Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Catalina Airport, known to pilots as the Airport in the Sky, sits atop a leveled mountain peak in the middle of Santa Catalina Island, California, roughly ten miles northwest of Avalon. Operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy, it is a striking general aviation destination with a single tabletop runway and dramatic drop-offs at both ends. Its remote, high-elevation setting and lack of overrun protection make it a demanding but memorable stop for visiting pilots.
Catalina Airport, widely known as the Airport in the Sky, is a privately owned public-use airfield perched on a mountaintop near the centre of Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles. It is owned and operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy and serves general aviation traffic as well as airfreight bringing supplies to the island. There is no scheduled passenger service today, but the field remains a well-known bucket-list destination for pilots owing to its dramatic setting, tabletop runway and the complex Los Angeles airspace that must be negotiated to reach it.
The airport lies in the middle of Santa Catalina Island, about 6.4 miles northwest of central Avalon, at an elevation of 1,602 feet, near the island's highest point. It is easily visible from the Los Angeles basin coastline and sits within the busy Southern California airspace environment, with Southern California Approach/Departure providing an air/departure control service to arriving and departing traffic.
Catalina Airport has a single physical runway, 04/22, a hard-surfaced strip that is lit. Runway 22 measures 3,042 feet in length and runway 04 measures 3,038 feet. The runway is a tabletop runway, extending nearly to the edges of the flattened mountaintop area on which it is built, giving no overrun protection at either end.
Pilots should use the callsign Catalina. Southern California Approach/Departure is available on 127.4 MHz for arrivals and departures. The common traffic advisory frequency and unicom is 122.7 MHz. Automated weather is broadcast on the ASOS frequency of 120.675 MHz. The airport has no instrument landing system.
The airfield sits atop a 1,602-foot mountain near the centre of Catalina Island and is a prominent landmark, being readily visible from the mainland coastline of the Los Angeles basin on clear days. It lies about ten miles from the town of Avalon, which can serve as a general reference point when approaching the island from the mainland.
Catalina Island was developed as a tourist destination from the 1920s by William Wrigley Jr., who owned most of the island through the Santa Catalina Island Company. In 1941 his son Philip K. Wrigley, among others, built a runway by blasting and levelling two hills and filling the canyon between them, and the field opened that spring as the private Buffalo Springs Airport. Prior to this, the island's only air access had been via the Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base near Avalon. In autumn 1942 the United States Army Air Forces took over the airfield for the duration of the Second World War, operating it as a sub-base of March Field in support of Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Maritime Service and Office of Strategic Services activities on the island, as well as a Fourth Air Force Replacement Training Station. After the war, aviation veteran Richard Probert worked to open the field to the public, building a terminal building, and in 1946 it began operating as the public-use Catalina Airport. Through the 1950s to 1980s the airport saw scheduled passenger services from a succession of carriers, including United Airlines flying Douglas DC-3s to Long Beach and Los Angeles, Catalina Air Lines with de Havilland Doves, Pacific Air Lines with DC-3s, Catalina-Vegas Airlines to San Diego, Golden West Airlines with STOL-capable de Havilland Twin Otters, Trans Catalina Airlines running hourly Piper shuttle flights, and Resort Commuter Airlines flying as a Trans World Express carrier for TWA. The airport has also featured in film, with exterior shots for The In-Laws shot there, its distinctive tower clearly identifiable on screen. After roughly seventy years of use the runway had deteriorated badly, and Caltrans directed the Conservancy to carry out a major repair. Marines from Camp Pendleton undertook the work as a training exercise in January 2019, erecting an encampment for a 120-person crew, and the runway reopened on 3 May 2019 after a repair costing about five million dollars.
Catalina Airport is now owned and operated by the Catalina Island Conservancy, which permits general aviation and air charter aircraft to use the field; there is no scheduled passenger service. On-site facilities include public toilets and a restaurant and gift shop, DC3 Gifts and Grill. The airport is also home to the ACE Clearwater Airfield and marks the start of the Airport Loop Trail, with access to the Trans-Catalina Trail, though these are of interest mainly to visitors on the ground rather than to arriving pilots.
