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Naim

The World's Scariest Runways

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You can try Paro on FS. Really cool and I think the instruments are not to be relied entirely.

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Nothing close like the airports mentioned but locally the old Tawau airport was quite tricky during its days especially for a B737-400. For runway 17 you have to fly manually between two hills ( one of them is called Outer Marker Hill if I remember correctly) then a short line up into finals and land on a short and just wide enough runway with full maximum autobrakes and maximum reverse. No nice smooth touchdown here as a nice solid "thump" is required and to be fair to the Tawau folks they were very understanding. :good:

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Me thinks Bandung Husein Sastranegara (BDO) is scary. I flew in and out of that airport about a week and a half ago, and our QZ plane landed with just 200 feet to spare! Not to mention seeing that derelict Adam Air B732 and the burnt-out hangar where the TNI-AU F27 crashed as your first view of the airport...

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Nothing close like the airports mentioned but locally the old Tawau airport was quite tricky during its days especially for a B737-400. For runway 17 you have to fly manually between two hills ( one of them is called Outer Marker Hill if I remember correctly) then a short line up into finals and land on a short and just wide enough runway with full maximum autobrakes and maximum reverse. No nice smooth touchdown here as a nice solid "thump" is required and to be fair to the Tawau folks they were very understanding. :good:

 

Captain Radzi should be able to help you more on this one, as he has been doing the Tawau run during his early years with the airline :)

 

Yeah I remembered very well the hills you mentioned here and the one on the right is a quarry. It was supposed to be an airport designed for the Douglas DC-3 during the early days of Tawau and subsequently elongated for the Fokker F-27. During the early part of the 1980s, the airport runway was again lengthened to accommodate the B737-200 Advanced by several hundred of metres, which is still a push for the B732. The early 1990s saw the introduction of the B737-400, which is longer than the B732 without any further extension of the runway. This must have created a substantial amount of pressure and challenge for the pilots.

 

Having landed at some spacious airports for many years away from my home soil, Tawau. I have noticed on my trip back to Tawau in 2001, the landing at this airport on the B737-400 caught me by surprise. The aircraft had to brake so hard soon after landing. It is the same experience as sitting in a B747 that landed at BKI! The backtrack manoeuvring space which allowed the aircraft to turn 180 degrees was so tight as well. Those were the days! The old airport was replaced after my visit in late 2001. I missed the old airport since I grew up living not too far away from it. It is a reminder of my childhood and it seems like yesteryear when I watched the F-27, F-50, B732, DHC-6 Twin Otter, B734, B735, DHC4 Caribour, Hercules, Tri-islander (Bouraq)and etc. departing the old airport. B)

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An (ex-pilot) friend of my Dad refused to fly the 737's into old TWU, insisted on the Fokkers even if schedules were a pain - for safety reasons

A bit ironic then that the only fatal crash at old TWU was that of a Fokker

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I remember the B737 has to slow down significantly before touching the ground. So you actually feel yourself being pull from the seat.

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I remember the B737 has to slow down significantly before touching the ground. So you actually feel yourself being pull from the seat.

 

 

I think you are mistaken there as it is impossible for an aircraft to slow down before touchdown as the result would be the dreaded stall. For the ops into TWU, the maximum landing weight for the 734 was reduced for the runway thus ensuring a slower approach speed. Otherwise it will be similar to the approach speed for a landing on a longer runway.

 

An (ex-pilot) friend of my Dad refused to fly the 737's into old TWU, insisted on the Fokkers even if schedules were a pain - for safety reasons

A bit ironic then that the only fatal crash at old TWU was that of a Fokker

 

The 734 ops into TWU was indeed very safe because of all the precautions taken. Its a Captain's only sector ( including take-offs) and a Captain must be qualified and rated for TWU ops. For the rating he must go through training and practice landings in the simulator and then fly a couple of sectors into TWU with an instructor/ Authorized Examiner. Its also a daylight only operations and at the slightest sign of rain, the flight will be delayed, diverted or even cancelled.

 

What's the point to all this aggravation then, you may ask? Multiple day nightstops in BKI of course. :good:

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Its also a daylight only operations and at the slightest sign of rain, the flight will be delayed, diverted or even cancelled.

In fact, I have been on B734 as well as B732 which landed on wet days and wet runways. On one occasion on the B734 I remember, the approach was from the South through the township. The experience was pretty hair raising.

 

The other scary airport has to be Wellington International Airport, Wellington, New Zealand(NZWN). During windy days the approach from the south is rather interesting, especially when you get to experience several times of sudden drop in altitude.

Edited by S V Choong

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Isafjordur Iceland airport should be on the list also because of this.

 

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Some 'scary' airports (not because of short runways), I've flown into are Sion/CH, Innsbruck/AT and Palermo/IT, all surrounded by high mountain(s)...

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Wow.. one of the scariest .. even just by watching some of these footages. The landing strip is on an incline of 45 degrees on approach and this appeared to help slow down the aircrafts in this relatively short run way. The 9,000ft's hill drop off provides added lift to the small passenger planes.

Incredible feat for the pilots having to endure cross winds, turbulence etc..

In one blog, a passenger was reported to have seen potters at the airport rushed to stop a small plane from rolling backwards because of the incline.

 

incredible...!

 

 

luka_nepal.jpg

 

Lukla aiport was renamed Hillary Tensing Airport in 2008.

The landing strip is built on the steep incline of a hillside. Its length is 450 m and width 20m and the runway incline is a staggering 12%. The apron has 4 stands and there is one heli-pad located 150m below the air traffic control tower. No landing aids are available and Air Traffic Service is limited to AFIS (Aerodrome Flight Information Service) only.

Landing in Lukla leaves no room for error. Pilots throw their propellers into hard reverse before they touch down and gun the engines as they race down the hill for takeoff. Considering the extreme landscape it was the best candidate for the engineers to construct the facility. The strip is at an elevation of 2800 m with a an abrupt drop off down to a river valley below. The approach is through a maze of spectacular mountain peaks and the air is often cluttered with clouds.

There is a big hill right behind the landing strip. You also need to clear a high ridge, bank left, descend steeply, straighten the airplane and land. Navigation is by sight only and you need to negotiate several layers of clouds which can hang on the high hill or rise from the deep valley. This is why flights will often be cancelled and you could be stuck in Lukla waiting for a plane for days on end.

If this is worrying you one comforting thought is that only the most experienced pilots in Nepal are flying to Lukla.

The airport is quite popular as Lukla is the place where most people start their trek to the Khumbu and Everest Base Camp and Lukla is Nepal's busiest domestic airport, and in the peak season the airlines operate over 50 flights a day through the facility.

Edited by Cire

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Pilots flying to Lukla must be feeling like commandos or special forces.

 

Doing something that few others can do, and feel proud about it, without getting much extra financial remuneration.

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When I was at Kathmandu domestic terminal (which is like a bus station) recently, waiting for my flight to Pokhara (to the west), I saw counters for all flights to Lukla grouped at a corner. Pax were hanging around (mainly trekkers), so too lotsa goods (pipes, ropes, toilet seats, crates of beers, etc) -- all on standby to be loaded onto the planes for departure, once all clear weather was issued.

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I have just returned from a week in Bhutan and while a landing at Paro Airport sounds challenging, it is actually quite a pleasurable airport to land in ... or at least, that is what the amazing pilots at Drukair make it appears to be.

 

During the early morning, airplanes tend to land on runway 33 ... the aircraft descend into a valley before making a gentle right turn ... seems pretty simple.

 

For runway 15 landing, airplanes will be flown downwind over the airfield for visual ... followed by a right hand circuit and descent into the Paro Valley ... followed by a descending sharp turn to starboard over some ricefields ... and then a sharp - still descending - turn to port before lining up over the 2500m runway. From my observation, the Drukair pilots are extremely well trained and always have the planes nice and level and low over the piano keys! Like the Cathay Pacific pilots at Kai Tak, the Drukair pilots make landing at Paro International Airport look so effortless.

 

Let me process some of the pictures from the landing on runway 15 to illustrate the final two turns the pilots make before landing on runway 15. I strongly recommend those keen on action photography to visit Bhutan for a dose of incredibly enjoyable aviation photography. Although the airline has only four planes, there are certainly enough movements from mid-morning to the late afternoon to leave you breathless and thoroughly satisfied. Photographing the ATR42 doing the same manoeuvres is quite exhilirating ... except that the ATR42 arrival I photographed did not overfly the airfield for visuals ... and I was caught by surprise when it quietly sneaked in from behind the mountains with hardly a sound.

 

KC

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PER.YPPH can be harrowing - strong easterly crosswinds above 200-300 ft AGL, sometimes all the way down to the runway and thermals to a 45m width runway prove to be exciting. Everytime i've gone there - it's a bumpy ride and we always hear a go-around ;)

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