Top 10 Most Dangerous Airports

10. Saba Netherlands, Antilles – Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport.

You will be landing on the northeastern portion of the island and the pilot needs to consider the very strong winds and 1,300 feet only of runway. A perfect landing will be great. Shorting the runway can spell disaster towards the cliffs. Overshooting the runway will force a go around which may require some Dramamine.

Saba Airport (image:about.com)

9. Barra International Airport, Barra, Scotland.

Barra Airport is the only airport in the world where planes land on the beach. BRR is situated in on the wide beach on Barra Island, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is literally washed away by the tide once a day, and if you arrive on a late afternoon flight, you may notice a couple of cars in the parking lot with their lights on, which provides pilots some added visibility, since the airport is naturally lit.

8. Lukla, Nepal – Tenzing-Hillary Airport

A huge mountain on one end, a thousand meter drop on the other. And it's at 2900 meters elevation, so you don't exactly have full power. Lukla Airport is a small airport in the Town of Lukla in eastern Nepal. In January 2008, the government of Nepal announced that the airport would be renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, who passed away on January 11, 2008. The airport is quite popular as Lukla is the place where most people start their trek to climb Mount Everest.

Image: Wikipedia

7. LaGuardia Airport, New York

New York City’s LaGuardia airport thrills pilots and passengers thanks to crowded skies, soaring skyscrapers, and sudden turns required for landing.

6. Catalina Airport (Airport in the Sky), Avalon, California

Downdrafts and turbulence put California’s Catalina Airport on the list, not to mention the heavy rains that turn the runway into a pot-hole ridden death trap.

Image Credit: theworldtravelwebsite.com

5. Courchevel Airport – Courchevel, France

Private aircrafts bringing visitors to the Les Toris Vallees Ski resort land on this French Alps airport with only 1,722 feet of runway that has a vertical drop at the end. Maneuvering towards the airport requires special training but meeting strong winds and ice make every landing scenario unpredictable.

4. Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Sitka, Alaska

With a runway surrounded by water, unpredictable weather, and boulders that wash up on the runway, Sitka Airport is one thrilling airport to fly into or out of.

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3. St. Maarten – Princess Juliana International Airport

Princess Juliana’s is one of the busiest airports in the Caribbean. What makes this runway scary? The runway is built for small and medium planes with just about 7,152 feet of runway but big 747’s and A340s land on this airport. If you are sunbathing along Maho Beach, there is a big chance that you will in kissing distance from the big wheels of the big, big jet approaching the international airport.

2. Gustaf III Airport, St. Bart

Gustaf III Airport also known as Saint Barthélemy Airport is a public use airport located in the village of St. Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. The short airstrip is at the base of a gentle slope ending directly on the beach. The arrival descent is extremely steep over the hilltop traffic circle and departing planes fly right over the heads of sunbathers (although small signs advise sunbathers not to lie directly at the end of the runway).

1. Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Toncontin Airport

Forget about the mountain terrain you will be passing by prior to the landing approach but your heart might stop for a while as the pilot makes a last minute 45 degree bank towards the left to touch down properly to the airport located in the middle of a bowl-like valley with a 6,112 feet of runway. The airport is located 3,294 feet up and can only host an airplane as big as the 757 of Boeing.

Image: Wikipedia

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