Departure
90%
vs 95% ▼ 5
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Alpnach Air Base is a Swiss Air Force helicopter base tucked beneath the Mueterschwanderberg mountain in Canton Obwalden, at the southern end of Lake Lucerne's Alpine approaches. It is the Swiss Armed Forces' centre of expertise for air transport and home to Air Transport Wing 2's helicopter squadrons, making it a distinctive military field for a simulator pilot to study given its wartime cavern hangars and mountain-flanked runway.
Alpnach Air Base (LSMA) is a Swiss Air Force airfield at Alpnach in Canton Obwalden, operated as the Swiss Armed Forces' and Swiss Air Force's centre of expertise for air transport. It is the main logistical base for Swiss Air Force helicopters and also hosts RUAG's helicopter maintenance centre. For a sim pilot the field is notable for its mountain setting hard against the Mueterschwanderberg, its wartime cavern hangar system, and its ongoing role as a round-the-clock search and rescue base.
The airfield lies near the town of Alpnach in Canton of Obwalden, Switzerland, close to the southern end of Lake Lucerne, with the Mueterschwanderberg mountain immediately adjacent to the field hosting aircraft caverns and an artillery fortress facing Nidwalden. Air traffic control at Alpnach is provided by Skyguide.
Alpnach has a single physical runway, 01/19, oriented roughly north-south. Runway 19 is 5,427 ft long and runway 01 is 4,909 ft long; both are hard-surfaced and lit, reflecting differing published thresholds for the same paved strip.
Alpnach provides an air/ground and control service on TWR 119.625 MHz, with arrival/departure frequencies on ARR 133.787 MHz and ARR 139.45 MHz, and an INFO frequency on 138.05 MHz. There is no ILS at the field, and no other navaids or instrument approaches are noted in the available information.
No specific joining, circuit height or noise abatement procedures for Alpnach are given in the available sources.
No published visual reference points for Alpnach are given in the available sources, though the field is readily identified by its position against the steep, cavern-riddled face of the Mueterschwanderberg at the southern end of Lake Lucerne.
A landing strip existed at Alpnach as early as 1929 and was enlarged in 1939 to 850 by 130 metres. Two wooden hangars were added in 1940, and the arrival of Fliegerabteilung 7 in September 1942 is regarded as the airfield's official founding. The first concrete runway, 875 metres long, was built in 1943 as part of the Swiss Reduit defensive strategy, along with eight U-43 aircraft shelters and command and ammunition bunkers. From 1947 to 1994 the 19th Squadron was based at Alpnach, and the runway was lengthened to 1,500 metres in 1952 and to 1,950 metres in 1959. From 1952 aircraft caverns were cut into the rock of the neighbouring Mueterschwanderberg, handed over to the Directorate of Military Airfields in 1960. De Havilland DH-112 Venom jets flew from Alpnach from 1958, replaced by Hawker Hunters in 1973 and by the F-5 Tiger in 1979; cavern flight operations ended under the Army XXI reforms. Helicopter flying began on 20 January 1964, and the adjoining A8 motorway was twice trialled as an emergency runway using temporary taxiways to the base. The last Air Force jet training courses ran in 1994, and the final Tiger F-5E departed on 23 September 1995. A threatened closure of the base in 2004 was averted after lobbying by the Obwalden government, and renovation of hangars, including a new Hangar 4, began in May 2012.
Alpnach Air Base now serves as the Swiss Air Force's main logistical base for helicopters, operating Aerospatiale Super Puma, Eurocopter AS532UL Cougar Mk1 and Eurocopter EC635 types, and is home to Air Transport Command 2 / Air Transport Wing 2 with AT Squadron 6 and AT Squadron 8. Alternating with Dubendorf and Payerne, it supports round-the-clock search and rescue flights throughout the year. RUAG Switzerland AG operates a civil and military helicopter maintenance facility on the airfield. Outside normal operating hours the runway is also used for other activities such as in-line skating, and a model aircraft club uses the southern half of the field. As a military base, prior permission is required for any flying activity.