Page 49 - World Airnews Magazine January 2020 Edition

AIRPORTS AIRPORTS

23 MOST DANGEROUS summer season and is close to McMurdo Station. This military base The landing at Tioman Island has pilots heading straight for a

is the only main airport on the continent, and during the winter
mountain and then making a quick 90-degree turn to line up with
the area is dark 24 hours a day. With no lights on the runway and the runway.
The one-way landing has to be very fast since the end of the
AIRPORTS IN THE WORLD during a whiteout, pilots are trained to land blind. runway has a cliff with a very steep fall into the waters below.

It is located next to Tekek village (Kampung Tekek). The airport
16. PRINCESS JULIANA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT / ST. MAARTEN currently has no scheduled airline operations, with just one opera-

By Jim Dobson and David Nikel Maho public beach is located at the end of this runway which tor offering regular charter services.

results in huge gusts of wind and sand for sunbathers but also
23. LUKLA AIRPORT, NEPAL 20. SABA AIRPORT / DUTCH CARIBBEAN offering up a perfect Instagram shot.

Located near Mt. Everest through freezing terrain, the Lukla Airport The runway is 7,100 feet long and planes must approach over the 11. GIBRALTAR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

in Nepal is the prime airport for anyone who is visiting Mt. Everest. water at an extremely low altitude appearing to be just feet above This 5,500-foot runway is not really that hard to land at, but the

Positioned between mountains with a very short runway, the landing can the heads of the public. city’s main street intersects with the runway and has to be closed
be as dramatic as the ascent to the famed mountain. Sometimes there when a plane lands.

is no electric power at the airport and the pilots need to be in constant The short runway also abruptly ends at the Sea on both ends,

communication with the air controllers throughout the landing. 15. NARSARSUAQ AIRPORT, GREENLAND forcing pilots to hit the brakes immediately after landing.

Positioned in the Himalayan mountains, the 9,325 feet high Tenzing
airport was named after the first two climbers that scaled Mt. Everest

and is the most popular stop for trekkers to the region. The airport is 10. MADEIRA AIRPORT, PORTUGAL
built on the side of a mountain with a small one direction runway that Engineers had to build a platform to expand this runway, where the

is only 1,600 feet long with serious slopes and angles. At one end of landing strip is located between steep cliffs and the ocean. They

the runway is a mountain wall and the other end is a dramatic 2,000- The world’s shortest commercially-operated runway has been rebuilt, built a series of platforms on an artificial island extending from the

foot plunge into the valley. with a new concrete surface replacing the previous degraded asphalt current runway. Over 180 columns hold the runway up which have
at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, on Saba, a Dutch Caribbean island. to withstand serious shock loading during landings.

22. TONCONTIN AIRPORT / HONDURAS Located on the island of Saba, the original King Kong movie island A limited amount of pilots are qualified to fly into this airport after

lies Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, known to have one of the world’s completing advanced training on a simulator. The airport involves

shortest commercial airport runways. At only 1,300 feet long, only coordinated efforts in spotting landmarks on approach since there

well-trained pilots are allowed to fly in the area. is no instrument landing. The airport is also dangerous due to strong

The approach is almost at a cliff, alongside the jagged terrain of Narsarsuaq Airport is an airport located in Narsarsuaq, a settlement in the winds, high mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.

Saba and then a sharp bank left before an immediate landing. On my Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. It is one of two airports in

next visit, I will be taking the ferry from neighbouring St. Maarten. Greenland capable of serving large airliners. It is also the only international

airport in southern Greenland. The settlement it serves is small, with the 9. CONGONHAS AIRPORT / SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
airport primarily functioning as a transfer point for passengers heading for

19. COURCHEVEL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT / FRANCE the helicopter hubs of Air Greenland in Qaqortoq and Nanortalik.
With just 1,700 feet of runway length, this airport has a downward This airport is located in the southern part of Greenland and in

gradient of 18.5%. This slope makes taking off difficult and is reachable the middle of countless Fjords.

through deep valleys where only certified pilots are allowed. The strong winds are the most threatening element to landing on

There is no second chance landing here due to the runway posi- the 6,000-foot runway. And don’t even think about visiting here if

tion, and pilots must make it perfectly the first time. And to make the neighbouring volcano erupts with blinding ash.

matters worse, this airport offers no lights or instrument aid so in

bad weather landing is impossible. 14. GISBORNE AIRPORT, NEW ZEALAND
Located in the outskirts of Gisborne in New Zealand, this airport actually
Due to the location next to the mountains as well as the narrow 18. WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT / NEW ZEALAND has a railway intersecting with the runway. With three grass runways and

size of the runway, the landing is very complicated. Pilots are This airport features a one-lane 6,351-foot runway that appears to one main runway, it intersects with the national railway line. Landings are
forced to make a dramatic sharp turn and land near the valley, and start and end in the water. The tricky approach through the moun- coordinated with accurate schedules to avoid approaching trains.

the experience is often compared to landing on an aircraft carrier. tainous area is well known for its gusty winds which make it extremely
I personally experienced the frequent wind gusts and poor difficult to manoeuvre landings. And once you disembark you can be

weather conditions that hamper the pilots as they must make a swept up by the hurricane force gusts. Good times! 13. BARRA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, SCOTLAND Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport is well known to pilots for its short

runway and dangerous approach.
direct head-on landing, with the biggest fear of having a large This airport is located on the beach in the shallow bay of Traigh

aircraft overshoot the runway if not landed perfectly on target. Mhòr on a remote island. Pilots flying to the airport have to worry It is located in a heavily built-up part of the huge city and gives

As we deplaned, machine gun-toting security guards greeted the 17. MCMURDO AIR STATION, ANTARCTICA about severe weather conditions as well as the rising tides. you the impression that you are scraping the tops of high rise

passengers which only added to our dramatic arrival. The runway is only five feet above sea level and all three runways buildings as you land. The runways are also considered the most

are completely submerged during high tide. slippery in the world and have resulted in a large number of fatal
crashes. No thank you!
21. PARO AIRPORT / BHUTAN
The airport in Bhutan allows only 17 qualified pilots who are autho- 12. TIOMAN AIRPORT, MALAYSIA 8. SVALBARD AIRPORT / NORWAY

rized to land on a runway that is surrounded by severe 18,000-foot
mountain peaks. The 6,500-foot runway only allows for arrivals This 8,000-foot runway is built directly on ice. Under the runways

and departures during the daytime. The dramatic approach to the are culverts allowing water to run from the mountain. Due to the

runway is completely out of site for the pilots until the last minute lack of runway lights, flights are only permitted during daylight,

as they manoeuvre between mountains at a 45-degree angle thus hindering flights during the winter when the sun never rises.
before dropping quickly onto the runway. The airport needed to be built on permafrost with the runway

There is even a point when the bottom of the plane comes per- insulated against the ground so it will not melt during the summer.
ilously close to mountaintop homes on approach; one red cliffside

home is the key focal point for pilots on their approach. But when This Ice Runway is built on the bare volcanic rock of Hut Point 7. TELLURIDE REGIONAL AIRPORT
the passengers break into applause on landing and you walk out Peninsula on Ross Island with a runway that is made completely of

into the magnificent fresh air and temple style airport, it is well “white ice”, (four inches of compacted snow.) Telluride is the highest-elevation commercial airport in America

worth the adventure. The Ice Runway is used by the US Antarctic Program through the at 9,070 feet. It also features 1,000-foot sheer cliffs on both
World Airnews | January 2020 World Airnews | January 2020
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