Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Van Nuys Airport is one of the world's busiest general aviation airports, tucked into the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles and operated by Los Angeles World Airports. With two closely spaced parallel runways, a full-time control tower and a dense mix of fixed-wing, helicopter and business jet traffic, it is a demanding but rewarding destination for the visiting VFR pilot. Its history stretches back to 1928 and takes in Hollywood film work, a wartime fighter base and decades as a hub for corporate and training flying.
Van Nuys Airport (KVNY) lies in the Van Nuys district of the City of Los Angeles and is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, the same authority that runs LAX. It is dedicated entirely to non-commercial flying and ranks among the busiest general aviation airports anywhere, hosting news, medical and tour helicopter operators, fixed and rotary-wing flight schools, and maintenance bases for city police, fire and water department helicopters. For a simulator pilot it offers a genuinely busy, tower-controlled environment with closely spaced parallel runways and a wide mix of traffic, from light singles to business jets.
Van Nuys sits in the heart of the San Fernando Valley, about six miles west of Hollywood Burbank Airport and some fifteen miles north of Los Angeles International Airport, placing it firmly within the dense and complex Los Angeles basin airspace and under the SoCal Approach/Departure organisation. The field is served by its own control tower and clearance delivery frequency, reflecting its position amid multiple controlled fields and heavy traffic flows in the region.
Van Nuys has two parallel hard-surfaced, lit runway pairs oriented 16/34. The main runway, 16R/34L, is 8,007 feet long when used as runway 34L, with runway 16R equipped with an instrument landing system and a landing length of 6,571 feet. The secondary, more closely spaced runway, 16L/34R, measures 4,015 feet as runway 34R, with runway 16L offering a landing length of 2,570 feet. Field elevation is 774 feet.
Pilots inbound to Van Nuys should expect to work SoCal Approach/Departure on 120.4 MHz before contacting the tower. The airport broadcasts ATIS on 118.45 MHz, and clearance delivery is available on 126.6 MHz. The common traffic frequency and one tower frequency are both listed as 119.3 MHz, with a second tower frequency on 120.2 MHz, ground control on 121.7 MHz, and UNICOM on 122.95 MHz. Runway 16R is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.
Van Nuys is described by the FAA as a very challenging airport owing to its configuration of closely spaced parallel runways, 16L/34R and 16R/34L, combined with a traffic mix of general aviation, air-taxi, military and commercial helicopter movements, plus multiple fixed and rotary-wing flight schools operating simultaneously. Pilots should expect a demanding circuit environment with a wide variation in aircraft performance and pilot experience sharing the same pattern.
The airport lies alongside a rail line running along its northern boundary, a useful landmark when viewing or approaching runway 16R from the north. The Sherman Way underpass, completed in 1959 to allow extension of the main runway, marks the southern end of the 16R/34L runway.
Van Nuys Airport opened on 17 December 1928, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight, as the privately run Metropolitan Airport, then just an 80-acre field surrounded by trees and farmland. It became popular with Hollywood, most famously providing the filming location for the airport scene in the 1942 film Casablanca, and also featured in the 1939 Laurel and Hardy film The Flying Deuces. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the US government purchased the airfield in 1942 and converted it into Van Nuys Army Air Field, adding 163 acres to extend the runways. During the war it hosted the 4th Air Force's 428th Fighter Squadron flying Lockheed P-38 Lightnings from 1943, and the 441st Army Air Forces Base Unit trained additional P-38 pilots from 1944. The Navy and Lockheed Corporation also operated an aircraft modification facility on the site. In 1949 the City of Los Angeles purchased the airport from the War Assets Administration for one dollar, on condition that a California Air National Guard base continue operating there, and renamed it San Fernando Valley Airport. Through the 1950s the Air National Guard flew North American F-86 Sabre jets from the field and built new permanent facilities, and in 1957 the airport took its current name. In 1959 completion of the Sherman Way underpass allowed the main runway, 16R/34L, to be extended to its present 8,001-foot length, and by the end of that decade Van Nuys was the 25th busiest airport in the United States by operations despite having no scheduled commercial service. The Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing left in 1990 for Naval Air Station Point Mugu, and the vacated buildings later served the American Red Cross following the 1994 Northridge earthquake before being converted into air operations and maintenance facilities for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Van Nuys remains one of the world's busiest general aviation airports, recording 232,000 aircraft operations in 2020, and continues to support news, medical transport and tour helicopter operators, multiple fixed and rotary-wing flight schools, and maintenance bases for city police, fire and water department helicopters. The airport is home to a large number of aviation businesses, including major fixed-base operators offering aircraft parking, fuelling, sales, flight instruction, charter and maintenance services. The FAA airport tower operates daily from 6:00 am to 10:45 pm. The field also hosts a FlyAway bus terminal, from which passengers can travel onward to Los Angeles International Airport.