Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (KSBA) sits on the coastal plain west of the city, adjoining the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Goleta Slough wetlands. It combines scheduled airline service with a long-standing general aviation and flight-training presence, all within Class C airspace controlled from the tower on the field. Three runways, including a full-length ILS approach, make it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for visiting VFR and IFR pilots alike.
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport lies on the Pacific coast west of downtown Santa Barbara, adjacent to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus and close to the city of Goleta. It is a City of Santa Barbara-owned field operated by the Santa Barbara Airport Department, serving both scheduled airline traffic and a healthy general aviation and flight-training community. For a visiting sim pilot the field offers an interesting mix of coastal Class C procedures, a long ILS-equipped main runway, and a strong slice of West Coast aviation history stretching back to the 1920s.
KSBA is Class C airspace, with the airport tagged for customs handling and landing rights, reflecting its status as an international arrival point for general aviation traffic. The field is set on low-lying ground bordering the Goleta Slough, mostly only 10 to 15 feet above sea level, and is bounded to the southwest by the UCSB campus and to the northeast by former Aero Spacelines/Tracor Aviation hangar sites. Los Angeles Center provides overlying enroute control on 119.05 MHz.
The airport has three physical runways. Runway 07/25 is the primary hard-surfaced strip at 6,044 feet, lit, with an ILS serving runway 07. Runway 15R/33L is 4,189 feet, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 15L/33R comprises a 3,964 foot surface on the 15L threshold and a 4,181 foot surface on the 33R threshold, both hard-surfaced but unlit. Field elevation is 10 feet.
Air traffic control is provided on a split initial-contact arrangement: 120.55 MHz for aircraft approaching from 151 to 329 degrees and 125.4 MHz for those from 330 to 150 degrees, with 124.15 MHz and 127.725 MHz also listed for approach/departure control. The tower and CTAF frequency is 119.7 MHz, ground control operates on 121.7 MHz, and clearance delivery is on 132.9 MHz. ATIS broadcasts on 132.65 MHz, and Unicom is available on 122.95 MHz. Los Angeles Center handles the overlying en route sector on 119.05 MHz. Runway 07 is served by an ILS approach.
The airport sits immediately next to the University of California, Santa Barbara campus and the Goleta Slough wetlands, both useful visual landmarks when inbound from the coast, with the city of Goleta close by to the north and downtown Santa Barbara some seven miles to the east.
Aviation activity in the Goleta Valley began in 1914 when Lincoln J. Beachey flew across the area, and in 1916 the Loughead brothers, later renamed Lockheed, set up a seaplane works on State Street with a launch ramp on West Beach. The airfield's direct origins date to 1928, when Gordon Sackett and Royce Stetson landed a Hisso-powered aircraft in a cow pasture near Hollister and Fairview Avenues and established a flight school on the spot. Through the late 1930s the strip grew into an airfield as Western General built Meteor aircraft there and Frederick Stearns II's Santa Barbara Airways added two further runways, two large hangars, and the field's first radio equipment. In 1941, with Thomas M. Storke having secured Santa Barbara a place in a federal airport-construction programme, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the municipal airport, and with the outbreak of the Second World War the site became Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara in 1942, training Marine aviators before reverting to civilian use in 1946. The original Spanish-style terminal, commissioned by United Airlines in 1942 and designed by William Edwards and Joseph Plunkett, was later restored and incorporated into a new terminal building. The Santa Barbara Flying Club was formed in 1947 to promote general aviation locally. The airport originally had a fourth runway, 3/21, which was removed as UCSB expanded and hangars were built to support production of the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy; those hangars were later used by Tracor Aviation for airliner modification work.
Santa Barbara Municipal Airport today combines scheduled airline service from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines with an active general aviation base, including flying clubs descended from the 1947 Santa Barbara Flying Club. The field covers around 948 acres and continues to operate its three runways, with ongoing airfield improvement works in recent years affecting taxiway markings, signage and lighting, and periods when the airport is NOTAM'd closed overnight between 0000 and 0500 local time. Visiting pilots should check current notices before planning a flight in or out.