San Diego International Airport

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San Diego International

image:KSAN.png

IATA: SAN - ICAO: KSAN
Summary
Airport type


Public
Operator


San Diego County
Serves


San Diego, California
Elevation AMSL 17 ft (5.2 m)
Coordinates 32°44′01″N, 117°11′23″W
Website


http://www.san.org/
Parts of this article may come from Wikipedia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 9,401 2,865 Asphalt/Concrete

Contents

General

San Diego International Airport, also known as Lindbergh Field, is located in San Diego, California. San Diego International Airport is the second busiest single-runway commercial airport in the world, with approximately 600 departures and arrivals carrying 40,000 passengers each day, and over 17 million passengers a year. The busiest single-runway airport in the world is London Gatwick Airport. However, Gatwick has the advantage of a longer runway, a standby maintenance runway, flat terrain, no curfew, three times the area, and plans to double in size beyond 2019 and add another runway. SAN occupies the smallest land footprint of any large commercial airport in the United States, occupying 661 acres (2.67 km²) of land.

Dedicated on August 16, 1928, the new airport was given the prominent name San Diego Municipal Airport - Lindbergh Field. This naming occurred because San Diego holds the honor of being the city from which Charles Lindbergh began the journey that would ultimately become the first solo transatlantic flight. Additionally, the airport holds the distinction of being the first federally certified airfield to serve all aircraft types, including seaplanes.

The original terminal was located on the northeastern side of the field, along Pacific Coast Highway. The airport also holds the distinction of serving as a testing facility for several early U.S. sailplane designs, notably those by William Hawley Bowlus (Superintendent of Construction on the Spirit of St. Louis) who also operated the Bowlus Glider School at Lindbergh Field from 1929-1930. On June 1, 1930, a regular San Diego-Los Angeles airmail route was initiated. The airport gained 'international airport' status in 1934, and a United States Coast Guard Air Base located adjacent to the field was commissioned in April 1937. The Coast Guards' fixed-wing aircraft make use of the runway at Lindbergh Field.

World War II brought significant change to the airfield when the U.S. Army Air Corps took it over in 1942 to support the war effort. The infrastructure of the airport was improved to handle the heavy bombers being manufactured in the region during the war. This transformation, including an 8,750 foot runway, made the airport "jet-ready' long before jet passenger planes came into widespread service. After the war, commercial air service at Lindbergh Field expanded rapidly. Pacific Southwest Airlines established its headquarters in San Diego and inaugurated service at Lindbergh Field in 1949 to points throughout California.

In 1960, Lindbergh Field gained its first jet service, with American Airlines and United Airlines operating the Boeing 720 to Phoenix and San Francisco, respectively.

Tragedy struck on September 25, 1978, when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727, operating as PSA Flight 182, suffered a mid-air collision with a privately owned Cessna 172 while on final approach to Lindbergh Field. One hundred and twenty-eight passengers and seven crew members on board the Boeing, two on board the Cessna and seven people on the ground were killed. This disaster remains the single worst aircraft accident in California history.

The original terminal was used until the 1960s, but by that time, air traffic in San Diego had increased considerably and new facilities were needed badly. The current Terminal 1 was opened on the southern side of the airport property on March 5, 1967. It was not until July 11, 1979 that Terminal 2 was opened. A third terminal, dubbed the Commuter Terminal, opened on July 23, 1996. Terminal 2 was later expanded by 300,000 square feet (30,000 m²) in 1998.

Originally operated by the San Diego Unified Port District, the airport is now operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Gate Assignment

MetroAir operates out of the Main Terminal at KSAN. All aircraft utilize gate UNK. (FS9 Gate UNK)

Flight Planning Resources

IFR Routes

Pilots should add their IFR route plans originating from San Diego International Airport here as a central repository for their fellow pilots.

Destination Route Suggested Altitude Charts Preferred Comments


KONT OCN V23 V363 V8 PDZ
Range: FL180-400 (even)
KSAN
KONT
image:Logo_vatsim.gif


Available Sceneries

FS version pay-/freeware developer available updates
FS9 payware Fly Tampa - San Diego International Airport v1.0 - december 2003 fix the elevation by rwy 27 when using the scenery together with FSGenesis and other mesh addons - june 2004
FS9 freeware AVSIM - FRF Studio - San Diego Lindbergh Field KSAN Surrounding Area Scenery - february 2007 none
FSX payware Aerosoft - MegaSceneryX - Southern California none
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