In light of all the risks associated with flying, airport and aircraft personnel take every precaution to ensure the safety of the passengers and crew onboard. However, sometimes they aren’t given very much to work with. Air traffic control can only do so much to help an airplane flying through craggy mountains, extreme weather conditions, or even skyscrapers. One would think designers, architects, and engineers would consider these factors when building an airport, but there are a surprising amount of airports that are located in such risky areas that were very poorly planned.
One of the most important things to consider when designing an airport is runway length. Because they travel at such high speeds, airplanes need plenty of space to slow down before they come to a halt on the runway. Without this luxury, they run the risk of crashing into whatever lies at the end of the runway or losing control from stopping too short. There is an interesting (and slightly unnerving) list of airports around the world that encounter issues like this at an alarmingly frequent rate.
1. Toncontín International Airport, Honduras
One such airport is the Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. It was built about eighty years ago, back when the less powerful aircrafts didn’t need so much space to slow down, so the runway is only about 7,000 feet long. This is concerning, since most of today’s larger commercial aircrafts typically require a runway of at least 8,000 feet. Despite this, airplanes as large as Boeing 757s operate out of the airport every day. To make matters worse, the airport is located in a valley between mountains, with only one way in and out for planes, making it extremely difficult for pilots to approach the runway. As expected, there have been a number of crashes at this airport in recent years, and has been ranked by the History Channel as the second most dangerous airport in the world. The most recent crash at Toncontín was in 2011, when a small flight went down about 20 kilometers away from the airport, allegedly due to the difficulty navigating the mountainous terrain during poor weather conditions.
2. Madeira Airport, Portugal
Madeira Airport in Portugal had a similar problem with runway length. The geography of Madeira Island didn’t leave much room for the airport, so it was built on the coast, with mountains on one side and water on the other. To solve the problem of the short runway, engineers were able to lengthen it to about double the original size by building 180 columns, each 70 feet tall, that would hold up the new portion of the runway to keep it level with the rest of it. Even with these renovations, Madeira Airport is still known as one of the world’s most dangerous airports, mainly due to the surrounding terrain.
3. Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Nepal
Another airport that experiences similar difficulties is the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Nepal, the airport used to get to Mount Everest. The problem with this airport is not so much runway length, but the terrain surrounding the runway, high elevation, and risky weather conditions. On one end of the runway, mountains loom high above the ground, while on the other end, there is a two-thousand foot drop, with nothing but a fence to keep planes from going over the edge. The area also experiences a lot of high winds and extremely cloudy conditions. The last time an airplane lost control and crashed at this airport was in 2010.
4. Gustaf III Airport, Caribbean
It’s almost equally as difficult to land at Gustaf III Airport in Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean island, with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. In 2013, an airplane crashed into a nearby mountain during its descent. Another Caribbean Island, called Saba Island, has an airport with similar dangers, with cliffs on one side and a big drop to the ocean on the other. This runway is only about 1300 feet long, making it quite possibly the shortest commercial runway in the world.
5. Courchevel Airport, France
Going along with the running theme of mountains, Courchevel Airport in France also provides pilots with plenty of obstacles, due to its location high in the French Alps. Not only do the surrounding mountains make landing tough, but the high altitude also poses a risk factor. Runways are supposed to be longer if they are higher in elevation, but Courchevel’s runway is only about 1700 feet long. The runway itself isn’t even flat; it’s more like a little hill that has a few ups and downs. The icy weather also poses a number of challenges. The airport doesn’t have the proper instrumentation for landing in fog or low clouds, so it’s almost impossible to land in these conditions. This airport is a big challenge for even the most skilled pilots. It’s no wonder it was included in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
6. Gibraltar Airport, Gibraltar
Sometimes, it’s not the surrounding terrain that makes landing difficult, but the runway itself. The runway of Gibraltar Airport in Gibraltar doubles as the city’s main street, which means traffic has to stop during the takeoff and landing of each plane. Contrary to most the other airports mentioned in this article, however, there has actually never been a major accident at this airport.
7. Barra International Airport, Scotland
In the case of Barra International Airport in Scotland, there is no actual runway! Instead, airplanes use the public beach as a runway. Beachgoers are allowed to visit the beach when there are no scheduled flights, and warning signs are updated every so often to reflect the scheduled flights that day. Apparently these precautions have been enough to keep people safe so far, but it still seems a bit troublesome that the runway is also a public beach.
8. Ice Runway, Antarctica
Not surprisingly, another airport with a risky runway that isn’t really a runway is Ice Runway in Antarctica. As the name suggests, the runway is really just a smoothed length of ice. The challenges that the polar climate poses don’t stop in the air. After navigating through extreme weather conditions, pilots must take great care to ensure that the plane doesn’t break the ice or get stuck in the snow upon landing.
9. Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong
One of the world’s most dangerous airports has thankfully been closed since 1998. At Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, pilots had to navigate in close proximity to mountains and skyscrapers to reach the runway that extended out over the water, which frequently resulted in accidents involving hitting buildings or crashing into the sea. It’s no wonder the airport shut down over fifteen years ago. It seems as though some of the aforementioned airports should probably follow suit.
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