Lukla Airport

aka: Tenzing–Hillary Airport

ICAO: VNLK

Found at 27°41'9.56"N 86°44'3.70"E in Google Earth.

 

I'm starting this thread to move the conversation between Neilends and myself here instead of in the "where did you fly..............." thread.

 

My suggestion for getting a 172 down:

 

Line up about a mile and a quarter out near the canyon wall west of Luka at about 9300 ft and 100kts or so, this is about a thousand feet above the runway. Use two notches of flaps, leaving another notch so that you can still add more drag if needed. Mid valley, 85kts; about 1/8th mile from the trees (at 75kts) reduce power to 10% and come over the trees at about 50 kts; adjust power as needed from there. If you do that, you'll have a safe landing every time. But don't stop in the middle of the runway or you'll have a fight to get going again. You may have to coast backwards and turn sideways on the runway in order to get a rolling start uphill, so that you can take off again.

 

Next comes the TBM 930, which is not so easy, but doable. TBM stall speeds with a light load:

Flaps up 70

Half flaps 66

Full flaps 57

 

With the TBM you need to hug the west canyon wall at 9300 feet and 120kts with landing gear already down to reduce workload, putting in full flaps as you line up to the runway. Mid valley you should be trying to stabilize the airspeed to about 80kts; at the trees, 74kts.

 

Let's hear suggestions on how to make getting down in one piece more likely.

 

Next comes the Caravan and whatever else anybody wants to try.

Then let's see if anybody can get the 747 to land and roll on the runway.

Haven't found it in msfs yet, but i do remember flying it in fsx and that it was quite challenging.

Here is a video I did in the TBM a few months back. Complete flight path into Lukla described from Tumlingtar, Nepal. Please consider a subscription to the channel if you like the content. Thanks in advance!

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by doering1

Cianpars

Just input the ICAO code: VNLK.

Edited January 29, 2021 by sfojimbo

Can't wait to try it out!

 

doering, I enjoyed your video and subscribed. I would really love to see you or anyone successfully land a plane at Rudraprayag. Wiki claims that there is no airport, but that's not true and MSFS has an air strip in the town.

The airport that FS shows is at 30°17'6.29"N 79° 9'34.84"E, which is about 10.5 miles upriver (east) from Rudraprayag. It is a 4,000 ft paved runway.

 

The location is at the town of Gauchar, not Rudraprayag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauchar

Edited January 29, 2021 by sfojimbo

The airport that FS shows is at 30°17'6.29"N 79° 9'34.84"E, which is about 10.5 miles upriver (east) from Rudraprayag. It is a 4,000 ft paved runway.

 

The location is at the town of Gauchar, not Rudraprayag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauchar

 

Good research. I only looked at the FS internal database for what FS labelled, I think, Rudrapayag.

 

Many of these small villages are considered holy. My dad went on a religious trip that involved hiking many of them by foot.

Can't wait to try it out!

 

doering, I enjoyed your video and subscribed. I would really love to see you or anyone successfully land a plane at Rudraprayag. Wiki claims that there is no airport, but that's not true and MSFS has an air strip in the town.

 

Thanks very much for subbing! I have added this airstrip to my future destinations! So cool to try these new locations and no need to add scenery!

As a passenger, I flew in and out of Lukla in 1992 in real life. I can't remember now if it was in a Twin Otter or a Dash 7. The two things I remember: on landing, the stall alarm sounded for about half a minute before we touched down; and on take off we didn't have enough airspeed to lift off but just dropped into the valley until we picked up enough speed. Both of those things were routine and part of the plan.

 

Dave

The stall warning information is interesting. In the sim, I set up my approaches quite slow and I have been mushing most of the way across the valley, but in real life that is a dangerous practice, lest a tailwind gust occurs and causes a stall. So I find out from you that actual Luka trained pilots do start their approach slow.

 

Unfortunately, the sim has placed trees at the end of the runway, and we have to zoom a bit to clear them, that's a bug and should be reported to Asobo.

I'm trying to get a decent score on the Lukla landing challenge, but the rain is blurring my vision something horrible and I don't know where (or if) the windshield wiper control is. Anybody have a hint?

I've flown into Lukla several times, using progressively smaller aircraft and could not trigger the Uphill Achievement, (12 degree rise). Finally discovered from the video, that Lukla is only 11.7 degrees... ONLY 11.7 degrees?? it's like trying to land on the uphill side of a roller coaster. Is there any other airfield other than Bugaloo (Bugalaga, LOL!) that meets the 12 degree incline?