How San Diego Airport's SINGLE RUNWAY Works 

Having lived in San Diego for over 52 years, yes, I have twice experienced landing and taking off in the "opposite" direction approaching over the ocean. Once due to high winds blowing in from the desert and mountains, and also because of foggy conditions inland and downtown. I had a hard grip on the armrest each time.

I used to live in San Diego. Once, when heading into the city for training I saw a Delta L1011 take off in the opposite direction. This was back in 1994.

Multiple things I want to clear up/ mention: San Diego can't expand due to housing and a marine recruitment center to its north and a massive (and highly used by military, cargo, cruise, and smaller private ships) bay. It can function at such high efficiency part to luck part to a good design. The runway direction rarely has to change because the wind stays the same for the most part, although the direction can change in dense fog as only runway 9 has ILS (buildings and land block runway 27 from having it), so it's not entirely uncommon for morning flights to fly out of runway 9. Most planes (aside for Alaskas (what feels like) thousands of e170s-e195s that fly out of there) taxi off at or past Terminal 1, way past where the departures queue up. Also, in the (what feels like) 50 times I have flown in and out of KSAN, I have arrived into runway 9 ONCE, and that time being the most recent time I flew into KSAN. Having only one runway and one parallel taxiway (for most of the time) can cause issues tho. When the runway used changes due to fog lifting/ coming in, departures just cut, and in some cases can even cause the runway to be unusable due to a plane having to be on it for a minute (I've seen this happen). In the case it switches from runway 9 to 27, landing planes can get blocked from exiting the runway because planes are blocking their path, although at a certain point they (the departing planes) can cross the runway and use another taxiway. I live in San Diego and have done so my whole life, so that's how I know all this. Thanks for listening to my TedTalk and tell me if there's anything I missed Edit: you got really lucky to see that BA a350. Aside for the JAL 787 that flies out of SAN, it's the only daily flight that comes from out of the continent (aside for some flights from the northern parts of South America, although those are on 737s for the most part and are can't be told apart from domestic flights). I myself have seen it moving once.

I was staying in Ocean Beach last week and got to see (and hear) every departure as they take off to the west right over that area. Depending on their destination they would turn to the left or right. It was a relief when the departure curfew kicked in at 11 pm. And when the curfew ends at 6:30 am, it's just one departure after another for the first hour or so. I think I read there are only six airports with departure curfews. A local tv station did a story earlier this year on how few flights are fined for breaking the curfew. One reason is they don't want pilots to feel pressured to takeoff to avoid a fine instead of delaying a flight if necessary to double check or make a repair if that's what the crew thinks they need to do. All involved in that airport operation has to know what they are doing and be ready to handle the unexpected, like a missed approach etc. Good job everyone.

Thanks for starting my week with some beautiful SoCal views. Have a good week, Masellaaaaaa! Cheers from Brazil!

Landed on runway 9 one time a year or so ago when it was very foggy (morning flight). I didn't know where we were until we almost landed, and realized it was runway 9. Kind of interesting! I LOVE the approach on runway 27, and always get a window seat to see downtown, the Coronado bridge, cruise ships, and downtown buildings.

You had a really nice evening departure from San Diego. Beautiful views of the well-light coastal suburbs with the evening twilight as the backdrop. Also, you captured L.A. showing off it's geographical size through it's lights.

wonderful and detailed video Peter.Great work.

Thank you for sharing your trip. Yes, San Diego International Airport is cute with having one runway. Yes, it is nice seeing the ocean after taking off..

Your videos are top notch! Love it!

When there is a storm and ILS is needed go to Liberty Station in front of runway 9. With a nice wind you can get some nice crabbing on approach. Beautiful park area to watch from and some good eats nearby.

I’m a KORD/KMDW Chicago based AVGeek And stuff like this is the why I subscribe to your channel !!! Your content has become better and better.

I have landed and departed at SAN using the opposite direction on the runway. The departure felt fairly steep to get up quickly over Balboa Park. I prefer the west departure since the aircraft is quickly over the ocean and beach.

San Diego looks like a beautiful area. Thank you for another great video. My brother was stationed in Coronado for a few years.

As a San Diego native, I have flown from a to this airport many times. Never have we landed or departed runway 9. Although I have watched aircraft arriving and departing using it. BA use to fly Boeing 747-400 from London to San Diego, I flew on BA from Gatwick to San Diego via LAX, the equipment on that flight was a DC-10. I was on a bus near the airport and I've seen Air Force One 747 taxi for departure.

Such a fun approach and takeoff. My favorite

Great job explaining how San Diego works with one runway! Now I want to go back--maybe this fall! Luv the BA A350! I saw one at Sea-Tac recently, only it was a Singapore Airlines.... When I was at SAN last December, I think the largest plane I saw was a Delta Boeing 767. You really had a quick trip! When I was there, I stayed one night in a hotel near the airport, and it was fun to go for a walk and watch jets climbing after take off!

A few years ago, coming from Mexico City, we were late in the final approach, I asked myself, why? Since I fly to San Diego a lot and it had never happened before, the cloud ceiling was low and could not be seen. My surprise is to see the sea before touching land, in San Diego? no way, but yes. Upon landing, I asked the Captain and he told me that he did not have instrumentation on the MD82 and with that poor visibility it took a long time for the tower to clear the traffic to give us the opportunity to land in the opposite direction, because it was less risky. That was my experience. Greetings.

I have both landed and departed from west to east a number of times. Happens during strong Santa Ana winds (winds that blow from east to west) , and have also experienced it upon arrival because of fog in the area. When they switch landing & departing direction, it causes delays of about 30-45 minutes.

I always fly out of San Diego because that’s my home airport. I’ve used runway 9 for takeoff a lot. They use runway 9 for takeoff and landing because of the weather. If it’s like heavy raining they use runway 9.

I work with the Arrive Joint Venture building the new Terminal 1, Parking Plaza, and new elevated roadway. I get to explain the coordination everyday as I conduct orientation and I get to witness it daily.

Nice Video. Can't believe a city as large as San Diego has only one runway.

Great video. In December I was leaving San Diego airport for Boston and there was a strong east wind. So we had to take off the opposite direction. Because of the hill and buildings on the east side of the runway, the plane only filled up a small amount of fuel to limit takeoff weight so it could climb quickly. We had a layover in Pheonix to fill up fuel and then made it to Boston with about a 2-hour delay.

We landed on ILS 9, in last summer on a Alaska B39M. It was my second time landing that direction. This time we arrived midafternoon, when the overcast set in.

Awesome video 😎

Hundreds of flights in and out of San Diego. Twice in the very rare occurrence of a storm have I landed west to east. Well TWICE at KSAN and once on one of my handful of flights in and out of Tijuana to the south. It is so rare to have reverse operations at San Diego. I know LAX flips in the middle of the night but KSAN has a curfew anyway, a takeoff curfew at least as some of the Fed Ex and UPS planes will land after midnight. It's small for what it does resulting in almost every seat full in and out of the airport so forget that empty middle, but I can only imagine what business people think because out of the 100+ airports I've flown into around the world not one can lay claim to be any closer to downtown than KSAN. And the approach from the east, when sitting on the left side and landing lower than all the buildings you think you can touch is one of the best approaches in the world! I highly recommend a seat on the left side for your first time flying into San Diego. Then once you've seen it a few times you can switch and take a look at Balboa Park and such

Quick point, tower doesn’t tell us to clear the runway, we do it automatically on our own. And yes, if the weather is low we land on runway 9 because it has lower landing minimums.

There was once when I took Alaska and we were taxing on the runway and did a u-turn to take off, was pretty fun because taxi was quicker than usual.

Resident here. Numerous landings at SAN on 9 and 27. They use 9 for landing due to weather and winds sometimes. Just happened to me June 7 actually a bit before this. Certain times of the year there is very low ceiling and overcast (May Grey/June Gloom).

San Diego California will be one Area in the USA To Visit not only that One Runaway can work will for me since I'm From The Caribbean Island of Barbados we also have one Runaway at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados an extended Runaway that is Lol Awesome Video!!!!

Hi Peter I love your videos - excellent work and detail throughout each of them! Thank you for all the insight. As a novice, one thing I'm curious about is how you can tap into the in-flight radio communications between the control towers and the flight crew?

As far as I know, London Gatwick operates as a single-runway airport although it has two runways. The northern runway is used only when the main runway is out of use for any reason. The northern runway is used for taxiing when the main runway is used. Otherwise, the runways are too close together to be used for simultaneous operation - there are some considerations as to how both could be used, but I dont recollect reading any decision has been made. Since the pandemic, I dont know if it is recognised as the world's busiest..

Hey Peter..I departure getting squeezed in between 2 arrivals...amazing..quite a responsibility on ATC....

I'm a San Diego native who rarely travels maybe 1 flight per year (hoping to increase that) and I've been lucky enough to experience 2 takeoffs and 1 landing in the reverse direction. Pretty crazy since I believe over 95% of flights operate via 27. I believe it is more likely to happen in the morning due to fog (since 27 does not have any ILS instrumentation), however since the airport noise abatement procedure only allows for takeoffs after 0630, the window of time where this can occur is pretty small. When taking off on runway 09 the climb rate is pretty intense and you feel the G forces pretty heavily.

I went through MCRD San Diego back in 1994. Watching the planes take off all night long was a special kind of torture.

Hi Peter, just stumbled upon this video as I was looking for updates on the new T1 at SAN. Great video! I was wondering, do you listen to the air traffic control chat live or do you download the audio after the flights during video editing. Either way, where do you get the recordings from because that’s pretty cool! A few months ago on a landing in SAN, we had a go around kinda last minute which spooked everyone on the plane followed by a few circles in the sky. Would’ve been cool to hear what was going on as the pilot didn’t give us any updates. You’ve got my subscription!

Flew in with a Japan Airlines 787, the recent was last December 19th. Fun times.

Peter, what would have been cool is to depart from a city with one runway with your destination another city with one runway... Oakland right up the street... I have flown out of Oakland many times, and back in the 80s I actually got to see the Concorde land there. I have also seen the Antonov AN-225 take off and land several times on Oakland's single runway.

You were on a rare 739 because I think that’s the only 739 without any winglets

San Diego has the busiest single runway airport in the world. Gatwick are often listed ahead despite having two runways.

Hi, thanks for the video .. do you know what is the separation minima on the final approach in this airport ? My guess is 5nm since the second landing traffic was 5nm when the ATC instructed your pilot to line up and wait 😅

Now that the construction at La Guardia Airport is complete have there been fewer delays with flights there? Because I saw a video about a year ago on Coby Explanes and he said that even though more space has been created around the tarmac for planes to move around and there are more taxiways now Coby said that all of those improvements don't do much to reduce delays because of the 2 intersecting runways. Have you seen a reduction in delays there?

How did you get the recording of the ATC comm.? What type of radio did you use?

You got a lot of things wrong, socal departure is not the same thing and does not cover lax, instead it is split into three+ section, one covers San Diego, one cover LAX, and etc. along center controllers are called enroute controllers, also when there are five mile finals it is common at any airport, if the sequencing would be closer they would say “runway 27 no delay cleared for takeoff” other than that great vid.

How are the flights nowadays, are they all pretty full? Nice night time video Peter.👍🇺🇸

What’s the name of the song you chose around 10:24?

The airport is considered one of the busiest single runway airport in the world and has since outgrown it's self,but they are doing a 3.5 billion dollar expansion and renovation that's sorely needed.

British Airways will also operate a 747 and Lufthansa had a non stop A340 to Berlin. Terminal #1 remodel will increase the number of gates by 50% or more

I've see cargo planes land in the opposite direction late at night (past curfew) in clear weather. My guess is it's to keep the noise to a minimum by not flying over as many residential buildings.

Absolutely CHAOTIC and RIDICULOUS! What were the planners even thinking? What happens in bad weather? In Chicago at ORD, we have 3 sets of parallel runways plus 2 diagonal crosswind runways ! A total of 8 runways.

I’ve flown on one of these older winglet-less Alaska 737-900 non-ER aircraft. Is it just me, or are they noisier and vibrate more than the newer ones? A ceiling panel came loose from the center on takeoff, and was hanging by the luggage bin: a flight attendant had to snap it back in place.

Please try to make videos on LAX. Thank you Peter

@ Peter Masella Hi Peter 👋 do you wonder how a 4 runway municipal airport works ?

How did you get the radio chatter?

Didn’t San Diego airport have a small second runway that doesn’t exist anymore?

They seem to operate the opposite direction in the mornings when there’s fog. So this morning there operating easterly flow.

I live in San Diego and my last flight home from a trip back east we landed from the west over the ocean instead if the normal path over the city. It felt really weird coming in from the opposite direction!

I’m really surprised that a large city like San Diego only has a single runway at its airport, is there a reason why they can’t expand to add another runway?

Twice arriving and departing for LAS on spirit. I Arrival Mon from EWR and today back JFK on JetBlue i arrival Mon on United

While SAN is the busiest single runway airport in the US, it is definitely not the busiest in the world. I believe that London Standstead holds that distinction. (And London Luton is up there also.)

I have never been in ksan yet but I have been here in a game called Microsoft flight simulator 2020

The three-million-plus population figure for the "metro area" is somewhat misleading, as that encompasses all of San Diego County, an area as large as the state of Connecticut. And while it's true that another city the size of San Diego lies just across the border, Tijuana has its own airport with multiple runways. Many passengers heading for Mexican destinations use that facility instead.

737-900 with no winglets 🧐,🤔🤔🤔🤔

Mumbai International airport has way more traffic than San Diego.

Possibly the worst international airport in the country

Respectfully…Can’t really understand you …

can't understand you for the muzzle..

Take the mask off mate

this guy probably wears his mask in the shower.

Lose the mask.

Mask hinders your voice I can't hardly here or understand

I genuinely don't understand what you are trying to explain. Gatwick handles 30m+ passengers, old Narita in Tokyo was the same -both single runway ops..

Mask outside? 🤔