Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Gillespie Field is a busy county-owned general aviation airport in El Cajon, California, sitting under the edge of the San Diego Class Bravo airspace and offering a full complement of asphalt runways, an ILS approach, and a control tower. Once a Marine Corps parachute training base, it is now one of the busiest reliever airports in the region, home to flight schools, maintenance shops, and an aircraft museum annex.
Gillespie Field is a county-owned public airport in El Cajon, California, about 11.5 miles northeast of downtown San Diego. It is a medium-sized corporate and general aviation field with a control tower, three physical runways, and an ILS approach, making it a practical and interesting destination for simulator pilots wanting to fly into controlled airspace beneath San Diego's Class Bravo. The field carries a strong military and aviation-preservation heritage, with a Marine Corps parachute training origin and an aircraft museum annex still operating on site today.
Gillespie Field is surrounded by Class Delta airspace, which is itself bounded on both sides by, and underlies, the San Diego Class Bravo airspace. Pilots planning a flight into the San Diego area need to be aware of the layered airspace structure before departing for the field. The airport lies in the northwest corner of El Cajon, California, and is the oldest and largest of San Diego County's airports.
Gillespie Field has three physical runways. Runway 09L/27R is 5,337 feet long, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS approach serving Runway 27R. Runway 09R/27L is a shorter 2,733-foot hard-surfaced runway. Runway 17/35 is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of roughly 3,458 to 3,698 feet depending on direction. The field elevation is 371 feet.
Arriving and departing traffic works San Diego Approach/Departure on 124.35 MHz. The tower and CTAF frequency is 120.7 MHz, with Ground on 121.7 MHz. Clearance Delivery is also available. ATIS broadcasts on 125.45 MHz, which doubles as an AWOS frequency, and a further AWOS-3 is available on 125.1 MHz for College (CLD). Unicom is on 123.05 MHz. The airport is equipped with an ILS for Runway 27R.
Gillespie Field operates with an FAA control tower, and pilots should expect to work the tower on 120.7 MHz for sequencing into the pattern; this frequency also serves as the CTAF when the tower is not in operation. The airport's flight school describes the field as supporting a well-maintained, controlled environment that, unlike many other airports, is not hectic or overly busy, giving pilots useful experience with tower radio communications without excessive traffic congestion.
The San Diego Air & Space Museum's Gillespie Field Annex sits on the north side of the airport, in its northeastern corner, and displays an Atlas ICBM as a prominent gate guard along with various military jets and light aircraft, making it a useful visual landmark for pilots orienting themselves around the field.
The site was chosen by the United States Marine Corps in 1942 for parachute training, with Camp Gillespie completed that September and named in honour of Lieutenant Archibald H. Gillespie, a Marine officer prominent in the 1840s effort to separate California from Mexico. Three 256-foot training towers were built for practice jumps. In February 1944 the site was commissioned as Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Gillespie, under Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, and it became responsible for the Camp Pendleton Outlying Field; units training and transiting there included VMSB-141, Air Warning Squadron 10, and the Navy's VT-37 torpedo squadron. In 1946 the airfield passed to San Diego County and became a general aviation facility, with the County gaining full ownership in 1952. In 1971 the County Sheriff established its ASTREA helicopter law enforcement base at the field, and in 1993 the San Diego Aerospace Museum set up restoration operations and an exhibit there. The airport has seen serious incidents, including a 1988 crash of a US Navy F-14A into two hangars, injuring several people and destroying numerous aircraft and vehicles, and a fatal 2021 Learjet 35 crash into a neighbourhood during an approach to Runway 27R.
Gillespie Field remains the oldest and largest of San Diego County's airports and is a significant reliever field, supporting a mix of single-engine, multi-engine, jet, helicopter and glider traffic. It is home to flight schools, including California Flight Academy, which has operated from the main terminal building near the tower since 1973, as well as aircraft maintenance and avionics shops, fuel services, and aircraft sales and rental. The San Diego Air & Space Museum's Gillespie Field Annex continues to operate as a restoration facility and public exhibit on the airport's north side.