Top 5: The World's most dangerous airports
This article in Wanderlust magazine caught my attention!
1. Paro, Bhutan - Beautiful but deadly as pilots have to negoiate a steep Himalyan valley, banking hard to find the tiny runway among the temples and hillsides. (TP - further research revealed only 8 pilots in the world are licensed to land there. Guess whose flying there on 8th November!!)
2. Lukla, Nepal - This seriously steep 527m-long, Himlaya surrounded,snow-and-wind-buffetted runway ends in a 700m cliff-drop. If you don't build enough speed on take-off, you fall..until - hopefully - you lift up again (TP - Yes, remember that one, and the dodging mountains. Nepalese pilot saying - "We don't fly in the clouds - our clouds have rocks in them")
3. Wellington, New Zealand - The windy city is the bane of pilots lives - common crosswinds have caused the airport to adopt to adopt it's own slogan: "Wild at Heart" (TP - need to add this one to the 'to-land' list)
4. Funchal, Madiera - Partly build on pillars over the Atlantic, this runway - between hillsides and ocean - is battered by storms and ocean and often closes in winter (TP - one of those places where on descent you start wondering where are you going to land - top airport!)
5. Barra, Outer Hebrides - the only airport where planes land on the beach, whihc is washed away by the tide each day. Beachcombers beware...
