LEPA to LOWI
Situated in a valley surrounded by 9,000-foot mountains, Innsbruck is one of the most challenging airport approaches in Europe. Unlike most airports where traffic can be fed in by ATC from all directions, at Innsbruck, there’s only one way in and one way out. Depending on the wind direction, approaches start at one end of the valley. When the wind is coming from the west, pilots start the approach over the town of Rattenberg at the eastern end of the valley. This is a leg of 596 nm (1,103 km) from Palma De Mallorca Airport (PMI/LEPA) to Innsbruck Airport (INN/LOWI) .