Planes, trains & automobiles

[Sumpter250]

Normal approach glideslope is 300 feet / mile, so if you know how far that is from the the runway touchdown point you can work out the altitude. From the size of the aitliner, the one taking the photos was a good bit higher. Done my share of talkdowns!

That's an old picture, 55th Ave. no longer crosses those tracks ( according to satellite photos on Google maps )
The industry to the upper left is Home Depot distribution center, lower left Charles M Schayer & Co., the "field" in the upper right is FMJ Metals, and the area to the lower right is nothing like what's in the photo.
That liner is 9 (+/- a few feet ) miles west of Sky Harbor, and is lined up pretty much with the runways to the North side of the Terminal complex.
So @ 300 feet/ mile he's close to 2700 feet- - - most definitely on final approach, and I don't think the plane the photo was taken from, was a whole lot higher above him. Not being in that line of business, I do not know the minimum vertical separation between aircraft, but I still think they're a bit too close.

Those tank cars look to be 50' cars, That plane had better be well under 200 feet long, or it's sitting just about right on top of them. I'll amend my last guess about the shadow......the tail's shadow is just to the right of the road, and off the bottom of the picture. ( regardless of height, the angle of the shadow doesn't change ).