Airport Briefing

Introduction

The Airport Briefing is meant to support you in your personal flight preparation. In this section you will find therefore some general information concerning the main operation issues of Sion Airport.

The personal flight preparation of any pilots intending to operate into Sion shall however go beyond the information contained in these pages, and shall be based on actual and updated official documents.

Note that an online application format for the Pilot Qualification Type A is available at the end of the Airport Briefing section.

Airport general

The Airport is open to IFR (Qualification is needed) and VFR flights, private, commercial and scheduled traffic.

Runway lenght

Runway width

Runway orientation

Airport elevation

AD categorie firefighting

2’000 meters

40 meters

07/25

1’582 feet

CAT 5 for charter traffic
CAT 3 for other traffic
Higher than CAT 3 for commercial flight:
O/R 3hr before ETA/ETD

Location

IATA identifier

CAO identifier

Address

Vallee du Rhône 2.5 km SW of Sion

SIR

LSGS

Aéroport de Sion – CH 1950 Sion

Local weather phenomena and dangers

General

Valais lies in the South-West of Switzerland, stretching for 150 km along the narrow ribbon of the Rhône Valley between Lake Leman and the Rhône Glacier with boundary Italy (South) and France (West). A fascinating land of contrasts with an exceptionally mild climate, where the number of sunny days per year is well above the national average. The high surrounding mountains prevent most of the low-pressure weather systems and associated clouds to reach the region. The temperature vary from -10°C to +10°C in January to 25°C to 34°C in July and August. Snow reaches the lower elevations, but usually melts again within a few days.

Wind

Most of the time there are west winds aligned with the runway axis (RWY 25 in use). In a situation of high pressure north of the Alps and low pressure south of the Alps, strong north wind is prevailing. This wind called “Foehn”¹ causes turbulence and wind-shear. The Foehn is blowing into the valley, coming from the east. By such situation, the runway 07 is in use.

Pilots should anticipate foehn turbulence during the approach if the ATIS message includes the phrase: “expect turbulence during approach.” This message is issued when the wind at the Crans-Montana weather station exceeds 15 knots from the east.

Visibility

Due to low air humidity, the visibility is usually more than 10 kilometers. In the evening when the sun is low over the horizon, the visibility can be reduced in west direction. Ground fog is almost unknown and is observed only during a few days in winter.

Thunderstorm

During the summer months, thunderstorms can build up and are sometimes quite violent. They initiate over the surrounding mountains and the wind into the valley can be very strong and variable.

Clouds

Approximate 10 days per year the ceiling is below 4500ft/QNH (all day). Most of the time it is during winter when it’s snowing or raining. In that situation we can expect low stratus clouds and therefore reduced visibility. When the cloud base is very low in the morning and the wind is blowing, we can expect a rapid improvement according configuration of the valley.

Authorization levels

There are basically 2 different authorization levels given by the Sion Airport Authority:

The Airport qualification A (more restrictive): DA 8’000 ft AMSL, day use only
The Airport qualification B : DA lower according to aircraft category.

Find below the details of the different authorizations:

1) Airport qualification A

Download

AIP LSGSTo get the Airport qualification A, the flight crew shall study the airport briefing and successfully complete the online application exam via www.sion-qualification.ch.

Limitations

IFR Arrival :

VIS 8 km
Ceiling 6’500 ft AAL
Day only

IFR Departure :

LOW PERFORMANCE SID RNAV via GS300:
VIS 8 km
Ceiling 7’400 ft AAL – VFR to GS300
Day only

HIGH PERFORMANCE SID RNAV:
VIS 5 km
Ceiling 6’500 ft AAL
Day only

2) Airport qualification B

To get the Airport qualification B the operator or the pilot shall contact Sion Airport Authority:

Sion Airport Authority
Route de l’aéroport
CH-1950 SION
Switzerland

Phone: +41 27 329 06 00
Fax: +41 27 329 06 16
E-mail: aeroport@sion.ch
Internet: www.sionairport.ch
SITA : SIRAPXH-SIRKKLX
AFTN : LSGSZPZX
AFTN : LSGSYDYX

To achieve this authorization, the pilot must successfully complete the training, either on the aircraft or in an approved simulator :

Alpha Aviation – Czech Republic
Aviation Academy – Austria
CAE Amsterdam – Netherlands
CAE Burgess Hill – United Kingdom
CAE Dubai – United Arab Emirates
CAE Montreal – Canada
EFSTC – Flight Training Center – France
Finnish Aviation Academy Pori – Finland (only for Alpha Aviation)
Fly 7 Lausanne – Switzerland
FSI Dallas – United States
FSI Farnborough – United Kingdom
FSI Paris – France
FSI Savannah – United States
FSI Teterboro – United States
FSI Wichita – United States
FSI Wilmington – United States
Lufthansa Aviation Training Berlin – Germany
Lufthansa Aviation Training Zurich – Switzerland
Star Wings Dortmund – Germany
SIMCOM Flexjet Orlando – United States
TFC–EAS Käufer – Essen – Germany

For all other Flight Training Centers, please contact our instructor in charge for the Sion Airport Pilot Qualification, Mr. Pascal BUTHEY – p.buthey@sion.ch

3) Qualification A vs Qualification B

Main differences

Qualification A

DA 8’000 ft for IGS25 approach
Landing and take-off at Day only

Qualification B

Lowest DA 4’490 ft for IGS25 approach
Landing and take-off at night authorized
High Performance in IMC

Approach and departure procedures

Download

AIP LSGS

General

For specific IFR approach and departure procedures refer to the AIP Switzerland.
Study carefully the requirements and conditions for the execution of different flights procedures.

Here you may view some pictures from the area and the circuits. Click to open full resolution in a new window.

Panorama

East South East

East 1

East 2

South West

West South West

West

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AIP LSGS

LOW PERFORMANCE SID RNAV and HIGH PERFORMANCE SID RNAV

HIGH PERFORMANCE SID RNAV only RWY 25:
This departure is only valid for pilots holding a type B qualification or holding an A qualification under certain weather conditions. For pilot holding a type A qualification the HIGH PERFORMANCE can only be used during day time.

LOW PERFORMANCE SID RNAV, Day only :
This departure is made up of a VFR segment whose route is recommended (see chart: LOW PERFORMANCE SID RWY 07/25 – RNAV). It is recommended that you turn off before the village of Vercorin to reach the GS300 waypoint.

When a LOW PERFORMANCE SID RNAV is performed, a pilot may request from ATC an early left turn to the west if he does not intend to fly to the village of Vercorin and GS300. After approval, ATC will inform the pilot that IFR will start at GS301 (1 NM west of LSGS). It is the pilot’s responsibility to comply with the climb gradient and minimum altitude constraints.

Operations at night

For operation at night, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:

IFR Arrival

RWY 25 must be in use
DA according to aircraft category
Visibility 5 Km or more
The pilot must hold a Qualification type B
ACFT shall be able to fly the missed approach procedure.

IFR Departure

RWY 25 must be in use
Visibility 550 RVR
HIGH PERFORMANCE SID RNAV only
The pilot must hold a Qualification type B

Visual approaches

Visual approaches need a clearance from ATC. During the period between March 1^st and October 31^st, glider sectors are active around the area of LSGS below FL150. As IFR flights are prohibited in these areas, ATC will monitor and instruct aircraft to remain clear of these sectors located north and south of the approach and departure routes. As a general guideline, it can be said that the best trajectory for visual approaches is along the IGS path and the SID track.

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Flight planning guide

Military activity

Airspace around LSGS above FL130 is used by the Swiss Airforce as a training sector and is classified as TRA (temporary reserved area). Military activity inside this TRA generally takes place from Monday to Friday, from 08:30 LT to 12:00 LT and from 13:30 LT to 17:00 LT.

Arrival and departure procedures are impacted by this activity because all IFR procedures cross this training sector due to terrain constraints.

Impact on IFR departure

All SID’s are designed with maximum altitudes to be respected to remain outside this military sectors. By default, pilots must comply with these restrictions according to the SID description. If these restrictions don’t need to be applied, ATC will spontaneously inform the pilot accordingly. During normal military operating hours, this information will be passed on during taxiing as this is a “last minute coordination” with military ATC.

Impact on IFR arrivals

As the IFR approach crosses the training sector, restrictions apply to IFR approaches to LSGS. The precise type and level of restrictions depend on the type of activity conducted within the Temporary Reserved Areas. Any delay for IFR approaches due to military activity is normally known already the day before operations as of 16:00 UTC (15:00 UTC during summertime period) but it is possible that a planned restriction is cancelled on short notice if the activity inside the TRA is modified.

Flight plans will be rejected during those periods when IFR approaches to LSGS are restricted.

There are 2 ways to avoid this flight planning restriction:

Re-planning the arrival of the flight concerned before or after the relevant period
If meteorological conditions permit, a rejection can also be avoided by cancelling the IFR part of the flight at specific nav points mentioned in the “flight planning guide”. Use this option with special care only, as flights unable to cancel IFR will need to divert or expect excessive holding time.

You will find all detailed information and guidelines in the annexed document “flight planning guide LSGS”.

VFR Trafic

The good weather conditions along the valley encourages the VFR trafic which could be quite heavy, particularly during the week end. The glider activity extends from March to September and takes place mainly to the north of the airport. You can also expect paraglider activity on the mountain slopes.

Parachute jumping activity

It takes place over the field from OCT to FEB.
ATC ensures separation between the parachutes and an IFR aircraft on landing. No parachute is in the air in the CTR when an IFR arrival enters the CTR.

Paraglider activity

This practice take place the whole year from the summits overhang the valley.

Temporary TMA sectors 1-3

TMA is occasionally activated for military purposes by NOTAM. Outside these activation periods, a long segment of the IGS approach takes place in Echo airspace where known and unknown VFR traffic can be expected.

Download

AIP LSGS

Application Exam

Answering correctly to 80% of the 20 questions will allow you to get the Type A Qualification Certificate.

START APPLICATION EXAM