Anxiety flying to Innsbruck

[Abs811]

Hello
I am very scared of flying and this weekend I'm flying from London to Innsbruck. I've just read that Innsbruck is a Cat C airport meaning it's difficult for pilots to fly into and need extra training due to the surrounding mountains and winds. I am so scared. It might seem silly to some but feels so real to me. Has anyone flown to this airport and is it that bad?? I just need some reassurance.
Thank you

Just had a quick look and the last accident in that area was in 1968 - nothing since.

Absolutely nothing to be scared about - have a wonderful holiday!

Your journey to the airport will likely carry much higher risk. The investment in training and maintenance that airline are way out of proportion compared with any other means of transport. Enjoy the flight - and the incredible views!

I've flown into there quite a few times. Never had any issues.

Try to see it has a positive - you will have a better trained & likely more experienced pilot for the whole flight.

London City is also cat C Airport :)

I've flown in and out many times. It's an absolutely beautiful airport in an amazing place. I've had worse take offs and landings at Heathrow.

Just remember - you get the really, really good pilots for this one, who have practised specific procedures and have specific policies just for this airport.

Please try not to panic. I used to work for an airline that operated into that airfield, and it is true that it is a challenging one, but the pilots all had to pass a specific route check on arriving and departing Innsbruck. Factors like mountains and winds are all factored in to the flight plan and I promise you it is completely safe. Try and focus on the wonderful time you’ll have when you get there. Have a wonderful trip!

There are a few airports around the world that require either extra training to operate into, and/or ( this is less common these days with modern simulators) also a visit, with the newbie sitting on flight deck jumpseat so that they can get the lay of the land before return there as operating crew.

Not really done because the airport was particularly dangerous, but usually done because there might be local factors that made it somewhere less routine to get into/out than the likes of say Heathrow or Stansted.

Also, Cat C or not sometimes if an airline is planning to open up a route into a new destination the company might ahead of time build that destination into the syllabus for the routine six monthly simulator details/test rides so everybody has seen the place, virtual fashion, before the route opened.

Often there is a lot of this sort of training is going on behind the scenes with the public never being aware, but nevertheless all done to maintain high safety standards and is fairly routine, part and parcel of the pilot job - it's not done because somewhere is dangerous.

If somewhere was considered dangerous a reputable airlines would not operate there.

HTH

I flew there last year and until reading this post hadn't realised it was a Cat C airport. I can assure you it didn't feel scary or unusual flying into there. My DH is a very nervous flyer and was comfortable during the landing and didn't seem any more concerned as he would usually have been.

You will be absolutely fine. I have flown into Innsbruck many times. Yes there will be turbulence, potentially severe, at the approach, and yes the winds can be so strong that I remember on one occasion multiple flights aborted landing because of that. However, I can assure you that this is all normal for these pilots who have specifically been trained to operate this route. The worst that may happen is your flight diverted to another airport. My flight out of Innsbruck was once cancelled because the arriving aircraft wasn't able to land twice and diverted to Munich instead. But again, these instances are still rare and are deemed normal in aviation. It is a beautiful, enjoy the scenery, you will be in safe hands.

Thank you everyone, it does help to hear this. I've spent to long googling around this today, I know I should stop. I'm going with DH who is a very relaxed flyer so hopefully that will help.