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Riyadh Approach Control

OERK / RUH — Saudi Arabia

Riyadh (OERK / RUH) is one of the real-world terminal areas you can control in the free ATC Radar Simulator. Its approach (APP) airspace — centred near 24°57.8'N 46°42.5'E in Saudi Arabia — 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.

King Khalid International, 35 km north of Riyadh, is the Saudi capital’s gateway and a home base of Saudia and flynas. It sits on the Najd plateau at 2,053 ft, with two 4,205 m parallel runways — 15L/33R and 15R/33L — each with an ILS at both ends, and the KSA VOR on the field at the centre of every procedure.

Riyadh works its parallel runways side by side, and in the usual northerly wind it lands to the north-west on 33L and 33R. Six published entry points — ESRAT, REXOV and KOBOX to the north and east, KUNEK, KAVUR and MOBAG to the west and south — feed arrivals toward initial approach fixes on a 12.5 NM arc of the KSA VOR. The terminal airspace is a 60 NM circle up to FL195, the city itself may only be overflown to take off or land, and with a 13,000 ft transition altitude, levels are flown in feet much higher than at most airports.

Runways

Runways 15L, 33R, 15R, 33L 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: KSA

Standard arrivals (STARs)

Standard departures (SIDs)

The terminal airspace

• Field elevation: 2,053 ft above sea level.
• Transition level: FL150 — below it aircraft fly altitudes on the local QNH; at or above it they fly standard flight levels.
• Upper limit: FL195 — overflights cross the sector below this level.
• Entry / exit fixes on the boundary: KSAESRATREXOVKAVURKOBOXKUNEKMOBAGKURVORULAKMOGUBTUGNAKOBARKITAMPEBAK

How to control Riyadh in the simulator

Think of Riyadh’s arrivals in two halves: the north-east stream over RULAK to TUGNA and the south-west stream over KURVO to MOGUB, both meeting the final from opposite sides. Because the field is 2,000 ft up, the whole pattern sits higher — 6,000 ft at the approach fixes — so start descents early on the long desert arrivals, and keep departures for DURMA, LONIB, ORLOK, EGPIN and TOTEB climbing clear of the arrival arcs.

Pick Riyadh 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.