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Bratislava Approach Control

LZIB / BTS — Slovakia

Bratislava (LZIB / BTS) is one of the real-world terminal areas you can control in the free ATC Radar Simulator. Its approach (APP) airspace — centred near 48°10.2'N 17°12.8'E in Slovakia — is modelled with real runways, radio navaids and instrument procedures. As the approach controller you sequence arriving traffic onto the ILS approach, launch departures on their standard instrument departures, and keep every flight safely separated on the radar.

M. R. Štefánik Airport lies barely 50 km from Vienna, so its terminal airspace is tightly interwoven with one of Europe’s busiest — a compact TMA where careful coordination matters. Its manageable traffic level also makes it an approachable place to learn radar control.

Bratislava lives in Vienna’s shadow — Schwechat’s traffic passes barely 20 miles away — so the two TMAs interlock and coordination is constant. The field itself sees a manageable mix of low-cost scheduled flights, cargo and general aviation on two crossing runways, which makes wind-driven runway selection a genuine daily decision rather than a formality.

Runways

Runways 31, 22 are equipped with an ILS (Instrument Landing System) — a localizer for lateral guidance and a glideslope for the descent path down to the threshold. In the simulator you turn arrivals onto the extended centreline, clear them for the approach, and watch them capture the localizer and glideslope automatically.

Radio navaids

VOR/DME: JAN
NDB: OKROB

Standard arrivals (STARs)

Standard departures (SIDs)

The terminal airspace

• Transition level: FL70 — below it aircraft fly altitudes on the local QNH; at or above it they fly standard flight levels.
• Upper limit: FL125 — overflights cross the sector below this level.
• The terminal control area (TMA) extends roughly 55 NM around the field.
• Entry / exit fixes on the boundary: JANOKROBOBLLZXENAKLEDRIABLOMMAREGCIFERTOVKAMIRLUEVAXINUBRABEGLA

How to control Bratislava in the simulator

Bratislava is the ideal first scope: enough traffic to think, never enough to drown. Practise choosing between the crossing runways as the wind shifts, and mind the invisible ceiling of Vienna’s flows just west of your boundary.

Pick Bratislava when you start a session, then double-click an aircraft's data block to assume it. Give it radar headings, climb or descend it to a level and control its speed to build an orderly stream toward the runway. Turn arrivals onto final, clear them for the ILS, and keep at least 3 NM and 1,000 ft between aircraft — the short-term conflict alert (STCA) warns you before a loss of separation. New to it? Read the guide to approach radar control and the ATC glossary first.