Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, formerly Montgomery Field, is a busy city-operated general aviation airport in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego, California, six miles north of the downtown area and close to San Diego International. With three runways, a control tower, and a strong training and business-aviation presence, it is a characterful destination for VFR pilots exploring the complex San Diego airspace.
Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport is a City of San Diego-operated general aviation field serving flight training, business aviation, and public-safety flying. It began life as Gibbs Field in 1940 and later became Montgomery Field before taking its present dual name in 2016 to honour both the airport's founder, William Gibbs, and aviation pioneer John J. Montgomery. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of parallel and crossing runways, a control tower operating defined hours, and proximity to the San Diego Class Bravo airspace, making it a good study in busy Southern California general aviation flying.
The airport lies in the Kearny Mesa neighbourhood of San Diego, about six miles north of downtown and roughly six miles northeast of San Diego International Airport (SAN). It sits within its own Class Delta surface area, close to the San Diego Class Bravo airspace and to the Gillespie Field Class Delta area, giving the surrounding airspace a layered, complex character that requires careful pre-flight study of the sectional chart and any charted VFR reporting points.
Montgomery-Gibbs has three physical runways. Runway 10L/28R is a hard-surfaced runway, lit, with the 10L threshold giving a landing distance of 4593 ft and the 28R threshold 3397 ft; an ILS serves the 28R approach. Runway 10R/28L is a parallel hard-surfaced runway of 3397 ft in each direction, unlit. Runway 05/23 is a hard-surfaced crosswind runway, with a length of 3010 ft from the 05 threshold and 3400 ft from the 23 threshold. Field elevation is 417 ft, at coordinates 32.8157 N, 117.14 W.
Montgomery-Gibbs Tower operates on 119.2 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF when the tower is closed. Ground is on 118.22 MHz, and clearance delivery is on 123.725 MHz. ATIS broadcasts on 126.9 MHz. Southern California Approach works the field on 124.35 MHz and Southern California Departure on 119.6 MHz. San Diego Radio (flight service) is on 122.2 MHz, and UNICOM is on 122.95 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 28R.
The control tower has operated at Montgomery-Gibbs since 1965 and runs from 0600 to 2100 local time, with the field reverting to CTAF procedures outside those hours. Soledad is a published VFR reporting point six miles west of the airport. Pilots making a straight-in approach to runways 10L/10R are required to remain north of Mount Soledad unless otherwise instructed by air traffic control. Aircraft arriving from the north are typically held at restricted altitudes until south of Highway 52, after which they may be instructed to cross over the airport for a downwind or to enter the downwind north of the field. Given the proximity of the San Diego Class Bravo and the adjacent Gillespie Field Class Delta airspace, pilots are advised to use precise navigation aids such as GPS, localizer, or VOR radials to positively identify the airport during arrival.
Key visual references include Mount Soledad, which straight-in traffic for runways 10L/10R must remain north of unless directed otherwise by ATC, and Highway 52, used as an altitude-restriction boundary for arrivals from the north. The Soledad VFR reporting point, six miles west of the airport, is a useful waypoint for inbound pilots planning their approach into the Montgomery-Gibbs traffic pattern.
The airport began in July 1940 as Gibbs Field, an all-way clay-and-gravel airstrip founded by William Gibbs. During the Second World War the US Army Air Forces took control, built hard runways, and operated it as Gibbs Auxiliary Field in support of the contractor pilot school at Ryan Field near Hemet and the Army's Desert Training Center in the Mojave, as well as an auxiliary field for Lindbergh Field; it is also believed to have been used to store newly built B-24 Liberator bombers and PBY Catalina flying boats produced by Consolidated Aircraft. The field returned to civil control after the war and was renamed Montgomery Field in 1950 in honour of John Joseph Montgomery, who made early controlled glider flights near San Diego in the 1880s. In 2016 the San Diego City Council renamed it Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport to recognise both namesakes. The airport has also been the scene of several notable incidents, including the 1978 mid-air collision over San Diego involving PSA Flight 182 and a Cessna 172 that had departed Montgomery Field for a practice ILS approach at Lindbergh Field.
Today Montgomery-Gibbs is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the United States for small aircraft, home to numerous flying clubs and flight schools alongside based business turboprops and jets. Both the San Diego Fire Department and San Diego Police Department base aircraft at the field, and King Schools, Inc. bases aircraft there in connection with its flight-training operations nearby. The FAA-staffed control tower has operated since 1965, running from 0600 to 2100 local time. In April 2021 the airport completed a ten-million-dollar improvement project adding six new hangars, a fuelling facility for private jets and propeller aircraft, and a new two-storey building housing a flight school and an executive lounge for business travellers.