It is one of the “Pilot’s bucket list” destination airport because it’s on top of an island, thus being called “Airport in the Sky”. Located about 18nm from the shoreline, you will do a little bit of ocean crossing, tabletop mountain airport landing and at the end of it, great view and restaurant is waiting for you.
Procedures
They have a website provided detailed VFR traffic pattern entry procedures and parking locations. They do have landing fees (kinda expensive to be honest), don’t forget to pay for it after landing in the tower.
Crossing the water
🔼 It is dreamy, crossing the ocean towards Catalina Island.
The airport is ~18nm at the shortest distance from the mainland US and therefore it is recommended to bring a lifevest with you since it is likely you’ll be landing in water if engine went out. You might want to figure out the glide ratio of your airplane and figure out where to cross and how high is your crossing to maximize your glide distance. Don’t forget the bravo shelf on the LA side.
Napkin Math on Gliding Distance
Consider the mid point being 9nm (54685 ft), if the glide ratio is 8:1, you will at least need to be at 6835ft to ensure you can always glide to one side, and that is assuming no wind and only to the very edge of the shoreline.
Landing
It is preferred to land on 22 due to its 2.1% upslope and there is a bump ~3/4 way into the runway so the last 700 feet is not visible after landing. The upslope also means you might be subject to upsloping illusion and have either lower approach and/or heavy landing, so watch out for it.