 |
| Barra International Airport |
10. Saba
Netherlands, Antilles – Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport.
You
will be landing on the northeastern portion of the island and the
pilot needs to consider the very strong winds and 1,300 feet only of
runway. A perfect landing will be great. Shorting the runway can
spell disaster towards the cliffs. Overshooting the runway will force
a go around which may require some Dramamine.
9. Barra
International Airport, Barra.
Barra
Airport is the only airport in the world where planes land on the
beach. BRR is situated in on the wide beach on Barra Island, in the
Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is literally washed away by the
tide once a day, and if you arrive on a late afternoon flight, you
may notice a couple of cars in the parking lot with their lights on,
which provides pilots some added visibility, since the airport is
naturally lit
8. Lukla,
Nepal – Tenzing-Hillary Airport
A
huge mountain on one end, a thousand meter drop on the other. And
it's at 2900 meters elevation, so you don't exactly have full power.
Lukla Airport is a small airport in the Town of Lukla in eastern
Nepal. In January 2008, the government of Nepal announced that the
airport would be renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first
person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, who passed away on
January 11, 2008. The airport is quite popular as Lukla is the place
where most people start their trek to climb Mount Everest.
7.
LaGuardia Airport, New York, New York
New
York City’s LaGuardia airport thrills pilots and passengers thanks
to crowded skies, soaring skyscrapers, and sudden turns required for
landing.
6.
Catalina Airport (Airport in the Sky), Avalon, California
Downdrafts
and turbulence put California’s Catalina Airport on the list, not
to mention the heavy rains that turn the runway into a pot-hole
ridden death trap.
5. Courchevel
Airport – Courchevel, France
Private
aircrafts bringing visitors to the Les Toris Vallees Ski resort land
on this French Alps airport with only 1,722 feet of runway that has a
vertical drop at the end. Maneuvering towards the airport requires
special training but meeting strong winds and ice make every landing
scenario unpredictable.
4.
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Sitka, Alaska
With
a runway surrounded by water, unpredictable weather, and boulders
that wash up on the runway, Sitka Airport is one thrilling airport to
fly into or out of.
3. St.
Maarten – Princess Juliana International Airport
Princess
Juliana’s is one of the busiest airports in the Caribbean. What
makes this runway scary? The runway is built for small and medium
planes with just about 7,152 feet of runway but big 747’s and A340s
land on this airport. If you are sunbathing along Maho Beach, there
is a big chance that you will in kissing distance from the big wheels
of the big, big jet approaching the international airport.
2. Gustaf
III Airport, St. Bart
Gustaf
III Airport also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport is a public use
airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of
Saint Barthélemy. The short airstrip is at the base of a gentle
slope ending directly on the beach. The arrival descent is extremely
steep over the hilltop traffic circle and departing planes fly right
over the heads of sunbathers (although small signs advise sunbathers
not to lie directly at the end of the runway).
1. Tegucigalpa,
Honduras – Toncontin Airport
Forget
about the mountain terrain you will be passing by prior to the
landing approach but your heart might stop for a while as the pilot
makes a last minute 45 degree bank towards the left to touch down
properly to the airport located in the middle of a bowl-like valley
with a 6,112 feet of runway. The airport is located 3,294 feet up and
can only host an airplane as big as the 757 of Boeing.
