Overhead 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.
Arriving from the west, cross overhead the control tower at or above 1,200' MSL and enter the downwind as advised.
The route
- Aircraft arriving from the west should expect to arrive via overhead the Air Traffic Control Tower at or above 1,200' MSL
- Enter the downwind as advised
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 west Depicted 3 NM west of the field; the brochure gives a direction, not a fix. satellite Apple Maps
- 2 Overhead the tower at or above 1,200 MSL, then 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)
3.0 NM over 2 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 — Overhead Arrival Aircraft arriving from the west should expect to arrive via overhead the Air Traffic Control Tower at or above 1,200' MSL and enter the downwind as advised.
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