EDDL - Tower

Düsseldorf Tower is responsible for all runways and the control zone (CTR), as well as Taxiways in between the parallel runways.

Control Zone

D-CTR of Düsseldorf reaches up to 2500ft AMSL. For details see VFR charts.

Düsseldorf control zone (D-CTR) - © openflightmaps.org

Düsseldorf has three VFR mandatory reporting points (November, Sierra and Echo) that should be used for all VFR traffic leaving or entering the CTR.

To the west, the Düsseldorf Tower Control Zone is directly adjacent to the Mönchengladbach CTR (EDLN), which extends from GND to 2000 ft AMSL with its own VFR reporting points. All VFR flights from one to the other CTR should be coordinated. 

C-Airspace is lowered to 2000 ft AMSL over the Mönchengladbach control zone. At the eastern border of the Dusseldorf control zone, the C airspace is lowered to 1500 ft AMSL due to the proximity to Essen-Mülheim Airport (EDLE).

VFR Traffic: Northern traffic pattern is prefered for all VFR flights. Whenever possible VFR traffic should perform a long landing during 23 ops. 

Helicopter: Directly at the airport there is only one helipad in front of Hangar 10, in the far east, near the long-distance train station, which is used exclusively by the NRW police flight squadron (Hummel) and the federal police (Pirol). These helicopter are allowed to depart/land in front of the hangar and do not need to contact Delivery or Ground. All other helicopters need to use the runway for departure and landing.

South of the control zone, approx. 3 NM north of SIERRA, is the Düsseldorf University Hospital (UKD). The rescue helicopter Christoph 9 (CHX9) is stationed close to the northern border, approx. 2.2 NM south-east of NOVEMBER, at the Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik (BGU) Duisburg. Here, a request to fly through the tower control zone can often be expected during missions. Further information see https://knowledgebase.vatsim-germany.org/books/practical-procedures/page/runway-change-guide.

Runway Usage

Düsseldorf Tower is responsible for the direction of operation. There is no preferred operating direction in Düsseldorf, so you should take a look at the META and TAF before making a decision so that you don't have to change runways at the traffic peak, especially during events. If a change is necessary, this should be coordinated with Approach in order to find a good time for the change.

Primary only runway 23L/05R should be used for departures and landings. In high traffic situations runway 23R/05L should be used for landing and 23L/05R for departing traffic (VFR and IFR).

Heavy Traffic: Runway 23R/05L is not available for the A380! Inbounds always have to land on runway 23L/05R.
If equested by the pilot, other heavy traffic (e.g. B747, A350 etc.) shall also be given the oppertunity to land on 23L/05R, even during high traffic volumes.

Arriving Traffic

Missed Approach: For all published approaches, missed approaches will be executed as published, unless otherwise agreed. In the event of a missed approach, the responsible radar station must be informed (via Topsky or verbally). Any deviating action must be agreed in advance with the relevant approach controllers, except for actions by the Tower to reestablish seperation. In this case, the approach controller shall be informed immediately. The handover takes place once seperation is established. The next departure requires a departure release. 

Seperation: Düsseldorf Tower is responsible for maintaining separation, if necessary by use of adequate means (e.g. speed control), of arriving traffic from transfer of communication until touchdown and during the initial part of a missed approach.

Swingover: Visual swingover (visual approach) from runway 23R to 23L is possible when traffic permitts. Therefore the pilot has to have the runway 23L in sight, before beeing cleared for the visual approach. With the clearance for the visual approach the pilot has to be given a new instruction how to continue in case of a missed approach. Therefore, runway track and a climb to 4000ft shall be used.

Runway Crossing: Traffic landing on 05L/23R will have to cross runway 05R/23L, before being handed over to ground. Traffic vacating 23R via K3 shall cross the runway into either L7 and L6, depending on their assigned Gate and shall be handed over to either east or west Ground. This will reduce congestion around the Checkpoints and avoid unnecessary frequency changes. It is not allowed to vacate rwy 23L via L7 and turn left on M.

Vacating RWY 05R: Traffic vacating RWY 05R via L1, L3 or L4 (after landing or crossing) are instructed by Tower to turn right on M and to hold short of the next intersection. The handoff to Ground will take place thereafter. This will prevent traffic to stop in the intersection and blocking the runway during frequency change. Traffic vacating runway 05R (or 05L via K1) are not permitted to taxi into L2.

Departing Traffic

Seperation & Spacing: All departures must be separated by at least 3 NM or wake turbulence separation, whichever is greater. During 23 Operations, care should be taken not to send them out at exactly 3 NM. As not all of them start their turn at the same time, the radar separation can be undercut.

Tower has to ensure initial separation between departures and between departures and missed approaches. 
If seperation has to be restablished, for example in case of missed approach on short final and departing traffic already being airborne, transfer of communication shall take place when Tower has ensured this separation. Therefore it can be necessary to instruct a pilot to "remain on tower frequency" after departure. 

Departures with the same SID need to be spaced by at least 5 NM at transfer of communication.

Transfer of Communication or "Auto Handoff": Usually all departures on a SID have to contact Langen Radar according charts by it's own when passing 2.000ft AMSL. Departure frequency need to be published in the ATIS.

MODRU #T followed by the same SID requires 2 minutes seperation. MODRU/NETEX #T followed by #K requires at least 4 minutes seperation due to the shorter routing. The other way around radar seperation is sufficient. Depending on the outbound sequence on taxiway M it might be usefull not to use #K SIDs.

Lineup: Independant lineup is possible for all intersections with traffic information for the second departure. Intersection L2 should only be used if there is a real benefit for departures (see chapter ground). L2 is not available for lineup for A346, B744, B748, B777 and A388!

Special Lineup RWY 23L: In case outbound traffic requires the maximum available runway length for runway 23L, the pilot can request a special lineup via L1 (see image below). This lineup will take longer as the usual one. 

Parallel Runway Operations and Runway Dependencies

Due to the proximity, the parallel runways at Düsseldorf airport have to be considered as one runway in terms of runway separation. Treatment as one runway means that only one aircraft may use either runway at any time. This excludes taxiing, line-up instructions on the parallel runway and clearances to cross the parallel runway.

For example, if there is approaching traffic on runway 23R, a take-off clearance on runway 23L can be given safely until the arriving traffic runway 23R is at approx. 3 NM (provided the departing traffic has already completed line-up). Depending on the approach speed, this 3 NM can also be undercut, but runway separation must be ensured at all times. This means that a previously departing aircraft must either have crossed the end of the runway or initiated a turn before the landing aircraft crossed the treshold on the parallel runway. The simultaneous use of both runways, e.g. for a northbound takeoff and a southbound takeoff, is never possible, regardless of aircraft type or flight rule!

In the event of a missed approach, radar separation must be ensured between two IFR flights. At Düsseldorf, due to the proximity of the two runways, this requires active action by the tower controller, who must separate potential conflicts and coordinate them with the approach controller.

The procedure "not withholding takeoff or landing clearance" can be applied, considering the parallel runways as one. With one exception: Since there are physically two runways and the rejected take-off does not have to be taken in to account, the landing clearance can already be given if the corresponding runway is clear. A take-off on the other runway must then be aborted if the runway separation can not be guaranteed.

Since the runways in Düsseldorf are less than 760 m apart, wake turbulence separation must be ensured.

Reduced Minimum Radar Separation

Minimum separation of IFR flights approaching the parallel runway system (23L & 23R or 05L & 05R) can be reduced to 2.5 NM, according to AIP:

Reduced Minimum Radar Separation for Diagonal Staggered Approaches (Based on NfL I - 9/09)

1. The Minimum Radar Separation (MRS) for diagonal staggered approaches to parallel runways at Düsseldorf Airport is 2.5 NM between 10 NM and the touchdown point.

2. The reduced MRS will be applied to landing directions 05 and 23, provided
the following conditions are met:
- Preceding and succeeding aircraft are approaching different parallel runways.
- Both aircraft are established on the final approach track.

Quote from AIP Germany/AD 2 EDDL 1-23 (by the German Luftfahrt-Bundesamt), applicable on VATSIM.

Low Visibility Procedures

LVO shall be announced in the ATIS (Code &lvp) and target spacing for arrivals shall be increased. Additionally, all traffic shall be told to hold at the CAT III holding points. RVR values will be given with the landing clearance and in the case of guided take-off (RVR ≤ 125m) with the take-off clearance.

Taxiway restrictions: At runway visibiility ranges (RVR) less than 350 m, taxiway K and L5 between RWY 05R and taxiway M are closed. Additionally, it is not possible to vacate runway 05R via L8 and runway 23L via L3 with runway visual ranges of less than 350 m.

Refer to this article for more information: Low Visibility Operations (LVO).