About this Document

This document is intended as training and reference material for controlling Innsbruck Airport (LOWI). It covers the stations LOWI_DEL (rarely staffed, but theoretically), LOWI_TWR and LOWI_APP. This page is work in progress. Currently the DEL and TWR section is progress. Stay tuned for APP. If you are controller: Feel free to discuss and edit. Special thanks to Hermann Plunser, our active LOWI controller. It's his material which is used for this page.

General

Location

Innsbruck is one of the most thrilling airports to fly from and to, for various reasons:

It is deeply in the Inn valley, surrounded by mountains as high as 8000ft (to the north) and >10000ft (to the south and West). This means that approach is particularly long, and flying is limited to a narrow corridor.
The runway is somehow not in line with the valley, so approach and takeoff is not straight-in-or-out. Instead, the last part of approach and the first part of departure is visual only.
LOWI has peculiar wind conditions - "Föhn". This is a very strong and gusty southerly wind. Under these conditions, aircraft usually perform a "special Föhn" departure and arrival to avoid vomiting passengers and heart attacks. AT VATSIM, these conditions cannot be simulated, but some local pilots love to fly it.
The runway has no complete adjacent taxiways for entering and exiting - Departing (and sometimes arriving) aircraft need to backtrack on either side, which takes time and makes Tower controlling a real thrill.
X-Plane 9 has LOWI as (nice) standard scenery, which provokes many X-Plane newbies to try out their skills here - thrilling experience for controllers, to be polite.

Airspaces around LOWI

As Innsbruck is deeply buried in "the canyon",

TWR airspace (Innsbruck CTR) reaches up to A9000ft (mark: actual altitude, not FL). If no higher ATC is available, then Innsbruck Tower controls up to A11000ft).
APP airspace (Area Tirol) reaches up to FL165. The airspace above is delegated to EDMM.

Airport

(see the aerodrome chart, which is [here].)

Apron

The far eastern part is for freight, although in real life there is rarely any freight-only aircraft.
The eastern and middle part of the apron is for larger birds.
General Aviation is at the very Western part in front of Hangars II and III.
In the western part is a "cutout" in the grass. On earlier charts, this was marked as helipad. Some choppers still use it - clarifiaction ("heliport in front of hangar II") is recommended.
Rescure and police helicopters operate from the "Flugrettungszentrum" (ICAO: LOJO), which is south of hangar III and the engine run stand. Local pilots pronounce it "Lojo" and don't spell it. LOJO is not part of any standard package. Giannis MSFS add on scenery has it, and X-Plane has it too.
Apron, hangar and LOJO is not under ATC control. Therefore, (for copters and only for copters) so you tell QNH, wind and "takeoff/landing at own discretion", as long as they don't interfere with runway or taxis.
The Apron has no predefined "stands" in real life. In real life, aircraft are handed off to the follow-me car. As there is no car at VATSIM, "taxi to stand of your choice" is best, maybe added by "in the western part of the apron" - for some mysterious reason many aircraft tend to log on in front of the tower in the eastern part.

Holding points

A on the taxiway A towards rwy 08
B1 (facing east before turning into B) and B2 (facing west, before turning into B). They are not shown on the VACC charts, but included inGiannis LOWI scenery for MSFS. Don't expect pilots to find it. "Holding point B" works perfectly.
L holding point is relevant for the GAC parking.

Runway and around

Runways 08 and 26 have both turnpads. Some pilots report "runway vacated" when standing on it, so be aware.
North of the runway is taxiway Y which is grass and for light airraft and gliders only. Some pilots think it smart to use it if they miss taxiway A to vacate, or the adjacent "Schleppweg" (glider tow track) with 767's and are a bit surprised.

Further away

About 1,5nm final rwy 26 is the rooftop helipad of the hospital (LOIU). This is not part of the MSFS or X-Plane standard scenery. If the helipad is occupied, inform arriving aircraft about a "floating" heli: "traffic information: stationary helicopter at the hospital helipad at 1.5nm final, you might see it floating".

VFR Traffic

(see the VFR chart, which is (c) Eurocontrol, so we can't publish it here. You might want to get a (free) login to the EAD document system, which is [here]). Important: There are new routes as of March 8th, 2012. Expect pilots turn up with charts of either generation, so we advise:

Try the new charts right away and see if the pilot knows what you mean. If he doesn't, the following changes apply:
M1 is the old E1
old E2 is omitted
M2 is old L2
M3 is old L3
old A is omitted
The eastern arrival route (new: M1-M2-M3) is old: E1-L2-L3.
Approaching from F, the old arrival route L (L1-L2-L3) is now F-M2-M3, but beware: F-M2 is close to the LOC DME east, as VFR pilots need to climb to 7500ft.
West: G and I are new, so you might avoid it.

IFR Traffic

Approach

Innsbruck has two (and a rarely used third) thrilling approaches, which have one thing in common: They are only for descent. You have to land visually on rwy08 or rwy26 (either approach leads to either runway):

LOC DME East approach: This approach is most popular, but many pilots don't read the charts: First, it is not aligned with the runway centerline - heading deviates 5 degrees north. Second: It has a glideslope, so many aircraft think it is an ILS and fly it until they notice that they would land on the grass - funny manoevers happen. The way to handle it as TWR controller:

Tell them "report AB NDB or runway in sight".
If the pilot reports AB, then you have to ask "confirm runway in sight?". If not, the pilot should go around immediately (if you don't see the runway from AB then there might be weather conditions bad enough to close the airport).
If the pilot reports runway in sight, then the next clearance follows, according to the runway (see below, Landing).

The Go-around procedure is a steep left turn and climbout, which makes survival a thrill if they still cruise with 250kt.

LOC DME West approach: Pilots who don't read charts think that this approach directly leads to rwy 08, and some dive for it when they have runway in sight. In fact, this is near-suicidal. The descent goes over the airport and ends above AB, where a steep right turn leads them into the position of either continuing towards rwy26 or rwy08. This approach has no glideslope, so it is for cloud-breaking purpose only. Go-around is a straight climb-out to RTT NDB. Caution: LOC DME West is not part of standard FS2002 and 2004 (but included in X-Plane 9). It is recommended to check in advance, if the pilot is able to do this. Some pilots use the back course of LOC DME east with unexpected results.

RNAV 0.3 (RNP) arrival: This approach is very rare and on pilot request only (as aircraft have to be equipped with GPS with 0.3nm accuracy). The approach is very similar to Special LOC DME East approach, but go-around differs. This approach leads into rwy 26 only. Go-around is a RNAV turn in the upper Inn valley and return to RTT NDB.

Landing

From AB NDB, there is two ways to the runway:

direct final rwy26 is the easy thing. Visual approach.
visual circling rwy08 is the tricky thing.

As TWR controller, the following clearances are recommended:

For 26: either "cleared to land rwy26" (if free) or "expect late clearance runway 26" (if occupied)
For 08: "cleared visual circling rwy 08, report final" (this avoids to forget his landing clearance).

Go-arounds

Go-around rwy 26 is a steep left turn and climbout to RTT.
Go-around rwy 08 is a straight climbout to RTT.

As the climbout and re-approach really takes time, you can offer smart pilots a visual circuit at 4000ft altitude, leading them back to AB. The phraseology is: "Go-around as published, of if you wish, join a [left/right] traffic pattern at 4000ft and report AB NDB, report intention."

Departure

1) Easiest departure is via rwy08 (SIDs have xxxJ). There are pilots who can only do this. The trouble is, that departure is very near to LOC DME east. It should be no problem, if pilots climb out with max rate of climb. However, they tend to depart fast-and-low instead. If you clear aircraft via rwy 08, you should consider:

arriving aircraft on LOC DME East should have at least 18DME - lineup, backtrack and climbout takes time.
Advise departing aircraft a maximum rate of climb to avoid nasty situations. Departing aircraft should have 6000ft or above at AB NDB to be free of conflict.

2) Regular SIDs via Rwy26 should be chosen with higher traffic (SIDS have xxxH). Caution: Some pilots do not understand that ADILO1H has a left turn towards OEJ and a right turn towards INN and end up with a ...

3) Visual departure Rwy 26 is rarely, but used on request. Pilots fly up the Inn until they are high enough for a direct routing to their next waypoint. In real life, Air Berlin requests this to show the Zugspitze to passengers. Expect pilots to turn right instead of left (leading directly into the Martinswand; the reason is that the turn is slightly more than 180° and autopilots turn the shorter circuit). It is a good idea to confirm "visual departure", as vectoring usually worsens the situation.

4) RNP 0.3 RNAV rwy 26 is available on pilot's request. This is in fact the only way out in bad weather conditions. Normally, aircraft fly this route until they are high enough for a direct routing.

5) Special Performance rwy08 has two departures: KPT1Z and RTT2Z have steep rates of climb and are available on pilot's request.

All departures have initial climb clearances to FL160.

Handoff

Handoff from TWR to APP is best, whenever departing aircraft are conflict-free. If no APP is present, then...

Aircraft to Germany are directly handed over to EDMM
Aircraft to Italy are directly handed over to LIMM
The rest goes to LOVV_CTR or UNICOM.

Föhn procedures

"Föhn" procedures are at pilot's request. Rarely used at VATSIM, as simulators can't simulate the strong and gusty southerly wind. Föhn operations lead to rwy08only and are visual only (with Föhn, view is excellent). Arrivals descend along the northern ridge between 8000 and 5000ft, were turbulence is least. North of the city, aircraft cross the city for a right hand base for rwy08 and a steep descent to pattern altitude. Base and final 08 are standard. Departures drift to the northern slope, where pilots climb in the least turbulent air.

Spacing

The best thrill of the Innsbruck TWR controller is spacing. As Innsbruck has few and narrow approaches and backtracks on runways, spacing is well beyond other airports. As a rule of thumb, the following spacings are necessary:

arriving before arriving (same runway): 7nm (reason: you may need backtrack, if aircraft overshoot the exit)
departing before arriving (same runway): 7nm (reason: you need backtrack of departing aircraft). Make sure the pilot is at the holding point and ready to roll before issuing lineup clearances.
departing 26 before arriving rwy08: Arriving acft should be before AB NDB when departing aircraft takes off, and departing aircraft should have maximum rate of climb (they turn head-on!). Exception: If departure 26 is visual climb-out or RTT1X (departing aircraft flies up the valley and won't turn left).
departing 08 and arriving 26: Arriving acft should have D18 OEV (=just reported LOC DME established), departing aircraft should have maximum rate of climb.
arriving 26 before arriving 08: As the east-08 flies a visual circle, 6nm will fit, provided the east-26 leaves the runway quickly.
arriving 08 before arriving 26: Well, if you really want to smash two aircraft in the middle of the runway.
Merging West and East approach: Both approaches meet at AB NDB, with West at 5000ft and East at 4460ft. Strictly, this is enough vertical separation to lead a west approach aircraft (above) to visual circling 08 and a east approach aircraft to a straight-in 26 (vertical separation at approach 700ft), but it is tricky. Consider merging traffic with enough (7nm) horizontal separation over AB NDB.

Reduced runway separation

None that we know, as the risk is too high that an arriving aircraft overshoots the exit and needs a backtrack while the next aircraft lands and might do the same.

LOWI Primer

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