Hi All,

 

I'm doing some flying (currently around Europe  in my Citation X - I usually fly around or near the UK area, but have decided to try and find some challenging airports with tough SIDS or an interesting and challenging approach. Sadly my knowledge of wider European airports, and ones in the USA is somewhat lacking so was wanting to ask you lot if you can give me a good list of ones to try - Bit of description of why you find it so challenging or interesting would be excellent also!

 

Many thanks,

Klagenfurt (LOWK) approach:

 

Sion Approach - mountain area, offset approach, 6 degrees slope.

 

Sarajevo APP - mountain area, DME ARC

 

Tivat approach, offset localizer, mountain and sea area, and interesting visual approach from NIK NDB through the Bay of Kotor.

VQPR. Airport's in the mountains, and there is no straight in approach. You need to follow the valleys to get down to the runway.

 

KDCA runway 19. A straight in approach is not possible because you'd bust the P-56 restricted airspace (I think it's P-56, anyway), so you need to follow the river in.

 

MHTG runway 2. Airport's in the mountains, and there's no straight in approach.

 

SLLP. Airport's at 13,000 feet. Engines won't be able to produce as much power. Good luck.

 

JFK visual or VOR runway 13L/R. You don't just fly straight in. You come in from the south and make a right 90-degree turn to get down to the runway.

 

VHHX runway 13. There's a mountain right behind the runway, so there's no straight in approach. You come in from the right and turn right 47 degrees to touch down.

IGS RWY 25 @ lsgs, sion, switzerland.

 

Its has a 6° approach starting @ 16,000, decending into a valley surrounded by mountains at 10,000ft +.

 

In order to keep your speed down on decent you'll need full flap, gear down before starting decent.

 

At 5,5 DME you'll go manual, get a visual on the hospital ( on your left) making a slight left turn to pass the hospital with it on your right.

Innbruck(LOWI), especially landing 08,  because you will have to make a very tight turn  which can bring you dangerously close to the mountains to the North, (unless you cheat and come in through the Inn valley from the West). even more fun in bad weather and limited visibility.

Lukla (VNLK), with the Aerosoft addon, which features the famous sloping runway and the cliff right at its end. That's no place you would want to land the Citation, though.

Another great one is the approach to Kai Tak to RWY13, especially with FlyTampa's rendition.

In the UK London City comes to my mind. The approach itself might not seem so special, as it is a simple staright in, but if take a closer look, you will notice that landing with a steeper glide path can be a bit tricky, too.

ZUNZ/Tibet:

 

Authorities, in general, often still refuse to publish official information/charts.

Approach leads through two(!) valleys.

First valley has a VOR as an IAF and a LOC as a further approach aid.

In the bend from the first valley to the second you change facilities to receive information from a full scale ILS.

Mountainous terrain extends for eternity in all directions.

 

Not sure right now, you may need the airport and the facilities added to default FSX scenery first.

Genova in northern Italy has a fantastic approach, in right over the mountains to an airport right next to the sea, also greatly suited to private jets and any type of flying with its 9000ft runway, it has an offset ILS due to the buildings on the approach so it's manual only for the last bit It also has a great scenery for FSX.

 

http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?/topic/6183-ozx-scenery-ozx-liguria-photoreal-x/

 

Load up your favorite regional or 737 liverary, I like the Westjet for this flight,at CYYC Calgary, Canada to KMSO Missoula , Montana USA and land ILS11 right down the valley. It really helps if you have the ORBX scenery's and REX. Great scenery and this time of year as you descend down the valley on the VOR glide slope you'll usually find you pop out the bottom of the clouds with mountains on both wing tips. Great fun with a little pucker factor thrown in.

Awesome suggestions chaps, keep 'em coming in! I'm thinking I may plan a RTW off the back of this - test myself by trying to fly into all the most difficult, interesting and beautiful airports around the world!

Beautiful and scenic airports in Europe - you could go for rwy 06 of EDNY/Friedrichshafen:

 

- the Alps at close range

- finals over Lake Constance

- island of Mainau in sight

Isafjordur, Iceland (BIIS). Approach into a steep closed off fjord with a 180 degree turn for final to the runway.

EDDP/Leipzig-Schkeuditz could be "challenging", too - in case you land on the "wrong" runway:

 

Taxiing to the apron then requires you to cross an Autobahn (motorway) plus an ICE (high-speed train) route ...

Load up your favorite regional or 737 liverary, I like the Westjet for this flight,at CYYC Calgary, Canada to KMSO Missoula , Montana USA and land ILS11 right down the valley. It really helps if you have the ORBX scenery's and REX. Great scenery and this time of year as you descend down the valley on the VOR glide slope you'll usually find you pop out the bottom of the clouds with mountains on both wing tips. Great fun with a little pucker factor thrown in.

 

 

Just tried it and I liked it!

 

James, if KMSO is for you, give KJAC a try as well - in "ORBX land", of course!

 

if KMSO is for you, give KJAC a try as well - in "ORBX land", of course!

I guess the other way round will apply as well? Anyways, I'm gonna find out in a few minutes.

 

Btw, I got some more ideas meanwhile: Dutch Harbor (I really recommend the two missions here, too!) is really nice and can be quite scary, if you fly larger faster aircraft and have to land on 30. Plus it will definitely be a challenge to get the plane out of there again. I remember taking off there in the  MD11, but I had to reduce fuel to a minimum and couldn't load too much cargo, if any, and still I needed every meter of that runway! I can't imagine how the aircraft got there in the first place :rolleyes:

KDCA RWY19 is also interesting, because you have to follow the Potomac all the way down to the runway, so you have to make a turn on the last few meters of the approach leaving you very little time to adjust if you're not alligned. It's also interesting, because you're actually pretty close to some of Washington's landmarks.

Sedona is surrounded by really nice scenery, even in default FSX, though I highly recommend that you try BlueSkyScenery for that one. The approach is no real thrill, but the terrain is simply stunning!

Aerosoft made a scenery for Aspen, Colorado a few years back. Throw in a little snow storm and that might be a nice approach?

 

There is a nice freeware release for Telluride, Colorado here in the library. Throw in some nice weather and that might challenge you a bit, as go-arounds aren't much fun...

 

Good mesh recommended for either airport's enhancement!