KNBR Arrival KSQL local VFR procedures
Not for navigation. Verify against the official sources linked below before flight.
vfr arrival Airport sponsor published verified 2026-08-27 (43 d ago)
Published by the airport sponsor; voluntary unless ATC assigns it. If ATC assigns this route to you in Class B, C or D airspace, that assignment is an ATC instruction and compliance is required (14 CFR 91.123) — and “unable” remains available to the pilot in command.
Inbound from the northeast via the KNBR radio tower, keeping it off your right, then downwind as advised.
The route
- Inbound from the northeast, expect to arrive via the KNBR radio tower
- Keep KNBR off your right side and enter the downwind as advised
- Use caution for aircraft departing SQL via the Oracle Departure ¾ mile north of the KNBR radio tower
Where it actually is
North up. The sponsor names these landmarks and publishes no coordinate for any of them — everything positioned here is derived, and each coordinate's provenance is listed with its point below. Dashed markers are depicted: this site's reading of the written route, not published fixes.
- 1 Inbound from the northeast Depicted 4 NM northeast of the field; the brochure gives a direction, not a fix. satellite Apple Maps
- 2 Arrive via the KNBR radio tower, keeping it off your right KNBR radio tower An AM broadcast mast array standing out on the bay margin about 2.3 NM north of the field, in open marsh with nothing tall near it. Guyed steel, lit at night. Keep it off your right on the Oracle Departure and on the KNBR Arrival. Caution: SQL traffic departs on the Oracle Departure three quarters of a mile north of here. satellite Apple Maps street view coordinate: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) (two man_made=mast, midpoint of the array)
- 3 Enter the downwind as advised San Carlos ATC tower The control tower on the field, which the Overhead Arrival crosses at or above 1,200 ft MSL. The whole airport sits between US-101 and the Bay marsh, two miles of flat ground with nothing else like it. satellite Apple Maps street view coordinate: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
4.5 NM over 3 route points. Bearings are magnetic, converted from true at each leg's midpoint through the WMM 2025 model this site ships (12.8°E here). Shoreline, water, highways and runways © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Class B/C/D boundaries: FAA Aeronautical Information Services.
Put it in the GPS
Route points become a route; reference points ship as waypoints only — a GPS that sequences you to a do-not-overfly marker has it backwards.
- GPX route
ForeFlight (GPX 1.1
rte), most tablet apps - user_waypoints.csv ForeFlight user waypoints — this procedure only
- Garmin FPL
Garmin Pilot, or the
\FPLfolder of a GTN/GNS card - KML Google Earth
- All KSQL landmarks every curated point at this field, in one ForeFlight file
When it applies
- Arriving 12 or 30 — either runway The brochure lists it under a single ARRIVALS heading; the County's web version repeats it verbatim under both "RUNWAY 30 OPERATIONS" and "RUNWAY 12 OPERATIONS"
Source text, verbatim
ARRIVALS — KNBR Arrival Inbound from the Northeast, expect to arrive via the KNBR radio tower. Keep KNBR off your right side and enter the downwind as advised. Use caution for aircraft departing SQL via the Oracle Departure ¾ mile north of the KNBR radio tower.
The text above is the published source wording and is authoritative over any summary on this page.
Sources
- County of San Mateo — San Carlos Airport Voluntary Noise Abatement Procedures brochure County of San Mateo Airports · retrieved 2026-08-27