Coordinates: 46°41’52″ N    8°50’32″ E    1224m ASL

The landing field at Acla da Fontauna is around 65km from the Heimat takeoff and is usually a safe and convenient option. It is generally referred to as the “Disentis” landing field as it is located about 1½km south-west of the town centre.

The most prevalent regime here, in the absence of any influence from the meteo winds or north/south pressure difference, is a moderate laminar flow from the east (the normal valley breeze from Chur).  In southerly conditions, you may encounter a föhnish south wind blowing out of the Val Medel from the Lukmanier pass, and westerly regimes can produce a light west wind.   The local club recommends landing at Segnas, about 1km to the west, if you are concerned about the strength of the wind from the Val Medel, but if full-on föhn has set in, then Trun (10km to the east) would be a safer option.  When there is both significant (or rapidly rising) south overpressure, and a substantial meteo wind from the west or south-west, turbulence may result as the breezes from the Lukmanier and Oberalp pass directions fight for supremacy.  If you are landing here towards the end of the flying day, beware of the possibility of a chaotic convergence between the valley breeze and a downwash from the slopes to the north-west, which can make it difficult to get down and cause rapid switching of the wind direction at ground level.  If you don’t want to turn this convergence to your advantage and prolong your flight, you are more likely to be able to find more benign conditions further east, because options further west are even more susceptible to northerly downflows.

All the pictures on this page, including the header image, were taken when the wind was coming from the usual direction, during a round of the PWC in August 2015, when a goal line had been set out and the grass in the designated landing zone had been mown, which obviously will not normally be the case. However, even if the grass in this field is relatively short, the farmer who owns the land here is very concerned that pilots should land and pack up in the approved area, by the hotel, and the local club is also keen for his wishes to be observed.

Once you have packed up, it’s just a short walk (via the roads, not across the grass!) to the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn station at Acla da Fontauna, which (as you can see from the header image above, the view from the north) consists of a single tiny building. Trains run every hour along the valley floor back to Fiesch, via Andermatt, taking around 2½ hours, the last one departing here at 19:17; be aware that this is a request stop, so you will need to press the button on the timetable board if you want the train to stop for you!