Mortyman From Norway, joined Aug 2006, 3230 posts, RR: 2 Posted (3 years 7 months 16 hours ago) and read 17643 times:
The website Travel and Leisure has compiled a list of the scariest airports to land on for a passenger ( In no particulare order ) :
Sandane Airport in Norway ( 800 meter long runway in difficult terrain )
Tenzing-Hillary in Nepal ( One of the world shortest and stepest runways that ends in a windful valley 700 meters below. Is only open daylight and good conditions )
Courchevel in France
Tioman Island, Malaysia ( 90 degree turn and the runway ends in a mountain wall. Pray that the breaks will hold )
Paro, Bhutan ( Apparently only 8 pilots in the world has clearance to land at this airport located between 16000 foot mountains )
Princess Juliana Airport in St. Maarten
Reagan Airport ( domestic ) in Washington D.C ( The airport is located between several off limits areas, such as the Pentagon and the Whitehouse )
Gibraltar Aiport in Gibraltar
Matekane-airport in Lesotho ( 400 meter long runway surrounded by tall mountains )
Barra Airport on Isle of Barra, Scottland ( Runway on the beach. Look out for the tide level )
Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras ( 45 degree turn before entering the bowl shaped valley below )
JFK Airport in New York ( Watch out for heavy traffic from LaGuardia and Newark )
Funchal Airport in Madeira ( Demands the øpilot to fly stright towards a mountain wall before at the last moment making a sharp turn to land )
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in Saba ( Only 395 meter long runway and alot of wind )
Have a look at the youtube videos of most of the runways here ( The main video on top of the article is from Sandane airport in Norway ) :
Zkpilot From New Zealand, joined Mar 2006, 4739 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (3 years 7 months 15 hours ago) and read 17357 times:
I'm pretty sure there have been several threads about this before...
however Wellington (WLG) has got to be one of the worst particularly since it is well used and is an International airport also. The main issues for WLG are very strong winds, wind-shear, cross-winds, short narrow runway, terrain.
Mortyman From Norway, joined Aug 2006, 3230 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (3 years 7 months 15 hours ago) and read 17289 times:
Yes, there comes an article about this subject every year it seems, so this is just another one. I beleave they have added some adittional airports to the list though.
The list is ofcourse just a list and certainly one authors opinion only. There are certainly more airports and proabably much scarier airports in Norway for instance, than the one mentioned.
KcrwFlyer From United States of America, joined May 2004, 3629 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (3 years 7 months 8 hours ago) and read 16151 times:
JFK............................yawn.
These lists are always amusing. It'd be nearly impossible for one person to create an accurate list of the "scariest" runways. A.net could probably put one together though....
JerseyGuy From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1117 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 years 7 months 8 hours ago) and read 16058 times:
I don't usually sit near a window when flying but my recent landing at Vancouver was a little unnerving. I've never been so low before over a large body of water. We were going along the river south of YVR and then went out into the Straight of Georgia and circled back. I don't know how high we were but based on some flight simulator landings Ive seen on Youtube I'd estimate 1000 feet. Maybe someone knows who has taken this approach.
ThirtyEcho From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 1634 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (3 years 7 months 7 hours ago) and read 16000 times:
"... based on some flight simulator landings Ive seen on Youtube I'd estimate 1000 feet."
Clearly. an unimpeachable source. You think that the crew busted minimums then turn them in to the authorities for license revocation. Please include the MSFS evidence.
DavidByrne From New Zealand, joined Sep 2007, 1527 posts, RR: 2 Reply 9, posted (3 years 7 months 5 hours ago) and read 15168 times:
Quoting TheCommodore (Reply 7): I agree, WLG is terrible. It's just as well you can't see the end of the runway when your in the plane while it's landing !
Yes, and there have been occasions when it's taken a 747 on a diversion. Back in the early 1980s, QF ran regular 74L services to SYD, MEL and BNE, but that isn't quite as challenging as a full-sized 747.
This is not my beautiful house . . . This is not my beautiful wife
DALfanNYC From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 88 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (3 years 7 months 4 hours ago) and read 14679 times:
As boring as the JFK was...it was also incorrect. The blurb on the runway talked about the canarsie approach...but that 747 landed on 4R not 13L...it would have been more interesting had they done a true canarsie approach.
JRowson From United Kingdom, joined May 2004, 345 posts, RR: 13 Reply 16, posted (3 years 7 months 1 hour ago) and read 12986 times:
Why isn't St Barths (SBH) listed? That has got to be one of the most amazing landings i've ever done as you approach the top of a hill, then dive over the top of a hill and land on the runway below.
James Rowson. Canonite and lover of all things L. JAR Photography.
Mozart From Luxembourg, joined Aug 2003, 2014 posts, RR: 14 Reply 17, posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 11887 times:
Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont
Melville Hall, Domenica
Kathmandu, Nepal
London City, UK
Leh, India
Nyingchi, Tibet
Cuzco, Peru
Quito, Ecuador
Dutch Harbor, Alaska, USA
Leknes, Norway
Skiathos, Greece
Samos, Greece
Innsbruck, Austria
Samedan, Switzerland
Lugano, Switzerland
Medellin OEH, Colombia
Merida, Venezuela
Queenstown, New Zealand
Honningsvag, Norway
I have a spreadsheet on my PC where I noted down all difficult approaches as I like to fly them in FS. This is just a selection from the list (excluding weather as factor of difficulty - weather can even make a straight-in ILS to Amsterdam at the slow hours very tricky)
JerseyGuy From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1117 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 10904 times:
Quoting ThirtyEcho (Reply 6): Clearly. an unimpeachable source. You think that the crew busted minimums then turn them in to the authorities for license revocation. Please include the MSFS evidence.
Jeez, man I guess I was mistaken. It seemed very low to me.
I found some youtube video of a similar landing at YVR. So I guess it must be normal. The part that is similar is from 6:30 to the end.
Burnsie28 From United States of America, joined Aug 2004, 7411 posts, RR: 9 Reply 20, posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 10346 times:
How could they forget Aspen (ASE)?
"Some People Just Know How To Fly"- Best slogan ever, RIP NW 1926-2009
CO38 From Norway, joined May 2009, 96 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 10105 times:
Personnally I would definately say Mo i Rana, mid-Norway, belongs on the list.
Doing a circling approach there in darkness and in minima weather with an almost direct cross wind in no joke. Ive done it in a KingAir 200 and thats probably the most challenging event in my entire life as a pilot!
You basically have to fly the LOC app in a valley, then at missed app point you have to look 3 nm to the north to see the airport, then, if you have to circle to the opposit runway you follow another narrow valley up on a rigth downwind. its especially exciting if you cant even see the mountains due to darkness
I dont think Honningsvag (at North Cape, Norway) is toooo bad. You just have to be ready for the Missed approach proceedure, and get it right the first time.
The missed approach proceedure is basically an IMMIDEATE right climbing turn to go outbound on the Locolizer. Theres alot of rocks hiding in the clouds there...
Both Honningsvag an Mo i Rana are 800m runways ( about 2600ft)
S.p.a.s. From Liechtenstein, joined Mar 2001, 953 posts, RR: 3 Reply 23, posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 10073 times:
Quote: ( Apparently only 8 pilots in the world has clearance to land at this airport located between 16000 foot mountains )
Unless DrukAir has only 8 captains, I would say this statement is hardly believable. Perhaps a especial qualification is needed (sim training, route training, etc) for foreign crews operating there (as is the case with other "especial" airports).
ZQN scary ? Only in a good clean fun sort of way , like an amusement park ride , which seems appropriate for a destination known for adventure tourism .
Quoting CO38 (Reply 22): Personnally I would definately say Mo i Rana, mid-Norway, belongs on the list.
I cannot believe that someone else on Anet has been to Mo i Rana - have to admit that I didnt even know that it had an airport - I was travelling overland when I wound up there . From what I remember of the terrain I can imagine it would be pretty 'challenging' .
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
25 Eugdog: Whilst most of the time JFK is quite normal - the Carnasie Visual Approach is so unnerving to passengers that one flight I was on the pilot warned the
26 Zkpilot: haha well actually often you can because the aircraft is crabbing so much due to the crosswind!! It is a technical approach with lots of terrain etc
27 Rampart: Yes, but not really. One end (take off from 25) has 1000 ft hill 2.2 mi from the end, and in the other direction, it's 5.5 miles down valley before i
28 Borism: With fleet of just 2 A319s and only 7 destinations, 8 captains (or all pilots for that matter) should be quite enough, no? However, foreign crews are
29 Rampart: How about Juneau, Ketchikan, or Cordova? Don't AS pilots need special certification to fly these? -Rampart
30 Cbphoto: Surprised KTEX was not in there, now that is fun airport to fly in and out of, especially in a Beech 1900!
31 MadameConcorde: I am surprised that no one has mentioned Seychelles, Mahé airport. That is one heck of an uneasy airport to land in. They used to bring in 747-200s i
32 YYZatcboy: Sounds like the visual approach to the 8 series. Chart here: http://www.freewebs.com/vogelair/CYVR.pdf It's down near the bottom. You were probably b
33 MadameConcorde: Ajaccio airport in Corsica. You go down in the middle of mountains, aircraft will almost touch the mountains before going down on the runway. Here is
34 Shanxz: Saba sure qualifies as one of the scariest landings, and takeoffs too. The runway is so short that the plane literally drives off the runway... Anoth
35 Bogota: Landing in Pasto at an altitude of 5.900 ft/1800 mts in between cliffs and canyons is definitelly one of the most dramatic experiences in Colombia. ht
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