Challenging Airports Courchevel, France (LFLJ)

If we’ve learned anything over the millennia, it has to be that the human spirit has an innate and perpetual quest for achievement. We rose from our knuckles to walk on two feet. We discovered how to make fire and how the wheel could ease our burdens. Eventually, we would build incredible machines that would make the horse obsolete and take to the skies like birds.

Short final to Courchevel runway 22 shows the steep runway and formidable terrain beyond. (Photo courtesy of Captain Siegfried Lenz).

For all of those leaps forward there seemed to be no question as to why we would want to do those things. As for carving a small airport out of the side of the French Alps in an impossibly difficult place to operate aerial machinery - we can only scratch our heads and say “because we can!”  And thus was born Courchevel ‘altiport’ in the rugged skiing landscape of the rich and famous.

Courchevel is a popular winter destination for skiers, but the summer months offer stunning vistas as well. France VFR’s ‘Alpes du Nord’ scenery package is an incredible complement to the LLH Courchevel scenery. Here we are departing Courchevel - turning towards Bozel.

The origin of Courchevel airport

Originally constructed during World War Two, Courchevel airport has evolved into one of the most unique airfields in existence. Though it can’t claim to be the highest, or the shortest, or the most rugged - it wades among all of those superlatives with a casual nonchalance that is very - well, French. The single VFR-only runway sits at an elevation of 6,371ft - or rather, one end of it does! The other end sits at 6,583ft. With an overall length of 1,763ft, the net gradient is somewhere around 12%. That would be challenging enough, but Courchevel has variable gradients that start at 12.5% for the first 441ft, at which point the slope jumps to an impressive 18.66% gradient for 918ft, before abruptly reaching a nearly level plateau for the remaining 404ft.  With such wildly vacillating runway numbers, I don’t even know how you begin to calculate the way in which your aircraft will perform, so it is probably a good idea to just not go at all.

The runway gradient for the first 134 metres is 12.5%, before abruptly increasing to 18.66% for 280 metres. The unusually steep gradient can cause a visual illusion that you are too high, resulting in a dangerously shallow approach.

Flying into Courchevel

If you are going to go, I’d recommend doing so using some advice from the professionals who used to shoehorn the relatively large de Havilland DHC-7 ‘Dash 7’ into and out of Courchevel on a regular basis. Former Dash 7 pilots Captain Bernt Stolle and Captain Siegfried Lenz took the time to answer some of my questions about flying passengers into Courchevel and I could sense, by the affectionate way in which they recounted their adventures that it was a special era indeed. I thank them for their information.

A Tyrolean Dash-7 sits on the ramp at Courchevel. Slippery conditions and low ceilings are evident in the photograph. (Photo courtesy of Captain Siegfried Lenz).

Though Tyrolean Airways ceased flying to Courchevel in the mid-90s, private and charter aircraft continue to serve the airport to this day. Judging from the transition from fixed wing to rotorcraft photos in the online databases, it seems that helicopters now serve the lion’s share of air travel to and from Courchevel. In its day, however, the Dash 7 was the King of Courchevel and any pilot with the slightest knowledge of high altitude, short-field operations has to respect the incredible skill necessary to safely land and depart under such challenging conditions. According to Captain Stolle, the Tyrolean Dash 7s operated solely in winter (prime skiing season) under the French airline brand ‘TAT’ from Paris Orly airport. The TAT routes would hopscotch across France ultimately ending up in Courchevel. Tyrolean also operated its own charter service from Innsbruck, again stopping at airports in Germany, Switzerland and France before arriving at Courchevel.

The Dash-7 was retired from service to Courchevel in the mid-1990s as helicopters became the preferred mode of transport. A wide variety of aircraft can still be seen operating to Courchevel including the popular STOL Twin Otter.

Challenging conditions

Nestled deep in the mountains, Courchevel is prone to all of the typical poor weather that winter mountain ranges are subject to. Low ceilings, high winds, extreme turbulence, icing, contaminated runways and white-out conditions can all conspire to make operations difficult, to even relatively sedentary mountain airfields. Throw in the unique short-field, a sloping runway and you have a recipe for potential disaster. Captain Stolle said: “During bad weather, we flew an instrument approach to Chambéry and when breaking out below the ceiling, continued visually at very low altitude [to Courchevel]. At least once a pilot turned into the wrong valley after the instrument approach and had to perform a wingover at the dead end with a fully loaded Dash 7!” So, as you can see, the actual landing at Courchevel often represented the culmination of what could be an entire flight segment of challenging conditions.

Overhead Courchevel, the neatly manicured runway belies the treacherous angle at which it is perched on the mountainside. (Photo courtesy of Captain Siegfried Lenz).

The simulated flight

For our flight simulation purposes, I’d recommend flying the final segment of the standard route structure from Chambéry to Courchevel. While I’d encourage you to give Milton Shupe’s Dash 7 a try, you can obviously choose any aircraft you like that has short-field performance capabilities. The stock Cessna Caravan would be an excellent choice. Place your aircraft at Chambéry Aix-les-Bains Airport (ICAO code LFLB) with fair weather, or if you are feeling adventurous choose the actual weather and see what you get. From Chambéry, it is only a short 35nm flight to Courchevel. The best course would be to fly direct to GEMLA intersection on your GPS and from there direct to Courchevel (ICAO code LFLJ) or you could simply take up a 90° heading from Chambéry until you intercept the 130° radial off of Chambéry VOR (CBY / 115.40) for 47 DME.

Milton Shupe’s de Havilland Canada DHC-7 ‘Dash-7’ is a classic STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft that operated to the challenging environment of Courchevel. Here it is preparing to depart Chambéry for the short 35-mile hop to Courchevel.

A cruise altitude of 14,000ft was typical when en route to Courchevel.

The recommended flight altitude to keep you clear of the terrain is 14,000ft. The visual landing chart (see box-out for link) recommends either overflying the field and entering a teardrop pattern to line up for the final approach in the event that the tower is not operating, or flying up the valley from the northwest over the towns of Moutiers and Bozel at 7,000ft, prior to turning on to final for runway 22. Obviously a hazard to VFR navigation is the obscuration of mountain tops, leading any intrepid aviator to fly up the wrong valley into a dead end, so careful positional awareness and familiarity with the topography is recommended.

From Chambéry, you can depart and fly direct to GEMLA intersection then LFLJ using GPS or fly eastbound to pick up the 130° radial off of Chambéry VOR (CBY / 115.40) for 47 DME.
The recommended arrival path takes you over the valley towns of Moutiers and Bozel before turning you southbound to line up on Courchevel’s runway 22.

One-way landing… one-way take-off

Once you have Courchevel ‘altiport’ in sight, it becomes readily apparent why it is a one-way landing and one-way take-off airfield. The severely sloped runway is short and ends in a massive vertical snow cliff that is only a small part of a much larger chunk of mountain. When I queried Captain Stolle about the possibility of a go-around, he stated equivocally: “Once you passed the lowest point of the valley, which was quite a distance from the runway, there was no way to go-around due to the sloping terrain. You would have smashed right into the mountain.” As with any sloping runway, there are varying degrees of visual illusions that can insidiously disrupt your normal approach path. All of us are used to flying 3° flight paths to level runways, but when the runway appears as a near-vertical wall of pavement ahead, sloped at 18%, the tendency is to try to make the runway appear less steep by flying too low. In the case of such a severe slope as Courchevel, there is a very real danger of driving your aircraft so low that you cannot regain the performance required to climb back UP to the runway! At higher elevations, the aircraft performance may be quite poor and without the possibility of a go-around, you could find yourself very much behind the power curve with no options to exit.

Turning on to final is a commitment to land since the rising terrain in all forward quadrants makes the chances of a successful go-around unlikely. So it's important to plan your approach very carefully.

The aim point for touchdown should be just past the threshold so that you settle on the 12.5% gradient upslope rather than the more jarring impact of hitting the steeper 18.66% slope.

Touchdown is likely to be firm since the runway will be rising up to meet you. If you are late on your touchdown and hit the 18.66% segment instead of the 12.5% portion the impact will be even more impressive. Lift dump devices, brakes and propeller reverse (or beta) should all be combined to slow the aircraft speed but not stop it prior to cresting the top of the incline, lest you slide backwards on the snow and ice. Congratulations - you have arrived!

A firm touchdown is virtually guaranteed as the runway rises up to ‘greet’ you. Upon touchdown, deploy your lift dump devices and use reversing and braking as necessary. Keep in mind that in real operations you had to carry enough momentum to reach the plateau at the top of the slope lest you slide back down the runway on patchy snow and ice!

Getting airborne

Departures from Courchevel offer up some unique challenges as well. I found it interesting that the technique for getting the Dash 7 airborne involved setting all four engines to 50% power, then increasing the inboard engines to 100%. As soon as the brakes are released an abort is not possible and after the nose drops off the plateau the non-flying pilot increases the outboard engine’s power to 100% as well. This stepped power application was designed to preclude a loss of directional control with the loss of an engine during the period when the nosewheel was ‘light’ going over the transition to the steep part of the runway. At light weights, the aircraft could lift off after hitting the shallower portion of the runway, but it wasn’t unusual to drop off the end of the runway altogether and sink into the valley before gaining enough speed to climb away.

A unique technique for departing Courchevel in the Dash 7 was to bring all of the engines to 50% power, then bring the inboard engines to 100% power. Once off the plateau and heading downhill, the outboard engines were then brought to 100%. This was to prevent loss of directional control in the event of an outboard engine failing as the aircraft pitched forward down the slope.

With all of the aforementioned special techniques and considerations, it is no wonder that only French mountain licensed pilots and pilots under instruction to achieve their mountain licence are allowed to operate to Courchevel. A clue to the seriousness of the procedures lies in the final note on the visual landing approach plate: “Preferential crashing zone: 020°/2.7 NM, at the bottom of the valley.” Remind me not to buy any property there!

I think Captain Siegfried Lenz summarized it best when he wrote to me:  “I had a very experienced 767 captain on the jumpseat once and he remarked that the Courchevel approach and landing was the most exciting thing he had ever witnessed in his career. My Courchevel landings and take-offs, as a Captain, are among the proudest achievements of my 20-plus year aviation career.”  

By Chris Frishmuth

How To Replicate This Flight

Please note that this flight can be replicated in any simulator using any aircraft. The default scenery in FSX, Prepar3D and X-Plane does not feature the sloping runway or other details unique to Courchevel. The recommended starting point for this flight is Chambéry (LFLB). Then navigate direct to Courchevel (LFLJ) via direct to GEMLA intersection, then direct to the airport via GPS, or via the Chambéry 130° VOR radial (CBY/115.4) for 47 DME. Flight altitude should be 14,000ft until approaching Moutiers, where a pattern elevation of 7,000ft is suggested. A full landing and departure PDF chart is available at https://www.sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr.

 

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