I’ve no photos of landing or take-off in Courchevel. The place is so impressive that I always made videos there. Let me be clear from the beginning: a site authorization is required to land in Courchevel, and I don’t have one. I flew there a couple of times as right-seat passenger. I had my hands on the controls, so I could feel it. Being in front seat, I saw how weird the approach looks like. I heard the engine developing full power after touchdown, to climb the runrway to the parking spot…

Let me start with a brief description of the airport. Located in the Alps, the runway altitude is 6371 feet. At least the lower end. The higher part, where the parking and the tower are, is at 6583 feet. The total length is 537 meters (1762 feet). The steepest semgment’s slope is 18.66%. When landing, the end of runway, 212 feet above, is simply not visible. The take-off is impressive as well… only the 123 first meters are visible, because of the slope.

Obviously, it is not possible to fly a standard pattern. If the AFIS service is active, pilots can fly kind of a base, and long final. If not, the procedure starts overhead. But not ground service means no QNH… And with all the rocks around, the a good altimeter setting is quite important. The local system is quite easy: fly by a nearby cablecar station, at its very altitude, and set the altimeter to 7200 feet. Simple… You can see a demo of that procedure in the summer landing video below.

The AFIS is usually in service in winter only, because of the intese traffic. On nice days, helicopters and airplane movements can be rather intensive. Except on days after snow, when the runway is not yet cleared. The cost of de-snowing and AFIS is charged to the pilots: the winter landing fee is 80 Euros. Most skiers on the slope below the runway stop to look at aircrafts passing few meters over them. But some don’t, which makes the approach even more impressive.

The final escape possibility is a valley, approximately 500 meters on short final, where a left turn is possible. The options are simple: turn there, or land. Going around is not an option. The peaks surrounding the top part of the runway are 1000 to 2000 feet higher.

I planned for a while to get qualified, a friend even offered to “fly me up there” to get my lessons, which would have been a great gain of time, but unfortunately the instructor we knew up there got killed in an accident. Later I moved to the Frankfurt area, so the possibility of doing it seems rather remote. May be later…

Personally, I’ve been more impressed by the take-off than by the landing. It really looks like the runway is 120 meters long, and then the dive along the steep part is. But ven my best words can not describe what a landing or take-off in Courchevel is, so have a look at the videos behind.

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Summer landing video

Winter landing and take-off

Summer approach procedure, landing, and take-off

If you think that this was quick, look at this video taken from the cockpit of a KingAir:

Or this one from a PC-12

If you liked this post, don’t miss my page about Flying in the Alps!