A good point in that in CAVOK conditions one would not spiral down in the LOWZ overhead (the way one tends to do at say Locarno, over the lake in fact); one would descend into the canyon from the west.
No, not through a cloud cover, but even if it’s broken clouds I like my way the best. I’ve been to LOWZ about 30 times, and two times I turned back when there was scattered/broken clouds over the lake. Too risky in a faster plane when you cannot see the mountains behind the clouds.
The way from the west is very simple with the VRPs.
Still in France at the moment. But if I am back by the weekend and don’t have other obligations, I won’t miss out on the unique (?) opportunity of an Euro GA flyin in my home country 
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I just asked a local, a race driver who has his Seneca and two other a/c at his home base LOWZ.
He confirms that for anybody who is not a local and has no or little experience with LOWZ a long final from the west is the safest and the recommended method.
But of course: Without clouds all other approaches will work – if there is no strong wind.
If approaching from the west, is there enough room to land on the opposite runway? I haven’t looked at it properly yet.
Yes, you just follow the traffic pattern along the mountain and make a 180. Easy to fly, but you have to stay close to the mountain. Many newcomers at LOWZ dont like to fly so close to the mountain but it’s no problem. It felels a little strange the first two times :-)
This is what my acquaintance in LOWZ wrote just now:
“coming from the west, cross the Thurn Pass in 8000 for a 15 Miles Final. With airplanes like yours (Cirrus, TB, Mooney) go down to 4000 at Whiskey, then descend to 3300 overhead the power station and land …
If rwy 26 is in operation ALSO fly into the valley from the west because coming from the North you can only descend after VRP “Lake” and then you will have to fly very close to the mountain to make the descent and the final will be very short."
That’s the link to the AIP approach plate – tried to post it as a proper link 3 times, but Safari on the iphone always crashes:
http://eaip.austrocontrol.at/lo/150529/Charts/SECONDARY_%20LOWZ/LO_AD_2_LOWZ_24-7-2_en.pdf
Peter wrote:
the way one tends to do at say Locarno, over the lake in fact
One? I’ve never seen anyone approaching Locarno like that. Must be a special procedure for someone socialized (flying wise) over flat terrain 
Must be a special procedure for someone socialized (flying wise) over flat terrain
