Posted on 12/31/2011 7:27:28 AM PST by KeyLargo
Only Eight Pilots Are Qualified to Land on This ‘Terrifying’ Runway
There is a small airport in the Himalayan mountains with a 6,500-foot runway and picturesque surroundings. When flying into Paro Airport in Bhutan passengers may be staring in terrified awe of the 18,000-foot mountainous peaks or have their eyes squeezed tightly shut as the pilot weaves through the range.
But only eight pilots are qualified to fly into Paro. And up until earlier this year, only one airline serviced the airport. The Daily Mail reports that take off and landing can only take place in daylight hours:
The runway is just 6,500 feet long – one of the few in the world shorter than their elevation above sea level.
Planes have to weave through the dozens of houses that are scattered across the mountainside – coming within feet of clipping the roofs.
Strong winds whip through the valleys, often resulting in severe turbulence. Passengers who have been on flights to the airport have described the landing as ‘terrifying’.
New co-pilot Responding to question from Senior pilot “Can you make it, Can you make it?”: “I don't know, I don't know”.
Pilot responds, “pull up, pull up”.
Plane pulled up, circled, and pilot executed landing. I was really glad to get feet on the ground! Sure would not want to land in this place.
You win the thread 'scariest'...
?
Maybe you were seeing the canal at the end of runway 18.
Obstructions: 44 ft. tree, 1336 ft. from runway, 225 ft. right of centerline, 25:1 slope to clear 46 ft. trees, 1200 ft. from runway, 340 ft. left of centerline, 21:1 slope to clear 
Kennett Memorial Airport
Lytton, B.C. is fun in the summer.
I was not seeing anything. Totally fogged in. That description is the one I was given at the time. I was told that there were airport changes in the planning stages.
Didn’t have google then.
In late 1950`s took off in a non-schedule charter dare Electra 188 with 10 other gutsy passengers at $100 a head and a couple of hotshot pilots at midnight from La Guardia when all the regular airlines were grounded =It was an ice storm- but we didn`t care- It was two days before Christmas- had to get to Albany- Iced up all the way but the Electra took it all in stride-Landed on the iced runway and skidded nicely to the end. It didn’t have any anti-skids, so the brakes were of no use on the icy runway. Pilot turned the Electra off the tarp, coasted up to the fence gate, stopped and we all disembarked, slipping on the ice haha.This was done only with the props...
It was fun coz I was 18 and really brave ha. In those days you could fly anywhere coz the charter pilots would walk thru the terminal trying to drum up business- The pilots were hotdoggers from Korea, and there was no restrictive scheduling as today.
All the other people in the plane who had been there before, were from the city. It’s possible that they thought a ditch was a cliff, I suppose. LOL.
So, only eight passed the final exam.......Were the others buried locally?
Lindbergh field is almost in downtown San Diego. You can almost walk from down town to the airport.
Up until the mid 1970 there were miles and miles of open flat land just a few miles north of the city center. They should have moved the airport before all that land was turned into residential areas.
I will not be surprised to hear one of these days a plane going down in San Diego (back in the mid 1970s a PSA jet and a small private plane collided).
There used to be a problem like that at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. After a jet crashed into the mountain, the problem was solved in the old American spirit by removing much of the mountain.
Tegucigula landing of a 757.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_z5HtME9n8
That’s like landing on a non-moving, stretched aircraft carrier!
I love this video; I understand they have recently contoured the terrain on the approach to make it safer.
A319 landing at Paro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlKApjc9T2U
Gotta love St. Maarten’s landings and takeoffs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6ciBu-jMtE
Lukla Airport, Nepal
The Airport is 10,000 ft above sea level.
The Runway is only 1750 ft long, and goes down at a 10% incline.
One end of the runway is a rock face, the other is a 2,000 ft. cliff.
On approach, the landing happens from a descending turn onto a short final. There is no go around, you get ONE chance to land. Period.
In summer, during the climbing season, it will see somewhere around 50 fights per day, including the occasional C-130.
One of the airports on my bucket list!
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