Ski Country Flying

Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at 04:22 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Eagle County Regional Airport (KEGE) is a highly challenging high-altitude airport (6000+ ft) surrounded by 11,000+ ft mountains, requiring extensive pre-flight study and specific pilot qualifications.
As a cold-temperature restricted airport, pilots must apply altitude corrections when temperatures are below -18°C to compensate for altimeter errors and ensure they are not flying lower than indicated.
The primary LDA RWY 25 approach is a non-precision Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV) that requires a slight turn for runway alignment and features a unique daytime visual segment, potentially requiring flight past the Decision Altitude (DA) to acquire the runway.
Operational complexities include severe congestion during ski season with mandatory routing, a demanding missed approach climb gradient (275 ft/NM to 11,700 ft), and the necessity for meticulous fuel planning and alternate airport consideration.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Eagle County Regional Airport (KEGE) is the main airport that services the Vail ski area. At over 6000 feet field elevation, it presents many of the challenges of a high-altitude runway in the Rockies, and a few unique ones. Did I mention it is surrounded on all four sides by mountains reaching over 11,000 feet?

Flying into Eagle is certainly within the capabilities of a conservative, current, and qualified instrument pilot, but it’s one of those airports where pre-study of the approach and a little “armchair flying” are a must. (There is a very good reason a lot of commercial operators will restrict flights into Eagle to specially trained two-pilot crews.) Challenges you say?