Landing at Catalina Island | Airport in the Sky!

Catalina Island is on every pilot's bucket list. Today I will show you our family trip from San Diego Montgomery airport to the Catalina Island, the airport in the sky. Welcome onboard!

Santa Catalina is one of the California's Channel Islands. It lies about 30 miles off the coast of the Los Angeles. Most people go there by boat or ferry. For pilots, of course we will land our planes there as long as there is an airport. The airport on the island is actually a very unique one. Nicknamed "the airport in the sky", it was created by leveling two mountain tops and filling the canyon, at one of the highest points on the island. The tricky part of landing at the airport is that, the 3000 ft runway has cliffs on both ends, and also has a steep 2.1% slope. When winds are going upslope, you have to choose either upslope with a tailwind or headwind with a downslope. Due to these tricky situation, it is not recommended for new or rusty pilots. Since I was taking my families there, I practiced a couple of landings there with an instructor the day before the trip.

I rented this beautiful Cirrus SR20 from Coast Air Center which has a brand new building with excellent amenities. With our plane towed just outside the building, we were ready to go!

Since the wind was at 050 @ 8 Knots, I was debating which runway I should use. Normally runway22 is the preferred runway for landing due to its upslope. However, a 8 knots tailwind can't be ignored on a 3000 ft mountain top runway without much margin for error.

The landing was uneventful, and I am glad I chose the right runway, as it was recommended to take runway 4 for headwind of 8 knots and above. The airport has a Mexican style tower. After you paid the landing fee and overnight fee, you can hike a trail around the airport or enjoy a meal at the aviation themed restaurant called DC3. The airport has a bus shuttle to Avalon which reminds me of an Italian coastal town. For the beautiful sceneries at Avalon, please subscribe and expect my next video coming soon.