{"id":2092,"date":"2016-07-13T16:31:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T16:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flyfiesch.co.nf\/?page_id=2092"},"modified":"2025-06-26T12:02:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:02:57","slug":"danger-area-d-10","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/?page_id=2092","title":{"rendered":"Surselva airspace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you are attempting the classic 120km trip from Fiesch to Chur, there are some airspace issues in the Surselva<\/a> of which you should be aware, although it is highly unlikely that you will be affected by them.<\/p>\n

The most significant restrictions apply around the Heliport near Tavanasa, which is located about half way between the Oberalppass and Chur.\u00a0\u00a0 These are set out on a page in the airspace section of the SHV website<\/a>, which you should take as the definitive position, rather than my interpretation below.\u00a0\u00a0 What I have written is based on my understanding of the information there in September 2020, which included a warning that the current regulations could be revoked at any time, so I take no responsibility for its accuracy!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Restrictions around Tavanasa Heliport<\/p><\/div>\n

The Tavanasa Heliport is used for transport and sightseeing flights, and <\/span>by Rega<\/a>.<\/span> Increased caution should be exercised within 2.5km of the base (shown by the blue circle).\u00a0 The use of Flarm is recommended by the Heliport manager to reduce the risk of a close approach to another aircraft(!).\u00a0 The zone marked in red defines an area in which paragliders and hang-gliders are not allowed to fly below 1350m ASL.
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Under normal circumstances, your route will be well to the north of Brigels and Andiast, and therefore unaffected by this airspace.\u00a0 However, if you are flushed down into the valley by the breakthrough of a north wind here, then you may suddenly find yourself at risk of breaching the regulations.\u00a0 There is a field, easily identified from the air as it is next to the train station at Tavanasa on the westerly border of the exclusion zone, where it is possible to land, shown in yellow below.\u00a0 This entirely unofficial option demands some care, as it is bordered by large power lines to the north, a road to the east, the railway line (also with overhead lines) to the south, and the river Rhine to the west.<\/p>\n

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Position of Tavanasa landing option<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the size of this area \u2013 around 100x200m \u2013 provides more than enough space for a safe landing, and the power lines run parallel to the valley breeze, which (at ground level) will nearly always be blowing from the east (especially on north wind days). Although the normal final approach from the west will not breach the airspace, it would be risky to set up downwind of the field, as it is likely that the valley breeze will strengthen significantly at some point as you descend, so you should be prepared for the possibility that your ground speed will be reduced to single figures well before you touch down.<\/p>\n

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Approaching Tavanasa landing option from the west<\/p><\/div>\n

There are also two danger areas in the Surselva, shown on the header image above.<\/p>\n

LS-D10 is\u00a0a cylinder 20km in diameter, centred\u00a0near the Heliport, and\u00a0only occasionally activated.\u00a0 The Daily Airspace Bulletin for Switzerland for 22nd June 2016<\/a> showed that it was active from ground level to 2250m ASL, between 8:30-11:30 and 13:30-16:30 local time (06:30-09:30 and 11:30-14:30 UTC).\u00a0 In practice, this did not present a substantial problem, as one would expect to be higher than\u00a02250m when\u00a0flying through this area.\u00a0 However, a landing between Trun and\u00a0Ilanz before 16:30 would have been within this airspace whilst it was active.<\/p>\n

LS-D15 is much smaller, around 1km x 2km in size, located on the western edge of Chur, and might possibly now be obsolete, as I couldn’t find it on the charts when I last looked, in October 2024.\u00a0 I believe it has been used as a military firing range. \u00a0 It extends from ground level up to 6000ft\/1850m ASL (around 1300m AGL) so would be important if you were landing in this area.\u00a0 However, as I explain in the Surselva<\/a> page, there is usually such a strong valley breeze in Chur that you should not plan to land here in the first place.<\/p>\n

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D15 Danger Area<\/p><\/div>\n

The Daily Airspace Bulletin for Switzerland for 10th July 2017<\/a> showed that it was active on that day\u00a0between 08:00\u201312:00 and 13:00\u201317:00 (06:00\u201310:00 and 11:00\u201315:00 UTC),\u00a0so could easily have been reached from Fiesch early enough to be relevant.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s a good idea\u00a0to check the DABS<\/a> every day!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are attempting the classic 120km trip from Fiesch to Chur, there are some airspace issues in the Surselva of which you should be aware, although it is highly unlikely that you will be affected by them. The most … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2505,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2092","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2092"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4094,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2092\/revisions\/4094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flyfiesch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}