Scariest airports

[KLA2]

Check these out.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slidesh ... st-runways

Particularly this one:

Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho

Because of the diminutive 1,312-foot-long runway perched at the edge of a couloir at 7,550 feet, becoming airborne at the end of the tarmac is virtually impossible. Instead, you drop down the face of a 2,000-foot cliff until you start flying. Says bush pilot Tom Claytor, "The rule in the mountains is that it is better to take off downwind and downhill than into wind and uphill, because in Lesotho, the hills will usually out-climb you. It's a little bit hard to do the first time."

For skydivers who do not want to leave the plane.

Hey, Mactep, even United dosen't fly out of there.

[The Beer Slayer]

And yet statistically it's still safer than driving!

Actually the scariest airport is the one where Senator Craig hangs out. Steer clear of those bathroom stalls...

[Мастер]

Hey, Mactep, even United dosen't fly out of there.

Been to JFK, none of the others. JFK is not my preferred New York airport. However, last time I was there, I flew on one of the world's best airlines.

May be a good time to liberate myself from the influence of United's frequent flier plan (I now have approximately one million miles). The question is whether any of the other American airlines are any better.

I think the trick is to fly on Asian airlines, they're so much better. Next time I need to go from Chicago to New York, I'll connect in Hong Kong or Singapore :)

[Blue Monster 65]

Nashville, TN's airport is built on an old gravel pit, with some of the runways having some rather deep pits right next to them. That can make for some fun times when the pilot is coming in too fast.

Scott

[KLA2]

This reminds me of a funny story I heard many years ago. There was an airport (I forget which one) where noise abatement regulations required pilots to throttle back the engines and make a sharp turn immediately after takeoff.

This is not safe, and goes against the instincts of every pilot. Nevertheless, most gritted their teeth and did it ... except Delta Airlines pilots.

You see, Delta hired a lot of former Vietnam combat pilots. They did what survival training taught them to do - lock the brakes, rev the engines to maximum thrust, take off and climb straight up under full power until they were eight miles high.

Delta got fined a lot, but many passengers preferred to fly Delta.

Cannot provide a reference, so cannot give assurance this is true.

[Heid the Ba]

Hmm, I seem to remember a long aproach over water for JFK but not scary. Concorde used to land there so it can't be too bad.

Barra isn't bad at all, it is huge for the type of aircraft that land there.

Don't know what rural airports in the US or Canada are like in winter but Scandewegian ones are just hard packed ice until spring. We had a weird landing at Torp, Oslo once where the pilot couldn't brake as the wheels locked up so we used most of Norway to slow down.

KLA2, I think it was National at Washington that had the odd take-off route.

[Enzo]

Washington National (DCA) now Washington Reagan does have a funnny pattern to the north. It follows the Potomac river . SO coming down the more or less straight river path it turns I don't know 30-40 degrees less than a minute before landing. On either side of the river is where the serious money lives, plus there is a no fly zone over the federal area downtown just off the river. SO we don't want to fly over the money while they have breakfast, and you can;t fly over the WHite House, so you take the crooked path. How appropriate for Washington.

Pilots say it is so scary and dangerous it is safe. They can't take it casually.

To the south it is more conventional. There is only one runway long enough for the large comercial jets.

I think the noise ceiling is 10,000 feet. Once off the ground you throttle back until you have climbed to that altitude, then yuo can fire it up. That is to reduce the roaring over someone's roof.

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, we have just touched down in Norway on our approach to Sweden. We expect to taxi aproximately 200 miles so please remain seated until the aircraft has crossed the border.


I flew into Muncie Indiana one summer day, for the first time. Had business at the University there. Very small airport at the time, one runway. The terminal building was about the size of the local gas station. ONly thing ever flew in and out of there was small two prop planes like that awful Sweringen Metro or the Embrier something, so the waiting room needn't be large.

There were cornfields on either side of the runway, and coming down that was all I could see out the side windows. When we touched down, corn stalks were whizzing by on either side. I swear I thought we were going down in a farmer's field. I thought they had to keep the grounds mowed around airstrips. Deplane and we are standing maybe 20 feet from this little bus station of a place. The copilot fetched my bag.

[troubleagain]

John Wayne in California has a lovely take-off angle, due to the noise abatement.

[Superluminal]

This reminds me of a funny story I heard many years ago. There was an airport (I forget which one) where noise abatement regulations required pilots to throttle back the engines and make a sharp turn immediately after takeoff.

This is not safe, and goes against the instincts of every pilot. Nevertheless, most gritted their teeth and did it ... except Delta Airlines pilots.

You see, Delta hired a lot of former Vietnam combat pilots. They did what survival training taught them to do - lock the brakes, rev the engines to maximum thrust, take off and climb straight up under full power until they were eight miles high.

Delta got fined a lot, but many passengers preferred to fly Delta.

Cannot provide a reference, so cannot give assurance this is true.

Don't people realize that airliners make a lot of noise when they plow through your front yard?

[Enzo]

That's why we installed a berm.