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The 10 scariest runways in the world
Here's something else that might sweeten the pot in the Honduras ticket deal that Grant posted about a couple of days ago: Jump on Panamanian airline Copa's special offer and you'll have the opportunity to fly into one of the 10 scariest runways in the world, according to Travel + Leisure. Toncontin Airport, the main airport servicing the Honduras capital, Tegucigalpa, ranked seventh on the T+L list; landing at the airport features a 45-degree 11th hour left bank just prior to touching down on a very short runway. Boeing 757s are the largest planes allowed to fly into the place.
I always thought that the scariest runway (and by extension, airport to take off from and descend into) was San Diego, which features a very steep descent and a short landing space. It didn't even make the list. Of those that did, easily the scariest looking one is the Matekane Air Strip in Lesotho, a runway so short (1,312 feet) that the small bush planes that take off from there actually fall into a 7,550 couloir before climbing back up the opposite mountainside.
No thank you.
Here's the T+L top-10 scariest runways in the world:
- Paro Airport (Bhutan)
- Princess Juliana International Airport (St. Maarten - pictured)
- Reagan National (Washington, D.C.)
- Gibraltar Airport (Gibraltar)
- Matekane Air Strip (Lesotho
- Barra Airport (Barra, Scotland)
- Toncontin Airport (Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
- JFK (New York)
- Madeira Airport (Funchal)
- Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba, Netherlands Antilles)
Filed under: Airports
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Bajimark Jul 13th 2008 8:32PM
Kathmandu was a bit of a white knuckler, but what really freaked me out was the kid leading his cow on a leash next to the runway as we were taxiing toward the airport. He never even looked up at the plane!
TC Jul 13th 2008 8:31PM
I guess no one here has ever landed at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island in the Aleutians. I worked on a fishing boat. We arrived on a 737 (maybe the biggest plane that can land there?). The pilot made a steep decent, then hit the brakes and the reverse thust at once. We stopped just short of (you guessed it) ice water. My father was a pilot whom I flew with countless times. I know when things are fast and furious. I'm surprised this is not on the list.
chuck Jul 13th 2008 8:44PM
I flew into Kemerovo, Russia (Siberia) on an ice field...we stayed in the plane for about 20 minutes then were let off, in the middle of this ice-field, there was a tractor pulling a bus-body that held about 75 people, there were about 160 of us on the plane, but it was ok, we all got in, it was 20 degrees below zero, and no one was complaining about the tight fit !!!!
Alfonso Sep 25th 2008 10:00AM
Short runway. Good surface to brake, a lot of gulls with several bird strikes and engine damage and, the worst, the low level wind shear ( less than 200' ASL). Its not a pleasent airport