Southern California TRACON

Southern California TRACON is a terminal radar approach control facility in San Diego, California, that serves the Southern California region. It is a unit of the Air Traffic Organization of the Federal Aviation Administration. Southern California TRACON is the busiest approach control facility in the United States. In 2024, SoCal handled 2,212,674 aircraft operations, handling more aircraft than 11 of the 22 area control centers in the United States.

Area breakdown

SCT serves the following major Southern California airports, in addition to many surrounding satellite airports.

Los Angeles International Airport - LAX - Los Angeles
John Wayne Airport - SNA - Costa Mesa
Long Beach Airport - LGB - Long Beach
San [Diego International Airport] - SAN - San Diego
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar - NKX - San Diego
[Bob Hope Airport|Hollywood Burbank Airport] - BUR - Burbank
Ontario International Airport - ONT - Ontario

SCT is broken down into six areas and a Traffic Management Unit:

Burbank Area: Responsible for BUR, VNY, & WHP
Del Rey Area: Responsible for SMO, LAX, TOA & HHR departures
Los Angeles Area: Responsible for LAX & HHR & SMO arrivals
Coast Area: Responsible for SNA, LGB, FUL, TOA & SLI
San Diego Area: Responsible for SAN, NKX, NZY, NFG, MYF, SEE, SDM, RNM & CRQ
Empire Area: Responsible for ONT, AJO, PSP, RIV, SBD, RAL, CNO, EMT, & POC

Each area has five or six individual sectors that are worked by controllers. SoCal TRACON is responsible for the handling of aircraft departing and arriving these airports, generally below. SCT is responsible for sequencing inbound, separating from crossing and VFR traffic, and departing traffic. Separation is achieved by vectoring traffic and assigning altitudes.

Sectors

Area 1 (Burbank)

Source:

Moorpark - 1M - 128.750
Valley - 1V - 124.600
Woodland - 1W - 134.200
Filmore - 1F - 120.400
Glendale - 1X - 135.050
Pasadena - 1J - 119.850

Area 2 (Los Angeles)

Downey - 2D - 124.900
Stadium - 2U - 128.500
Zuma - 2Z - 124.500
Feeder - 2F - 124.050
ILS Monitor 25 - 120.950
ILS Monitor 24 - 133.900

Area 3 (Empire)

Norton - 3N - 127.000
Pomona - 3P - 125.500
March - 3M - 119.250
Riverside - 3I - 135.400
Hemet - 3V - 134.000
Springs - 3S - 126.700
Desert - 3D - 135.275

Area 4 (Coast)

Pacific - 4P - 128.100
Tustin - 4T - 121.300
Beach - 4B - 125.350
Harbor - 4H - 127.200
Maverick - 4A - 133.850
Shore - 4S - 124.100

Area 5 (San Diego)

North - 5N - 125.300
South Bay - 5Z - 125.150
East - 5E - 124.350
West - 5W - 119.600
Del Mar - 5D - 127.300
Miramar - 5M - 132.200

Area 6 (Del Rey)

Katalina - 6K - 127.400
Laker - 6L - 134.900
Malibu - 6N - 125.200
Manhattan - 6S - 124.300
Newport - 6X - 134.350