The Most Dangerous Airports in the World
#10 Madeira International Airport, Santa Cruz, Madeira, Portugal
The length of runway in Madeira is enough to land or take off, but how was that length attained? Most of it resides on 180 posts, made of armored concrete – 9.8 feet in diameter and 164 feet high each. Besides, to land here the pilot has to direct the plane at the mountain and then take a sharp curve in the last moment to get to the final approach track.
#9 Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho
The pilot who can land a plane here can probably also land it on an aircraft carrier. The length of the runway is just 1,365 feet and it’s located at the altitude of 7,546 feet. Any plane taking off here doesn’t have enough time to reach the takeoff speed, so it dives 1,969 feet into the gorge and only then starts a regular flight.
#8 Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Lukla, Nepal
The airport is named after two men who were conquering the summit of Everest and established this airport. Sir Edmund Hillary probably turns in his grave every time a plane lands here, because it takes great skill not to cut open the plane’s bottom on the surrounding mountains. It’s located at the altitude of 9,383 feet and is the starting point for those headed to the top of Everest.
#7 Courchevel Airport, Courchevel, France
The runway in this airport is not that short, some 1,722 feet, but that’s not the point. Are you accustomed to landing on a surface, 100% flat like a tabletop? Forget it! 18.5 degrees incline at the altitude of 6,560 feet is a problem even for a small Cessna. Cold sweat and a good measure of adrenaline are guaranteed.
#6 Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba Island, Antilles, Netherlands
The runway of this airport is one up on all the others in the world, because it’s less than 1,310 feet long. Only two types of planes are allowed to land here besides helicopters. Moreover, the pilot can’t afford to overrun, because in that case he’ll end up in the sea.
#5 Barra Airport, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, UK
Jokes aside, this is a ghost airport. All three of its runways are sand, and only Twin Otter planes can land there. Also, if there’s low tide – there’s an airport. If there’s high tide – there’s no airport. If there’s low tide and no flights, then it’s a beach!
#4 Sea Ice Runway, Antarctica
It’s obvious from the name that there’s no concrete or paving anywhere in the vicinity, only long stretches of well-kept ice. It easily accommodates pretty huge airplanes bringing materials for the researchers in McMurdo Station. The only problem is to estimate the hardness of ice and the weight of an aircraft correctly, for it not to break the ice and get stuck in the soft snow.
#3 Svalbard Airport, Longyear, Norway
Svalbard is the Northernmost commercial airport in the world. There are signposts showing different destinations around the earth and most of them point to the South. Due to the location of close proximity to the North Pole, the airport experiences all typical weather hazards above the Arctic Circle.
#2 Qamdo Bamda, Changdu, Tibet, China
It’s the highest located airport in the world at the altitude of 14,000 feet. Even more impressive is its runway of 2.2 miles! It is the length of 60 soccer fields, which might seem a bit unreasonable. However, it’s technically justified, because it takes twice the length of a normal brake way at this altitude.
#1 Gustaf III Airport, St Jean, Saint Barthélemy, France
This small airport in the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy creates some danger for pilots and passengers. The air corridor for the runway is unbelievably narrow and the landing airplanes get dangerously close to the slopes of the surrounding highland. Not to mention, they risk just falling into the ocean.
