Travel website Travel and Leisure have named their 10 scariest airport runways in the world. Do you agree with their list or can you think of runways that wipe the floor with this list. Try and include video if you can.
1. Paro Airport, Bhutan
2. Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten3. Reagan National Airport, Washington, D.C.4. Gibraltar Airport, Gibraltar5. Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho6. Barra Airport, Barra, Scotland7. Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras8. John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York9. Madeira Airport, Funchal, Madeira10. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba, Netherlands Antilles
AirSpace - more than just hot air
I like the way those two guys turn away as if unimpressed by the A320s landing .
Here's Courchevel and this is the airfield data.
I have a photograph of a Dash 7 parked there.
Also Lukla in the Himalaya.
How about Santos Drumond airport (SBRJ) - Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Water, Water, Water and Water. The airport has a great view but a short runway it is a little bit scary.
Wow, there isn't much room for manoeuvre on that track is there?
There is the SDU - Rio de Janeiro - SBRJ Video.
Enjoy.
Brazilian President's A319 - Touch and Go in SDU - Santor Dumont.
There is one in the Atlantic; La Palma airport at La Palma island in the Canaries. The landing is done as far as I know allways making a 90+ degrees right turn to intercept the runway flying directly towards the mountain side, banking hard finally, and landing. There´s mountain on the other side, and the sea on the other side of the runway. I have seen a few go arounds here on this airport, mainly done by the bigger jets like B767-300. Landings are turbulent due to the vicinity of the mountain (well, the island is nothing much but a mountaintop rising from the sea) and atlantic winds.
You can compare this airport to the one in Funchal, Madeira.
Somewhere in the cupboard I have a copy of the Missionary Airfellowship Guide to landing strips in Indonesian Papua.......
One is only accesible before 10;00 as the cloud socks in, you fly down a dead end canyon and then execute a sharp left turn and land on a grass strip that is 10 degrees uphill and has a major change of slope in the middle. You have to watch out as wild pigs often dig the runway up........ Takeoffs are only downhill
No radio and no aids but GPS at least means you are in the correct dead end canyon...........
St. Barthelemy Airport (SBH/TJJF) in the Caribbean
I can certainly attest to the challenges of flying in Papua New Guinea. the DHC-4 Caribou crews of RAAF 35 and 38 Squadrons routinely flew missions to remote villages in a region of VERY big mountains shrouded in cloud much of the time - without radar and before GPS was available - Extreme pilot and Nav challenges! Landing strips were typically rough, hastily cleared hillsides of indeterminate length - Tapini as an example was on a 25 degree slope and with the prevailing wind coming at 10 o'clock landings were a test for any pilot.
A4-147 was lost 6/10/68 while attemping to land at Tapini.
A4-202 crashed at Porgera 11/06/65.
A4-233 crashed 28/08/72 in the Kudjero Gap.
A4-285 damaged during a heavy landing at Efogi 5/9/08 (yes, the missions continue albeit with lower frequency)
The Australian Army, flying Pilatus PC-6B Porters had an easier time of it with the extraordinary capabilities of those remarkable aircraft. Nomad N22B and N24A were also extensively deployed in PNG.
Helicopter operations in PNG were similarly challneged by the rock filled clouds, heat, humidity and the altitudes.
No one is mentioning Lukla? I have been to Paro also but I found Lukla was scarier.
If they include airstrips, I think Syangboche Airstrip (near Everest View Hotel) is also quite scary.