Lukla Airport

LUKLA Airport

ICAO: VNLK

Wikipedia: Lukla Airport

Image: Lukla From The Ground (Courtesy of Airliners.net)
Image: On Final For 06 (Courtesy of Airliners.net)

Approach Procedure

"...From (Khatmandu) VNKT climb to at least 13000 ft while following VOR 112.30 outbound on track 096° for about 70 nm. Now turn on terrain mode (TERR) on your GPS navigator and carefully locate the low elevation valley running north and south with VNLK on its path. Follow the valley to the north while descending to just above the airport elevation at 9100 ft. When you have the airport in sight on your right side line up with the 2500 ft asphalt runway at 60° and land... " Courtesy of forum.aerosoft.com.

If GPS isn't your preferred method, it is just as easy to fly the 096° radial from Kathmandu, then turn North onto the 010° radial of Lamidada NDB 236 as you intersect it. This heading takes you straight into the valley to Lukla. Most aircraft will allow both these to be dialled in on seperate displays at the same time. Make sure your descent from FL130 is without delay, there isn't much time before the airport appears ahead on your right. Full flaps are a must.

Complexity

The landing. A descending turn onto a short short final, and a visual perception that can place the plane too low without any time to correct.

FlightGear Scenery

The required scenery for VNLK is e080n20.tgz. This tile includes Kathmandu.