What San Francisco International Is Like For Pilots

As Northern California's most prominent and busiest airport, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is a gateway from the Bay Area to the world. The airport is one of the few worldwide with two sets of parallel intersecting runways and boasts wonderful terminal and ramp views. Few other airports offer consistently visible parallel approaches and departures all day long - a fantastic perk for planespotters as San Francisco is one of the largest international gateways in the United States.

A testament to this is Lufthansa's decision to choose SFO as one of the debut destinations for its new Allegris cabin product. Accordingly, SFO deserves its own video that addresses the airport from a pilot's perspective. With observations and experiences shared by Simple Flying contributor and commercial pilot Jack Herstam, here are some insights and tidbits into the operational experience at San Francisco International.

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[goldenstateaviation]

Love calling it my home airport. Definitely the best major airport in America

[aviationyt]

This is my most favourite airport in the world!

[fixpacifica]

Flights to and from Europe give you some spectacular views of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and SF, especially at dusk. The combination of hills, water and lights is magical.

[Gracie]

Our father and 3, 000 other UAL employees came out from Chicago to open the newly-built UAL Maintenance Base, in the late 1940s after the war. We were all born on the Peninsula. Many years of flying UAL routes and plane spotting, and still plane spotting along the Bay Trail and Coyote Point today. I sit for an hour and watch the parade and ballet - ATC is amazing at what they do! The constantly changing winds, weather, and fog patterns create a unique palette every day. Truly one of, if not, the most beautiful airports in the world.

[conorcorrigan]

SFO will always be special for me since it is the airport where I took my first long-haul flight from, back in 2008 when I was 16, flying SFO-SYD on 90s United Battleship-Grey 747-400.

[adampaulsen]

SFO is the best ❤ they’ve worked so hard in recent years and it’s paying off.

[smedley]

So lucky to have grown up in the bay as an aviation fan and rail fan.

[Renetteadele-lekz]

I feel so privileged to have SFO my home airport. I plane spot at SFO regularly. There is always something interesting to see each time

[thedownwardmachine]

We are lucky to have such a beautiful airport and landscape and traffic pattern all in one. A true planespotter’s destination!

[bryanlamb]

I love my home airport!! So well designed and always fun to watch planes at SFO!!

[AN-cwyg]

I love living in the flight path of SFO. It is nice to see the planes fly over the ocean.

[ZacharyBerger]

Happy to have this as my home airport!

[StormFanatic]

I’ve flown through SFO multiple times on AirTran and United. Funny that Wine Country should be mentioned because I used to live in Santa Rosa and nearby Windsor having grown up between there and my other hometown of San Antonio, Texas. My Mom’s side of the family has been in Sonoma County since 1886 from Cork, Ireland. Larsen Winery used to be a Ranch that bore the family name which the road it’s on still does.
My experiences flying into and out of SFO have been interesting to say the least. Sitting in the Plane on 1L waiting for Takeoff Clearance is a treat when seeing the Heavies coming in on approach to 28L and 28R is a treat. Back in 2014, we were on an Airbus A320-200 operated by United on its way to ORD to connect to our flight into CLT which is home. Soon as we lifted off, not even 3 seconds later, the shallow bank to the left for separation. There was a UA Boeing 757 on our right that banked right for said separation. It was perhaps the most important visit to see family because my Mother In Law came with us. It was her first and so far only time ever on the West Coast. Someday I hope she comes back with us.

[fungkicks]

Thank you for that last clip of Terminal 2 and those Virgin America tails. Miss that airline!

[WannaBeUnitedPilot]

SFO is my home airport! Enjoy everything about it which includes plane spotting and its location on the bay!

[gregecker]

Sfo is amazing for plane spotting. The night is also very cool to spot planes. I was in the Polaris lounge couple of months ago and it was fun to watch all of the Asia and South Pacific flight go out

[rdmorris]

Before 9/11, the plane spotting area parallel to the origin point of the two shorter west-to-east runways was heaven for plane spotters. For many, it was a wonderful way to spend a few hours viewing the planes so close one could see faces in the windows while listening to tower talk on the radio. The area was sealed off after 9/11 for obvious reasons.

[MarcPagan]

From a pilot - Thanks!
Well done, and fun video.

[wotan]

I haven’t been to SFO in many years. But on my last departure (which will show how long ago it was), we started the takeoff in a TWA L-1011 TriStar, while on the parallel runway a TWA 727 was keeping up with us. Both planes lifted off at the same time, and we made a sweeping left turn, while the 727 turned to the right.

[nurrizadjatmiko]

Such a fascinating airport if you ask me. It is officially entered my bucket list right now.