Pinal Airpark, a huge airplane graveyard in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona

Currently, air transport is a very extensive business that connects the most diverse places in the world.

Victorville aircraft boneyard, the place where hundreds of aviation giants rest
Davis-Monthan AFB: A bus tour of the world's largest aircraft graveyard

There are currently more than 27,000 commercial aircraft operated by over 5,000 airlines. These aircraft are largely dedicated to passenger transport and often find a second life by being converted into cargo planes. Obviously, these fleets experience wear and tear that needs to be addressed by new aircraft: almost 1,400 new commercial aircraft are built annually, which means that many other aircraft end up being scrapped.

The United States has some of the most important aircraft graveyards in the world. In 2022 we already saw here Davis-Monthan AFB, in Arizona, an air base that houses the largest aircraft graveyard in the world (in this case, military aircraft), and in 2023 we saw the Victorville aircraft graveyard, in California, dedicated to commercial aircraft. Another facility of this type that is of considerable importance is the Pinal Airpark in Arizona (61 km from Davis-Monthan AFB), an aircraft graveyard that was built in 1942 as a US Army airfield for pilot training. During the Vietnam War, this air base was the main operations center for Intermountain Aviation, an airline that functioned as a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The former air base became an aircraft graveyard in 1972. Pinal Airpark is located in Marana, Pinal County, in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. The dry environment is ideal for storing aircraft that could have a second life in the hands of an airline that wants to buy them. Many aircraft become sources of spare parts for older planes that are still in service but are no longer manufactured. Others meet their end by being scrapped here. Since 1986, the northern portion of this airport has been occupied by the Silverbell Army Heliport, operated by National Guard aircraft.

Initially, Pinal Airpark used to house a few dozen aircraft. Today, there are hundreds. Thanks to the YouTube channel Ice711, we now have the opportunity to learn more about this place, thanks to the video they published a few days ago showing a visit to this aircraft graveyard in December of last year, in which we can see a small portion of its aircraft (most cannot be photographed at the airlines' request) and also the old control tower of the original airfield built during World War II:

If you'd like to see this place more calmly from a bird's-eye view, here you can see Pinal Airpark on Google Maps:

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Main image: Ice711 / Rest of the images: Google Maps.