Fly to Catalina Island From Los Angeles
The coastline runs out, the water goes deep blue, and for about eight minutes there is nothing underneath you at all. Then Catalina comes up out of the haze — Avalon in its horseshoe bay, the isthmus at Two Harbors, and the Airport in the Sky sitting on a plateau 1,602 feet above the Pacific. You fly it. An FAA instructor sits beside you.
Van Nuys to Catalina, in order
Out over the mountains and down the coast
You climb out of Van Nuys, cross the Santa Monica Mountains and pick up the shoreline near Santa Monica. From there it is south along the sand — Venice, Marina del Rey, LAX with the airliners on final off your left wing, then Manhattan and Hermosa and the cliffs at Palos Verdes.
The crossing
At Palos Verdes the land ends and the channel begins. Twenty-two nautical miles of open Pacific, deep blue and empty except for container ships heading into Long Beach. In a Cirrus that is about eight minutes; in a trainer, twelve. It is the part everybody remembers, because it is the first time most people have been over water with no land in sight in something small enough to feel like flying.
Your instructor will have briefed the crossing thoroughly on the ground: the altitude, the gliding-distance planning, where the flotation equipment is, and what happens in any contingency. It is a routine operation flown constantly out of Southern California, and it is planned like one.
The island
Catalina appears as a dark ridge and then resolves into something genuinely wild — no development to speak of outside Avalon, buffalo on the interior hillsides, coves cut into the cliffs with the water going turquoise over the sand. Avalon itself is a perfect small harbour with the Casino building round and white at the end of it. Two Harbors sits at the narrow waist of the island where you can see water on both sides at once.
The Airport in the Sky
AVX sits on a levelled plateau in the middle of the island at 1,602 feet, with the runway ending in a drop on both ends. It is one of the most distinctive airports in the United States and landing there is a genuine achievement to have watched from the front seat. On a 120-minute booking there is time to land, get a buffalo burger at the airfield cafe, and fly home. Ask when you book — landing fees apply and we will quote them with your flight.
Catalina is where a plane beats a helicopter and a boat, decisively
The ferry from Long Beach takes about an hour and ten minutes each way and puts you at sea level the whole time. A helicopter charter across the channel is quick but expensive per seat, and it does not show you the coastline on the way. An airplane gives you the entire Los Angeles shoreline, the crossing, and the island from above — and then brings you home in time for dinner.
It is also the only version of the trip where you are flying. A two-hour discovery flight to Catalina means roughly ninety minutes of you at the controls, over the most varied scenery available from any airport in Southern California: mountains, city, coast, open ocean and island, in one flight.
Because it is a longer flight, this is the booking where the aircraft choice genuinely matters. The Cirrus SR22T is fast enough to make the round trip comfortable inside two hours, air conditioned for the cabin, and carries the CAPS whole-airframe parachute — which is not nothing when you are eleven miles from either shore.
Catalina flights and prices
Catalina needs 120 minutes of flight time as a round trip without landing, or a longer arrangement if you want to land and eat. Priced per flight, not per person. Talk to us and we will build the right booking.
Discovery Flight For Two — 120 min
Trainer aircraft, two people, enough time for the coast and the island. The budget way to do it.
Book 120 minutesLuxury Cirrus SR22T — 120 min
The right aircraft for this trip. Fast, air conditioned, glass cockpit, whole-airframe parachute. 90 min $549 if you want the coast without the crossing.
Book the CirrusMulti-Engine Seminole — 120 min
Two engines for the water crossing, three seats. The most reassuring way to cross the channel.
Book the twinCamarillo Coastal Lunch Flight
If you like the idea of flying somewhere for lunch but would rather stay over land — northwest up the coast to Camarillo, lunch, and home.
See the lunch flightHow we plan an over-water crossing
The channel crossing is the part people ask about, and it is the part we plan hardest. Here is exactly how it is handled.
Altitude for glide range
The crossing is flown high enough that a suitable landing site stays within gliding range for as much of it as the geometry allows — the standard technique for single-engine flight across the channel.
Flotation equipment carried
Flotation gear is aboard for the crossing and its location and use are briefed before engine start, every time.
Two engines available
If the water is what concerns you, book the Piper Seminole. A twin does not become a glider when an engine quits — it keeps flying on the other one.
CAPS on the Cirrus
The SR22T's rocket-deployed whole-airframe parachute is standard equipment and is specifically valued for over-water flight.
Catalina has its own weather
AVX sits at 1,602 feet and fogs in independently of the mainland. We check it separately, and if it is out we fly the coast instead or reschedule at no cost.
100-hour inspections
FAR 91.409(b) requires aircraft used for flight instruction for hire to be inspected every 100 flight hours, on top of the annual inspection.
Catalina flight questions
From Van Nuys, roughly 40 to 50 minutes each way depending on the aircraft and the route down the coast. A 120-minute booking covers the round trip with time over the island; landing at Catalina needs a longer arrangement, which we will build with you.
Yes — the Airport in the Sky (AVX) sits at 1,602 feet in the island's interior and is open to general aviation. Landing is available by arrangement on longer bookings and carries a landing fee we quote up front. The airfield cafe is a short walk from the ramp.
It is a routine crossing flown constantly out of Southern California, and it is planned rather than improvised: altitude chosen for glide range, flotation equipment carried and briefed, weather at both ends checked independently, and a professional instructor in command. If you want additional margin, the twin-engine Piper Seminole is available for the trip.
A 120-minute round trip is $499 for two in a trainer, $699 in the luxury Cirrus SR22T, or $899 in the twin-engine Seminole. Prices are per flight, not per person. Landing at AVX adds a landing fee we will quote with your booking.
Yes. Your instructor handles the takeoff and landing at both ends; you fly the coast, the crossing and the island. That works out at roughly ninety minutes at the controls on a two-hour booking.
For an experience, comfortably. The ferry takes about 70 minutes each way at sea level. The flight takes 40 to 50, shows you the entire LA coastline on the way, gives you the island from above, and you are the one flying it. The ferry is cheaper if the point is simply to get to Avalon for the day.
Twenty-two miles of open water, and it is your airplane
Catalina takes a bit of planning. Call (818) 290-8249 and we will build the booking around whether you want to land, eat, and how long you have.