From the Flight Deck – John Wayne/Orange County Airport (SNA)

John Wayne/Orange County (SNA) is a busy medium-sized multi-use airport located in the city of Santa Ana, California. It has Class Charlie airspace that partially underlies the Los Angeles Class Bravo. Pilots flying into the busy Southern California airspace need to be completely familiar with rules and requirements to operate in this complex environment.

0:54 - The airport layout consists of two, closely spaced, parallel runways with staggered thresholds labeled runway 2 left and right and 20 left and right.

1:20 - The traffic mix and pilot and aircraft capability makes SNA a complex environment.

1:41 - The potential for wrong surface operations

2:15 - Use caution when landing 21L for jet blast from aircraft holding between Runways 20 left and 20 right at Taxiway Lima.

2:28 - Familiarity with VFR reporting points will help controllers sequence you

3:06 - Specific pattern instructions for aircraft arriving and departing runway 2 right, 20 left, including never making a straight out departure from runway 2 right, 20 left unless specifically instructed to do so by the tower.

4:22 - Hot Spot #1 is located at the intersection of taxiways Alpha and Lima. It primarily concerns air carrier traffic, but GA pilots need to be aware.

4:48 - Hot Spot #2 concerns aircraft exiting runway 20 right or left, and instructed to hold short of the other runway. The distance between runways makes the available holding space limited.

5:16 - Hot Spot #3 has to do with aircraft cleared runway 20 left or right, taxi via Alpha, Hotel, Charlie.

5:47 - When departing SNA, remember that a clearance is required for both VFR and IFR flights to operate in the John Wayne Class Charlie airspace.

6:11 - Additional areas to be aware of related to helicopter operations at the field and also paying attention to wake turbulence avoidance on the ground and air.

The FAA's From the Flight Deck video series uses aircraft-mounted cameras to capture runway and taxiway footage and combines them with diagrams and visual graphics to clearly identify hot spots and other safety-sensitive items. Learn more at https://www.faa.gov/go/FromTheFlightDeck

This video is informational only and does not replace the pilot’s responsibility to conduct required pre-flight planning in accordance with FAR 91.103.