Landing at Leh, VILH

[martinlest2 58]

It took me a dozen tries to get a landing right here tonight. Definitely one case where I would not want the fantasy of my real-world pilots passing out and me, as passenger, landing the plane myself, to come true! A few years back I flew out of this airport (but not into - vaguely planned for later this summer - hence my FS previews), and the FS9 scenery is pretty spectacular too, with clouds rolling across the airport and mountains all around ..Has anyone found the best way of touching down here? I ignored ATC's instructions to land on 25R (is that possible, with the mountains right behind? I spent some time Googling this, but to no avail) and came from the west, along the valley, 3ms south of NIMU. Then a sharpish left turn to 7L just before the runway. (With crosswinds this must be hell in real world flying). I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's the way aircraft land at the real airport. There are some interesting notes on landing in Innsbruck on AVSIM; maybe someone has some similar insights for Leh (particularly about approach procedures at the real airport). Too much to hope probably that an Indian Airlines pilot spends his spare hours browsing AVSIM forums???Martin

[captdini 3]

Hi Martin,Send me your email ID, I will see if I can rustle up some charts and procedures for Leh to you. I have been there myself in 1996, jumpseating in a 737-200 of Indian Airlines. India Mike Conditions all the way through. The departure later that afternoon was another story by itself :)Cheers,Dinshaw.

[martinlest2 58]

Sent..

[enyap 0]

I once went to Leh, we were meant to fly from Srinagar but the flight was cancelled at the last minute. We had to go by road which took us 4 days due to to road blocks and land slides! Amazing place.John

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. I'm reopening one of my old topics, as I still have 'problems' here:I fly to this airport every now again for the challenge, and the great scenery (and the nostalgia - I did fly there several years ago, real world. I recall that getting tickets was a nightmare (flights are always heavily booked and because of the altitude have to leave Leh lighter than when they took off in Delhi - which further reduces capacity of course. The only ticket left when I flew was a business class ticket, so as it was only 30% or so more expensive, I took it. Champagne over the Himalayas - an experience I'll never forget!!). Well my first question (which Googling hasn't answered) is, is runway 25 closed for landing in the real world? The approach as viewed on Google Earth looks possible, but in FS9 (with mesh) it is very hard, though not impossible to accomplish. (I just did it, but landed at an angle to the runway - there's not enough room to line up I found).And the second question, am I right in thinking that (short of switching ATC off altogether) there is no way to stop ATC directing me to use Rwy25 to land, so that a/c are always directed to Rwy2 (easier approach across the plains)? Editing the AFCAD doesn't seem to work. Can I perhaps edit one of FS9's files (which?) to remove Rwy25 from ATC options? Vague memories of attempting something like this a couple of years ago, but don't recall if it was successful or even what I did..Many thanks for any advice,Martin

[cbrown 1]

Try adding a w/v of 070/08 in the weather and FS9 should then use the into-wind runway. If not, then increase the wind strength a bit.Colin B

[martinlest2 58]

Yes, that's true, thanks for the reply; but I have ActiveSky set up my weather automatically and although I could change that of course for flights to Leh, if anyone knows a way to 'nobble' Rwy25 for landings, in so far as FS9 ATC is concerned at least, I'd be glad to know how. (I suspect it's not possible though??).BTW, I can't install Radar Contact, as I've read that it is not compatible with some other (vital, to me!) addons that I have for FS9, like FSHotSFX ...Thanks,M.

[martinlest2 58]

.. you can see how 'awkward' a landing on Rwy25 is (a/c taxiing towards TO point, Rwy25):M.