HNL2BOS From United States of America, joined Nov 2009, 16 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 8548 times:
Hello All,
Just signed up today and was thinking about posting this message after my most recent trip. What is the strangest (look, location, local customs, etc) airport that you have ever been to. For the first time this October I flew into KOA, now mind you I have flown into almost every major Hawaiian Island airport but KOA blew my mind. It was just lava rock everywhere, it was very very cool.
JQFlightie From Australia, joined Mar 2009, 795 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 8487 times:
In Australia the strangest but one of the most beautiful Airports would be HTI, pristine blue water everywhere, awesome landing on a short runway although quiet capable of handelling a 767 ive been told. Once inside, and then through the airport, as it is a resort island there are rental cars or taxi's but it has golf carts to pic the passengers up
water either side, and a marina to the side where boats still try to bo under the flight path!
BMI727 From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 11529 posts, RR: 27 Reply 2, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 8466 times:
I think that Barra in Scotland is the strangest airport. The three runways are on the beach, and Loganair Twin Otters can only operate there when there is low tide, so the timetables are not consistent.
Why do Aerospace Engineering students have to turn things in on time?
HNL2BOS From United States of America, joined Nov 2009, 16 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 8384 times:
NateDAL From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 415 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 8335 times:
Odysseus9001 From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 112 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 8069 times:
How about CDG Terminal 1. Wedding cake from the future?
Platinumfoota From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 522 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 7978 times:
Quoting HNL2BOS (Thread starter): For the first time this October I flew into KOA, now mind you I have flown into almost every major Hawaiian Island airport but KOA blew my mind. It was just lava rock everywhere, it was very very cool.
I have to agree with you on this one, lava rocks does give it a unique look. I didn't expect it to have only one runway or the outdoor style terminal. Loved that UA didn't use jetways just airstairs. On one trip we had a 45 minute delay do to an igniter plug malfunction which required a run up of the engines, so everyone got to enjoy some ramp noise.
CGKings317 From Canada, joined Nov 2005, 283 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 7914 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW CHAT OPERATOR
PSP: Dramatic topography-causing departures and arrival procedures, coupled with an outdoor terminal creates a very memorable and unusual airport experience
~CGKings317
I love ✈ & volcanoes but the 2 of them dont get along, just ask KLM867 & PH-BFC
DavidByrne From New Zealand, joined Sep 2007, 1477 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 7583 times:
What about Rio Gallegos (RGL), Argentina? Back in the 1980s it was a stop en route between BUE and AKL (though not used any more for that, since the A340s took over from AR's 742s). At that stage the terminal was a huge shed - maybe different now. The last time I was there I actually joined the plane at RGL, one of just four boarding passengers. It seemed bizarre to be boarding a 747 at such a place.
This is not my beautiful house . . . This is not my beautiful wife
Fca767 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2006, 1677 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 7554 times:
Half of these airports are going over my head because you are all using codes...Even if I know most the USA ICAO codes like KJFK I wouldn't say that as some people might not know, like I didn't know in the 1st two posts...or sometimes when someone does a trip report entirely on code
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 10387 posts, RR: 66 Reply 12, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 7519 times:
The strangest, and nicest, feeling I've had was at Reykjavik's domestic terminal. No security, no baggage screening machines, no pat down checks - just a clear path from check in to the open gate area which you can walk right up to.
As for the terminal itself, then Zamboanga in the Philippines would take that prize. Apparently it's designed according to Islamic principles and has no physical separation between the departure lounge and the apron - no wall or double/tripple glazed glass, just an open void with a metal fence stopping passengers from wandering out. It's not exactly a small terminal either and is quite a busy airport, making it great for us enthusiasts, but when a 737-200 lands a few hundred meters away and then taxies in to within 20-30 meters of where you are stood, a little sound insulation could be nice - the building reverberated to the sound of those pocket rockets, but not in a good way.
Corvo airport in the Azores is pretty unusual too, it's runway sits in a fairly narrow cutting, meaning you can stand at the top it and watch the aircraft moving below you. Pretty challenging for the pilots too.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 18414 posts, RR: 17 Reply 13, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 7466 times:
Quoting Odysseus9001 (Reply 6): How about CDG Terminal 1. Wedding cake from the future?
The original round T1 at YYZ which opened in 1964 may have given CDG the idea for their T1 which I've always done my best to avoid. YYZ T1 (demolished to make way for the current T1) was the only terminal until T2 opened in 1972. I remember how horribly congested the old T1 was after widebodies arrived but the round design didn't permit gate areas to be easily expanded, so you often had 400 passengers for a 747 crammed into gates designed for 150 passenger DC-8s and 707s. It helped when T2 opened and AC moved out (T2 also now demolished).
The multi-level parking garage in the middle of the old round T1 was an excellent spot for photos. There must be thousands of photos taken from the roof and upper floors of the parking garage, which had an unobstructed view. It was like being in the control tower. A couple of examples below.
Signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2743 posts, RR: 7 Reply 14, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 7451 times:
Quoting Odysseus9001 (Reply 6): How about CDG Terminal 1. Wedding cake from the future?
You mean "Le Camembert"?
I'd vote GIB - Gibraltar. Sideways over the peninsular, so the runway sticks out at both ends, and all road traffic has to cross the runway, controlled by traffic lights.
Chootie From Germany, joined May 2007, 240 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 7445 times:
Well, one of the most......DREADFUL would have to be KUF/Samara, Russia. Perhaps it is more modern now, but around ´96-97 when I was there..... very, very, old, and security to the ramp was manned by a uniformed person at a "turnstile" (of course not automated or to be stopped.... just like a merry-go round....kinetically powered...)
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 13): The multi-level parking garage in the middle of the old round T1 was an excellent spot for photos. There must be thousands of photos taken from the roof and upper floors of the parking garage, which had an unobstructed view. It was like being in the control tower. A couple of examples below.
-and thank you for the memories.....
But Toronto has another strange airport, reached by one of the shortest ferry rides in the world
Planeguy727 From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 869 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 7384 times:
I have a few to add:
Contadora (Panama) - a short strip with a little hut of a "terminal"
Lewiston, ID - I remember a portable trailer as the "terminal"
USH - looks like an oversized log cabin
Lake Hood - part of ANC - nice change of pace departing from water instead of departing from a traditional runway
ASP (in the early 80's when I lived there) - two cement paths from a small building with waist high chain link as the "jetways" to on tarmac aircraft (and how I loved walking up the rear airstairs on the 727)
LVI was a fun recent airport to visit
PBI - like arriving or departing from an episode of the Golden Girls
UCA & LNS - small airports with only EAS flights
Tyler, TX & Allentown, PA - both I wondered if we were going to land on a runway or random field - though both have respectable terminal buildings
MadameConcorde From San Marino, joined Feb 2007, 9180 posts, RR: 50 Reply 18, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 7335 times:
With all my extensive flying I can only think of all the Burmese airports. Rangoon, Mandalay, Nyaung U (Pagan), Heho (Inle), Mrauk U... what an adventure! All on my own and already well over 10 years back. I must go back! Burma (now Myanmar) is such a fabulous place!
There was a better way to fly it was called Concorde
AlexEU From Serbia, joined Oct 2007, 1778 posts, RR: 2 Reply 19, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 7334 times:
Maseru - King Moshoeshoe International Airport in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The only international airport in this interesting enclaved nation surrounded by South Africa.
Very small airport, funny staff, easy security and strong turbulence around...
PITingres From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 753 posts, RR: 9 Reply 20, posted (2 years 6 months 2 weeks 8 hours ago) and read 7328 times:
Long Beach (LGB) is not especially strange by itself, but in contrast to the other SoCal airports I think it's pretty amusing. I always preferred it to SNA when I was flying into south Orange regularly.
Isitsafenow From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4984 posts, RR: 28 Reply 21, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 7262 times:
I was there in OCT too....twice..... 10-27 and 10-30
Maybe we pasted.
I agree KOA is neat...little pagotas and all outdoor except the snackbar/bar.
First time I was there was Dec of 86 when the runways were shorter.
WOW....what a place....... and to go up past the highway and look down on the whole
darn layout.
safe
If two people agree on EVERYTHING, then one isn't necessary.
MSPNWA From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 1310 posts, RR: 2 Reply 22, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 7228 times:
Kahului Hawaii - The small, old school airport/terminal is definitely a little different than what I'm used to, and the circumstances that led to me being there greatly contributed to it. Everything about it felt "strange".
King Salmon Alaska - Long runway (former Air Force base) with a tiny terminal. 737s sitting right behind a fence which is just feet from the paved road, the only paved road within hundreds (I think) of miles. Out in the middle of the Alaskan tundra, hundreds of miles from any large town. It may have been a strange place, but it was really neat.
HorizonGirl From Canada, joined Mar 2005, 753 posts, RR: 20 Reply 23, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 7165 times:
Maybe it was just luck and I walked in at a weird time but my first and as of yet only impression of YOW is nothing short of bizarre. It was like this. I got off the plane and walked into the terminal, go up a floor or so in the elevator and as soon as the doors opened I was in another dimension. The gate area I was in was very dimly lit, and there were many gates with banks of seats but there were only about five people in the whole place! That wouldn't strike me as terribly odd but it was three days before Christmas. It was completely silent. No announcements, no ambient music, no talking, no employees. There was also a staircase that lead right into a wall. Maybe I was just there on an off time? That whole section of the airport was downright strange, and the rest of it was completely normal.
ElBandGeek From United States of America, joined Jun 2008, 700 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 7140 times:
I haven't been to any really "strange" airports, but I guess you could say my home airport of MDW is the most unorthodox of any one I've been to.
Built in the middle of a city neighborhood (or more accurately, neighborhood built around it). Main terminal is on the opposite side of a major city street from the gate areas with a connecting bridge, and of course when you're landing....house house house RUNWAY
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 18414 posts, RR: 17 Reply 25, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 7085 times:
Quoting ElBandGeek (Reply 24): I haven't been to any really "strange" airports, but I guess you could say my home airport of MDW is the most unorthodox of any one I've been to.
Built in the middle of a city neighborhood (or more accurately, neighborhood built around it). Main terminal is on the opposite side of a major city street from the gate areas with a connecting bridge, and of course when you're landing....house house house RUNWAY
Yes, there can't be many more "urban" airports than MDW. It's hard to believe that one square mile was the world's busiest airport for about 30 years, from the early 1930s until about 1960, by which time most carriers had moved to ORD which then took over the "world's busiest" title for many years.
Dlednicer From United States of America, joined May 2005, 442 posts, RR: 7 Reply 26, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 7098 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
Quepos - La Managua (XQP / MRQP) on the west coast of Costa Rica. The waiting room is a grass shack, hidden by some foliage in the upper right of this photo.
September11 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 3487 posts, RR: 27 Reply 27, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 7080 times:
Quoting CGKings317 (Reply 9): PSP: Dramatic topography-causing departures and arrival procedures, coupled with an outdoor terminal creates a very memorable and unusual airport experience
Yes, I didn't feel PSP as an airport when I first arrived there.
OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1676 posts, RR: 2 Reply 28, posted (2 years 6 months 3 days 15 hours ago) and read 6896 times:
The old LRM airport. The runway ran across the 18th hole of a golf course, and players had to cross the runway on their golf carts. There was a siren on the cart path that rang (controlled by the the control tower) when there was aircraft taking off/landing, and thus unsafe to cross. At times the control tower forgot to ring the alarm. And regardless, there was no physical barrier holding people back from crossing.
An AA 727 flew daily from MIA and several MQ ATR-42s from SJU, plus countless general aviation aircraft.
Here is an article, photos and a video courtesy of Casa de Campo Living Magazine, which is published by the resort where the airport was located:
Faucett From Peru, joined Jul 2009, 52 posts, RR: 0 Reply 29, posted (2 years 5 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 6608 times:
Cayenne in the French Guyana....from the plane to the terminal (just a hut) you have the strangest bugs on the ground - most of them are black beetlles (I hope beetles and not roaches) and you just step on them....
JamesJimlb From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 1023 posts, RR: 3 Reply 30, posted (2 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 6559 times:
Lincoln, Nebraska
KLNK
not even a photo of it in the database, i think it has 3 gates, security only opens 30 minutes before a flight it supposed to leave, and it is tiny!
The sky is no longer the limit, but the mere minimum
Blink182 From United States of America, joined Oct 1999, 5359 posts, RR: 22 Reply 31, posted (2 years 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 6515 times:
Mudu, Fiji.
On a hillside consiting of a shed with two scales to weigh luggage and a small grass air strip designed for the Air Fiji Twin Otters. You could maybe fit twelve standing people into the shed. No security either.
A really neat experience.
Give me a break, I created this username when I was a kid...
Ualcsr From United States of America, joined May 2006, 482 posts, RR: 1 Reply 32, posted (2 years 5 months 3 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 6431 times:
[quote=Viscount724,reply=25]Yes, there can't be many more "urban" airports than MDW. It's hard to believe that one square mile was the world's busiest airport for about 30 years, from the early 1930s until about 1960, by which time most carriers had moved to ORD which then took over the "world's busiest" title for many years.[/quot
Mexico City's airport is pretty urban. There are parts of it where you can cross the street in front of the passeger drop off and be in a residential neighborhood.
Seb146 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 8584 posts, RR: 19 Reply 33, posted (2 years 5 months 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 6316 times:
Quoting Planeguy727 (Reply 17): Lewiston, ID - I remember a portable trailer as the "terminal"
They have built a very nice terminal there. The last time I was there was about 10 years ago, but it was very nice. ALW used to have a shack for a terminal, but they built a new and modern building a few years ago. PUW is interesting. I remember driving in from the Pullman side through the wheat fields. All of a sudden, there is a barbed wire fence 8 feet high. After going around a few more corners, there is the terminal. ELK is cool. The road to the terminal goes under a little used shorter runway. BFI is fun, if you have never been there.
When I was there (1993, IIRC) it wasn't so odd that the gates were opened 30 minutes before flights. I think they had TWA and UA service. The strange thing to me was the terminal was as large as it was, empty as it was and all those military transports everywhere.
Wheel of morality turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn
SAAB900 From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2007, 461 posts, RR: 0 Reply 35, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 6085 times:
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Wevelgem/Kortrijk(KJK/EBKT) in Belgium! The taxiway to the hangers on the far side of the runway from the small terminal is also a road! If your not careful you can find yourself driving your car & going head to head with anything from a microlight/ultralight to a biz-jet! It's good fun though!
Goldenshield From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5027 posts, RR: 14 Reply 36, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 6066 times:
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 18414 posts, RR: 17 Reply 38, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 6016 times:
Quoting SAAB900 (Reply 35): I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Wevelgem/Kortrijk(KJK/EBKT) in Belgium! The taxiway to the hangars on the far side of the runway from the small terminal is also a road! If your not careful you can find yourself driving your car & going head to head with anything from a microlight/ultralight to a biz-jet! It's good fun though!
Gibraltar (GIB) is also unusual with a busy road crossing the runway. Traffic is stopped to permit landings and takeoffs.
Macau (MFM) is another strange one with the taxiway "bridges" leading to the runway.
OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1676 posts, RR: 2 Reply 39, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 6008 times:
To LHR I think it may be VLN - population 1.1 million (Venezuela's third largest city). That being said, that wasn't the case a couple of years ago when BA served CCS. Also, AA has been unsuccessfully applying for MIA-VLN rights for years.
LTU932 From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 13864 posts, RR: 53 Reply 40, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 17 hours ago) and read 5927 times:
Quoting Dlednicer (Reply 26): Quepos - La Managua (XQP / MRQP) on the west coast of Costa Rica. The waiting room is a grass shack, hidden by some foliage in the upper right of this photo.
Try SYQ. If there wasn't a guard there, you'd only have to walk like 20 metres from the landside entrance to get airside. Plus the runway extension forced the closure of a street that led to the airport more directly than today's routes (even with the direct connection through the Boulevard)..
Braniff747SP From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 2033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 42, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 5896 times:
MMH, I guess. (mammoth lakes ca)
The 747 will always be the TRUE queen of the skies!
B777LRF From Luxembourg, joined Nov 2008, 718 posts, RR: 3 Reply 43, posted (2 years 5 months 1 week 2 days ago) and read 5868 times:
Well, Saddam Intl. (BGW/SDA) back in 2003 was a little "strange". Perhaps scary is a better word for it though; flying a missed approach* sure got the old heart-rate up! Of course, the chance of being mortared or target with a RPG was also present. And to think I did all that just to say I'd been there; there really was no business or operational reason for me to go - just the good old sense of adventure and for the bragging rights. Me = idiot.
* A missed approach, back then, involved tracking the runway till the end at a height of no more than 200ft. Then a 180 degree turn behind the control tower to track the parallel. At the end of that, another 180 where you basically come out of the turn as you fly over the piano keys. I was sat in the jumpseat of an A300, just behind the skipper, and that was the first time I ever wished the window to my immediate left was smaller - a lot smaller!
From receips and radials over straight pipes to big fans - been there, done that, got the hearing defects to prove
Tropical77W From Canada, joined Dec 2009, 65 posts, RR: 0 Reply 44, posted (2 years 5 months 4 days ago) and read 5689 times:
playa baracoa airport (UPB) in havana on aerogaviota (KG). the terminal is about the size of my house, and the ramp is about the size of my driveway lol.
WestJetForLife From Canada, joined Jun 2005, 814 posts, RR: 2 Reply 45, posted (2 years 4 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 5526 times:
BGI, when I was there in March, was an...interesting airport. Open-air before security, had a Caribbean feel to it, no real jetways (made for a surprisingly humid walk from plane to terminal) and it just had a cute charm to it.
Busy as all Hell at 0500, though. I'm guessing that it was all of the early morning departures on LIAT, AA and Caribbean Airlines.
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 1183 posts, RR: 1 Reply 46, posted (2 years 4 months 4 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 5506 times:
There's nothing especially "strange" as such about Gladstone (GLT) in Australia other than the fact it has absolutely no security. It wasn't as if it was a complete backwater with a couple of Cessnas since Qantas/QantasLink fly there multiple times a day. I couldn't help but spend the next hour and a quarter to Brisbane thinking that if one ever felt the urge to blow up a commercial airliner GLT wouldn't be a bad place to go.
ThirtyEcho From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 1623 posts, RR: 1 Reply 47, posted (2 years 4 months 3 weeks 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 5415 times:
The "Fly 'N' Fish" airport in deep East Texas, on the Caddo swamp. Almost no overland access, you had to get there by pirogue or airplane. In the general aviation heyday of the late 1950s, the ramp was packed on a Sunday afternoon with light aircraft full of lunch parties. Fabulous fresh fish dinners right out of the swamp and afternoon fishing tours. They would clean your catch and ice it down for the return trip.
A strange, wonderful place that is probably long gone.
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