Fly to Europe’s Most EXTREME Airport： Courchevel

Today I'm piloting the PC-12 behind me. Welcome to Courchevel. Decision, we go. 500. This is the most spectacular airport. Oh, this is scary. It's like a roller coaster coming down. Oh my God. With the balloon in front of us, you've got the Mont Blanc in front of you. Oh wow. This is Mont Blanc. Yeah. Traffic. Oh, this is unbelievable. Good morning. Today I'm piloting the PC-12 behind me to one of the most spectacular airports in the world. Follow me. Welcome to the PC-12 flight deck. Today I'm sitting on the right seat to fly into one of the most spectacular airports in Europe with Captain Alex. Aircraft system is checked. Not ready for Courchevel. Start checklist completed. Height is clear. Sam, are you ready? I'm ready. 1700 RPM set. We are waiting for maximum torque. Torque is set. Take off. Airspeed is alive. Rotate. Positive rate. Speed check. Gear up. What a beautiful morning here. With four POB squawking 7,000. We're just leaving Biroche and we are inbound to Courchevel and we are flying to the Valley of Sion. And we are steady flight level 100. We are inbound Matterhorn, Servin. Matterhorn is 12 o'clock in front of us. Exactly. The peak is Matterhorn. Yeah. El Servino. And middle on the right, it should be the Grand Combin where you got the Verbier resort. And then at the end of the right, we can see the Mont Blanc. This is the Italian face. It looks lower, but it's the biggest. I see. It looks less snow on it. That's Mont Blanc. The distance between us and the mountain is not that... They look like they're so close to us. Not so much for the timing. We are around 2,000 feet close to the mountain. So that's no rush. 2,000 above the mountains. So I take the maximum of place for safety. Oh, I'm speechless. I am so scared, actually. Don't be scared. We are now in front, Sam, and we are entering the Glacier of Tours. Ah, it's a glacier behind me, below me. This is the advantage of PC-12. We can fly slowly on the mountain. Not all of the aircraft can do that. Reduce speed. I put one stage of flaps. The mountain of Triolet in front of us, where there is a tri-bondary. France, Italy, then Switzerland. I'm really holding my breath, and we are so close to these mountains. No worries. You see, I'm turning to get a lot of place. Now we are going to the end of Talaifra, and join the Glacier of Leschaux, just below us. So now we are starting descent to the top of Europe for Courchevel, inbound for a safety overhead, and to make all the process to decide to go to Courchevel. Sam, you have to know something about the runway of Courchevel. There is a big slope at near 20%, and this is the first part. The second part, we can't go around. We can't perform a missed approach. So when you turn final, there is no solution. You have to land. The second point, the airfield is really high. It is the highest airfield for PC-12 in Europe. It's 6,500 feet. We can already see a red balloon. It's overhead the airfield at the end. You got it? It's my first time ever going to land in this famous airport. Welcome to Courchevel! We land. Traffic. Surface condition is clear. We can permit take-off and permit the landing. Decision, we go. So you always do an overhead check. Decision is to land. Now we made a briefing for landing. Yep. The objective is the touch point. So touch point today should be the IFR mark, the two blocks. For that, I will aim for the white bank in front of the runway. That's why it's so hard. And the speed should be 85, 86 knots on final. Roger. Okay, I have a nice quick check before turn. We have something 10, 1,000 above. It's an helicopter's landing. Traffic in sight, no factor. We start the descent, I use power. Put the full flaps, gear down. No U-damper. Before landing check is completed. We are now stabilized to the aiming point. We check vertical speed, minus 600, 650. We can feel a small aerobin northbound. 500. We start to stop descent. 100. 10. Start the flare. Perfect. Only beta, no reverse required. Incredible, incredible airport. That was like your top, top airmen here, top pilots. Welcome to Courchevel. How is your flight? Speechless, speechless. This is the most spectacular airport. It was so much mountain. I'm still speechless. I need to reflect when I go home today. It's one of the bucket list. This airport is always dreamed about and I never thought it's going to be this spectacular. Have you ever been in the airport that you can't see the runway on the ramp? Here it is. The runway is below us. It's a steep slope going down, 20% gradient. We have to walk out the terminal a little bit to the edge of the snow here. Then you can see the runway. You can see how steep and just how short this runway is. 530 metres. And you just won't see it on the top there because all the plane arrive and come up to the ramp. And then I would imagine the takeoff would be incredible fast because you're going to go down like a rollercoaster almost. You can see that people are skiing the background, like all going down. And then our little PC-12 is right there. Sam, we are starting the job now to make the scenic flight with the helicopters following us for different circuits. And then we will climb above the resort of Courchevel. I will check the runway, the condition, the surface and the final. If there is nobody on base leg also, in this case, we can depart. Rex, test, beta. Beta here, reverse here. I put the power on. I align the propeller to 1700, reaching full power. Oh, this is scary. It's like a rollercoaster coming down. Oh my God! With the balloon in front of us. Wow! Wonderful! And on SWEP0. Never had a takeoff like this, going so steep down. So now we're just crossing Pierremonta in the French Alps. We are leaving Courchevel in Bordeaux-Bioche. And we are doing a scenic flight. Beautiful, like a mirror. You have got the Mont Blanc in mirror in front of you. Oh wow! Not every day like that. Look at that. Oh my God, a mirror. So now we are climbing to Dôme de Millage. It's a nice mountain coming from the right. Then I will show you a refuge of Mont Blanc. Sam, do you see the refuge in front of you? Oh yes! There is both refuges here. I will show you for the camera. My turn. Refuge! Mont Blanc on the right. This is Mont Blanc? Yeah, and we land on the right with the ski. When we land with the ski aircraft, we put some mark on the glacier. Wow! So close, so close, speechless. You're the best man, I don't think anyone... It's so close that we're going straight into it. Traffic, traffic. Juliet is in sight on the right. Oh, this is unbelievable. Wow, so close, so close, speechless. If you're not familiar with all the mountains in this region, what would be the best advice for a pilot like me? The best way is to fly high to avoid the mountain area.