Join me on an exciting flight to Europe’s most extreme airport: Courchevel in the French Alps.
We started from Buochs, Switzerland, where Pilatus makes its famous PC-12. Captain Alexandre from JetFly joined me on the flight deck. It was a bright and clear day. En route, we saw many mountains, including Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. The scenery was out of this world!
Courchevel has a very short runway of only 537 metres and a gradient of 18.6%. Due to the surrounding mountainous terrain, there is no go-around procedure for landings at Courchevel. Captain Alex explained the landing procedures while we circled above the airfield. It requires precision landing to avoid the terrain in front.
The airfield primarily sees use by smaller fixed-wing aircraft such as the Cessna 208 Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, as well as helicopters. The runway has no instrument approach procedure or lighting aids, making landing in fog or low clouds unsafe and almost impossible.
The airport is considered dangerous, as it features a difficult approach, an upward-sloping runway, and ski runs in the adjacent area. It ranks as one of the seven most extreme airports in the world.
