Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Santa Monica Municipal Airport is a historic general aviation field on the western edge of Los Angeles, close to the Pacific coast and a handful of miles from LAX. Once the birthplace of the Douglas Aircraft Company and the start point of the first round-the-world flight, it remains a busy single-runway reliever airport for the Los Angeles basin, though its future is limited by a scheduled 2028 closure.
Santa Monica Municipal Airport (KSMO) is a long-established general aviation airport in the city of Santa Monica, California, on the edge of the Greater Los Angeles area. It has no scheduled airline service and functions as a reliever airport for business, training and personal aircraft operating in and out of the Los Angeles basin. For a visiting VFR pilot it offers a compact single-runway field with a rich aviation heritage, though it operates under long-standing noise restrictions and is scheduled for closure at the end of 2028.
The airport lies within the dense and complex airspace of the Los Angeles basin, about 2 miles from the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica Bay and roughly 6 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Traffic is worked by Southern California Approach and Departure, reflecting the airport's position beneath and adjacent to the LAX Class B airspace and the wider Southern California TRACON environment. Pilots should expect to coordinate with SOCAL Approach (124.3 MHz) and Departure (125.2 MHz) when transiting to or from the field.
Santa Monica has a single physical runway, 03/21, with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 03 is 4,973 feet long and Runway 21 is 4,972 feet long. There is no ILS at the airport.
The airport is served by an operating control tower on 120.1 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF. Ground movements are handled on 121.9 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 119.15 MHz. Southern California Approach works inbound traffic on 124.3 MHz and Departure on 125.2 MHz. A UNICOM frequency of 122.95 MHz is also listed. There is no ILS approach published for the field.
Pilots should expect to operate under tower control on 120.1 MHz given the airport's location amid busy Los Angeles-area traffic. The airport has a long history of noise sensitivity, particularly for departures off Runway 21, and the City of Santa Monica has historically imposed noise limits on departing aircraft. Current arriving and departing pilots are directed to the airport's published noise-abatement guidance, known as the Fly Neighborly Program, for local procedures. [faa.gov]
The airport sits about 2 miles inland from the Pacific coastline at Santa Monica Bay, providing a useful shoreline reference for inbound VFR traffic, and is roughly 6 miles from LAX, a prominent landmark for orientation within the Los Angeles Class B environment. [en.wikipedia.org]
The airfield began life as Clover Field, named after World War I aviator 2nd Lieutenant Greayer 'Grubby' Clover, and opened on April 15, 1923, making it one of the oldest airports in the United States. It became the home of the Douglas Aircraft Company, and on St Patrick's Day 1924 it was the departure and return point for the first circumnavigation of the world by air, flown by the U.S. Army's Douglas World Cruiser aircraft. The field also hosted the first Powder Puff Derby and welcomed pioneer aviators including Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Wallace Beery and Wiley Post. During the Second World War the site was home to the Army's 40th Division Aviation and the 115th Observation Squadron, and Douglas built the DC-1 through DC-7 airliner series there, along with B-18 Bolo bombers and thousands of C-47 and C-54 military transports; the surrounding area was famously disguised from the air during the war with a fake town built with the help of Hollywood set designers. In 1958 the city refused Donald Douglas's request to lengthen the runway to allow DC-8 production, prompting Douglas to relocate to Long Beach Airport and the field to transition into a general aviation reliever airport. From the late 1970s onward the airport became the focus of protracted political and legal battles between local residents, the city government, and general aviation advocates including AOPA, NBAA and GAMA over noise restrictions and airport closure, setting precedents referenced in airport disputes elsewhere in the United States.
Santa Monica Airport today continues to operate as a general aviation and business aviation reliever field for the Los Angeles area, though the city retains the right to close it at the end of 2028. The airport occupies land that also includes a city park, office space, art studios and the Museum of Flying alongside its aviation functions. It has limited FBO services on the field, and pilots should be aware of the noise-abatement expectations detailed in the Fly Neighborly Program before operating there.