Ilanz

Coordinates:  46°46’31″ N    9°13’05″ E    695m ASL

This large official landing field to the east of the town of Ilanz is around 93km from Fiesch.

Castrisch and Ilanz from the north-east

Ilanz and Castrisch viewed from the north-east

The easterly valley breeze near Chur is often quite strong on flyable days, so returning from there to the Flims landing field, where this will be much weaker, is a much safer option.  However, especially if you reach Flims with plenty of height, you may be able to bypass the tedious bus trip down to the valley (where you can catch a train) by flying there instead, assisted by this wind.  The picture above shows the view from this direction and includes the Castrisch landing field, just over 1km to the east.

Castrisch and Ilanz viewed from the north

Ilanz and Castrisch viewed from the north

The Ilanz LZ is a very large field just east of the town, and is around ten minutes walk from the train station.  When I was last in the vicinity (July 2019) I could see only a large Swiss flag flying from the top of a tree (rather than a windsock) indicating the wind direction (which will on most flyable days be a moderate breeze from the east) but nothing else to suggest that one would be landing in a recognised area.  If you are approaching from the west and the wind strengthens enough to jeopardise your ability to reach this LZ, I would recommend baling out early and settling for one of the large fields to the west of the town, as the field by the station is bordered by the railway line on one side and the Rhine on the other, and surrounded by tall trees.

Ilanz landing field viewed from the east

Ilanz landing field viewed from the east

I’m sorry that I don’t have any images showing this landing field from lower down; the reason is that I prefer the Castrisch landing field, mainly because you can land right by the train station there, and there is some shade in which you can pack up!

It takes around 10 minutes to walk to Ilanz station, from where trains run every hour along the valley floor back to Fiesch, via Andermatt, taking around 3½ hours, the last one departing here at 18:33.