The Best Location to Take Photos of Airplanes at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona

I’m visiting the Phoenix Arizona area for the holidays with family and thought I would grab the Nikon D610 with the Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens and do some plane spotting around Luke Air force Base.  

First, I had to research what location would get me the closest to the action. Many locals suggest viewing from Northern Ave which runs to the north of the base. However, the day I was on location, all flights were landing on RWY 3L and 3R (see airport diagram map below), the opposite end of the base making Northern Ave too far away. For most situations, you always want to do your plane spotting from the approach area since that’s where the planes will be the slowest and lowest, making framing and getting close to the planes the easiest.

Luke AFB Runway Diagram

I started to scout the southern end of the field and found a street off W. Camelback Rd called Alsup. If RWY 3L and 3R are being used for approaches, this is where you want to be. All photos were taken from this location (see map below).

Luke Air Force Base plane spotting location for runway’s 3L and 3R

Luke AFB Nikon D610 with the Nikon Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens F35

Luke AFB Nikon D610 with the Nikon Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens F16

Luke AFB Nikon D610 with the Nikon Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens F35

Luke AFB Nikon D610 with the Nikon Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens F35

Luke AFB Nikon D610 with the Nikon Nikkor AF-P NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR Lens F16

All in all, a great way to spend the day at Luke Air Force Base, highly recommended. One note of advice, you may want to bring earplugs.