Fast your seat belts! Short runways, steep slopes or unpredictable fall winds. There are airports where pilots and passengers alike need nerves and cables to approach.
Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The airport in the Honduran capital is clearly one of the 10 most dangerous airports in the world. Seven people died here in 2008 after an Airbus A320-200 crashed into the runway, which was only two kilometers long.
Funchal Airport in Madeira, Portugal
Only pilots with special instructions are allowed to touch down on the runway, which is sometimes only supported by stilts, directly on the cliffs. Only when you as a passenger have the feeling of crashing on the mountain slope does the pilot turn to the right at the last moment to descend.
Barra Airport, Scotland
On the Scottish island, the beach in the shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr also forms the runway. When the tide sets in, the entire beach or runway area is washed over.
Gibraltar Airport, Gibraltar
For reasons of space, the runway, which is just under 2,000 meters long, leads in the middle of a main road on the Iberian Peninsula. For every take-off and landing maneuver, road traffic must be brought to a complete standstill by a full blockage.
Tenzing-Hillary Airport Lukla, Nepal
A runway just 527 meters long with a 12 percent slope, a 600 meter deep abyss at the end of the runway and extreme weather conditions also make this place one of the 10 most dangerous airports in the world. Advantage: If you have safely survived a landing at this airfield, climbing Mount Everest will no longer deter you.
Courchevel Airfield, France
Greetings from 007. In the middle of the French ski area, this airport, which has already served as the backdrop for two James Bond films, is at a height of 2007 meters. With a length of only 537 meters and an enormous gradient of 18.5 percent, machines can only land uphill here.
Princess Juliana International Airport on St. Maarten, Caribbean
As a bather you live dangerously here. Larger planes such as the Boeing 747 also land at a few meters above the beach and often throw up stones or break car windows.
Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, United States
The capital city airport lies between two strictly guarded no-fly zones. When trying to land, the pilot should not come too close to adjacent buildings such as the Pentagon or the CIA headquarters.
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in Saba, Netherlands Antilles
Is it an aircraft carrier? No, it’s actually an airport. It is not possible to roll the machine out over the runway, which is only 396 meters long, because the cliffs fall vertically into the sea at both ends of the runway.
Paro Airport, Bhutan
The airport at an altitude of 2236 meters in the deep Paro Valley can only be approached by sight. In the rough terrain between the forested mountains of the Himalayas, you have to rely entirely on your pilot’s flying skills.
