Tower
Tower positions
In Leipzig there are the following two tower positions:
| Station | Station ID | Login |
Frequency |
Responsibilities |
| Tower North |
PTN |
EDDP_N_TWR |
125.955 | RWY26R/08L, Nothern half of CTR |
| Tower South |
PTS |
EDDP_S_TWR |
121.105 |
RWY26L/08R, Southern half of CTR |
If both tower positions are staffed, the CTR is split in half in the middle, parallel to the runways. The north tower is responsible for the northern half of the CTR, the south tower for the southern half.
If only one tower is staffed, it also takes over the duties of the other tower and cross couples both frequencies.
Departing traffic
Leipzig Tower receives all departing aircraft at the holding point. Once they are airborne they have to be handed over manually to the corresponding departure frequency (PENEM, ORTAG: 126.065; NEVKO, GOLAT, DRN: 126.175).
There is an exception for parallel departures (lateral distance less than 3 NM), where the handover only takes place as soon as one of the departures turns away from the extended centerline.
Arriving traffic
Leipzig Tower receives all arriving aircraft one of the published approach procedures unless otherwise coordinated (e.g. visual approach). When the aircraft vacates the runway, they must be handed over to the ground controller.
Preferred operating direction
The preferred operating direction at Leipzig/Halle is the 26 direction up to a tailwind component of 5 knots.
Control zone
The Leipzig control zone extends roughly between the cities of Halle and Leipzig. The vertical limit of the CTR is 2500ft MSL. Entry and exit into the control zone is via the mandatory reporting points:
- North: November 1/2
- South: Sierra 1/2
Traffic circuits should not be authorised between the runways.
Kontrollzone Leipzig - © openflightmaps.org
Arriving traffic
Leipzig is one of the airports at which the DFS approved the use of the RECAT-EU procedures. The use of them is only allowed for the category "Lower Heavy/Lower Heavy" and the aircraft types A300, B757 and B767. According to the procedure 2 of the above aircraft types only have to be separated 3NM unless another method of separation (e.g. radar separation) requires more.
Modes of Operation
Independent parallel approaches:
When using independent parallel approaches both finals are completely independent.
To use parallel independent approaches, the following criteria must be met:
- Both Tower and Director positions must be staffed
- All aircraft involved must use precision approaches (the only precision approach that is available in Leipzig is the ILS approach)
- If an aircraft deviates from the final approach path, it and any other aircraft on the adjacent approach that is closer than 3NM from the deviating aircraft must be turned away from the final approach path immediately even if they are below the MVA!
Dependent parallel approaches:
When using dependent parallel approaches 2 aircraft on different finals must be seperated at least 1,5NM. If the separation becomes less than 1,5NM it counts as a loss of separation which has to be resolved immediately.
To use parallel dependent approaches, the following criteria must be met:
- At least one Director position must be staffed
- All aircraft involved must use precision approaches (the only precision approach that is available in Leipzig is the ILS approach)
- If an aircraft deviates from the final approach path, it and any other aircraft on the adjacent approach that is closer than 3NM from the deviating aircraft must be turned away from the final approach path immediately even if they are below the MVA!
Staggered approaches:
When using staggered approaches all aircraft under IFR on any approach have to be separated at least 3NM to any other aircraft under IFR on the adjacent approach
Segregated parallel operations:
When using segregated parallel operations one runway is used exclusively for arrivals and the other one exclusively for departures. This mode of operation decreases the amount of traffic that can be handled and thus might seem unnecessary. If it is used during LVP it actually makes sense and increases the amount of traffic that can be handled.
The criteria mentioned above are only those that are important for the tower, but there are several other criteria that are necessary for independent parallel approaches!
Director/Approach decide which mode of separation they are using and always have to inform Tower.
In real life, only staggered approaches are used at the moment.
High Intensity Runway Operations (HIRO)
Due to the higher traffic volume at night, pilots are expected to vacate the runway between 2200lcl and 0600lcl via the following high-speed taxiways:
| Aircraft type |
Runway 08R | Runway 26L |
|---|---|---|
|
B752 / A306 / B763 ALL MEDIUM (Jet and Prop) |
S6 (2550m/7382ft) | S4 (1850m/6070ft) |
Aircraft parked at Apron 4/5 cross taxiway T and hold short of V.
Low Visibility Procedures (LVP)
In Leipzig, the ILS is authorised for all runways up to CATIIIb.
During low-visibility operations, single-use of runway OPS is used; individual approaches may deviate from this.
To broadcast the information via ATIS that LVP are active, the ATIS maker URL is supplemented by &lvp, which appears in the ATIS:
LOW VISIBILITY PROCEDURES IN OPERATION CAT II AND III AVAILABLE
Departing traffic
Parallel departures
To use parallel departures the following criteria must be met:
- All aircraft are flying a published departure procedure
- It must be ensured that the departure routes do not cross!
- Leipzig Tower must ensure that all involved aircraft do not turn before the published turns in the departure procedure. If one aircraft deviates from the extended centerline before the published turn, it and all other aircraft, that are closer than 3NM have to be turned away from the extended centerline immediately!
- Both aircraft are handed over to the departure frequency once one of them turns away from the extended centerline as published in the departure procedure.
It is possible that aircraft with a good climb performance reach theirn initial climb (FL70) before one of them turns away from the extended centerline. To prevent an aircraft from levelling out, you can request a higher level from the responsible approach controller.
S_TWR always needs a release from N_TWR for departures to the north (ORTAG, PENEM)
N_TWR always needs a release from S_TWR for departures to the south (NEVKO, GOLAT, DRN)
Scenery problems
In the flight simulators, there are sometimes differences in the various sceneries compared to the Euroscope ground layout. The biggest problem here is the old southern runway, which is still present in the FSX default scenery. It runs parallel to taxiway N between H1 and H5. Furthermore, the old southern runway minimally intersects the new runway. In such cases, you should assign the north runway to the pilots, as this is displayed correctly in all simulators.