott has a lot of and that's restaurants. You can find everything from hole in the wall italian to fine dining. They also have the usual chain stuff like Outback, Macayo's, etc.

Night Life:
The night life of Prescott can be described in two words: Whiskey Row. The reconstructed bars along Whiskey Row across the street from the courthouse have been standing since a fire destroyed most of the originally bars in June 1900. Some of those historical cowboys you hear about like Billy the Kid and Doc Holiday frequented the bars back in the day. If you're a hippie and/or have a degree in anything environmental, check out Coyote Joe's at the south end of the Row. They have pool tables, a dart board, and an outdoor fire pit to sit around and sing kum-ba-ya. Moctezuma's is a little further down and hosts bikers and associated thugs...and Riddle students who think they're tough. They have a few pool tables but the crowd isn't all that fantastic. Hooligan's is run by a great guy who advertises that he never charges a cover any night of the week. It's just a place to go sit at the bar and BS with your friends, possibly dance a little or listen to a live act. Matt's Saloon is below Hooligan's and is probably one of the better bars, but I'm biased. They have live country music on Fridays and Saturdays with line dancing lessons (yes, line dancing lessons) before 8 o'clock each night. The guy that gives the lessons is a crack-up. Thursday nights are hip hop nights after 9 p.m. and all the Prescott wanna-be gangstas usually intermingle with the cowboys. It can be fairly entertaining but the scenery isn't always the best on the dance floor.

As far as the ATCT...
It's under ZAB's airspace for now. The 20 year plan says that P50 will take over the airspace and add two sectors to northern Arizona. When I talked to a PRC ATCT controller the other day, he said he hopes they'll just install a new radar site near the airport and make it a TRSA or Class C. The majority of your traffic will be Embry-Riddle students doing pattern work, practice approaches, or departing to the practice areas. The practice areas surround PRC in all quadrants. You'll also get a flight or two from PRC's new EAS carrier Horizon Airlines. They fly a Dash 8 Q400 in there to/from LAX. PRC also has the occasional charter aircraft stopping by. I've seen everything from King Air's to a Global Express. Also located on the field is North Aire, a part 61/141 flight school using the same type of aircraft as Riddle, just fewer. There's also a helicopter school on field with R22's and R44's.

What's nice about PRC is that they frequently use their own range of transponder codes with their new fancy radar feed from ZAB (ok, it's about 5 years old..). The Riddle aircraft automatically squawk a unique code to their aircraft when they're on the ground or approaching the Class D and PRC's radar will pick up their full callsign and aircraft type.

PRC's NATCA Rep is Noel Kingston I believe... He's a great guy and will do anything to help you. I haven't been there in a year or two, but if Steve McKnight is still there he's a great person to get to know also.

Like I said...if you have any questions or need suggestions, PM me.

noid Curtis E. Carr Jawja

I honestly didn't think that much could be said about Press-kit or PV. I would have a better outlook on it if I had my family out there for the two months I was there. Instead, I was in the Best Western for my days there.

Whiskey Row gets old pretty fast, but it's about the only thing on that end of town. If you like hold'em, there are a few tournaments at the casino's there.

Micheal's Cheesesteaks is probably the best sandwich shop in the area. You can't miss it, the building is neon green.

Overall, the place isn't that bad, just a little behind the times.

The weather is insane though....well, for someone from the east coast.

Snows on Monday, 75* on Tuesday, 50* and ice pellets on Wednesday, etc.

Stan Marsh Senior Member The Beach

Yikes? The Best Western on Gurley/Highway 69? I feel for ya then... I agree on the weather comment too. If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.