Craziest airports you have flown into?

N

nightflyerDFW

New Member
As both pax and/or PIC/FO?

As PAX:

1. Toncontin (TGU) in Honduras. Crazy short runway and insane approach. Approach end of the runway goes over highway, where police stop traffic for landing and departing traffic.

tegucigalpa_sm.jpg


2. La Paz, Bolivia. 12,000'+ elevation, almost 3 mile long runway. The approach on the valley end of the runway almost always result in Terrain Alert cockpit warnings before touchdown, due to the rapidly rising terrain coming to meet the plane.

As Pilot:

XS91 - Pickle Plantation. It's a private home in East Texas, and his driveway doubles as the runway. It's 40' wide, has a drop in the middle, and is crazy fun to take off from at night :eek:
 
Telluride for me probably, I haven't had the super crazy stuff like backcountry dirt strips, but TEX can get rather nasty in a hurry! There is something unsettling about rotating and the other end of the runway is still above you!
 
Well...being a passenger I'd have to say DFW & ATL easy...After touchdown a 15-30 min. taxi to gate not uncommon at both airports. might as well have the FA's be travel guides while your taking the tour of the airport.

"And if you look out the left side of the plane you will see the United gates and the fuel farm. On your left are planes deplaning at gates that look like ares but aren't."
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
Well...being a passenger I'd have to say DFW & ATL easy...After touchdown a 15-30 min. taxi to gate not uncommon at both airports. might as well have the FA's be travel guides while your taking the tour of the airport.

"And if you look out the left side of the plane you will see the United gates and the fuel farm. On your left are planes deplaning at gates that look like ares but aren't."
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haha!! ORD is the same way! I can't wait to get back there on Friday! :sarcasm:
 
Arlington. It involves dodging Travel Air's, random planes with blue tails from out of town that do crazy things (largely because they don't know where the airport is at), and random other stupid people that think that they know what they're doing.
 
I haven't been anywhere too crazy. But Cedar Key in florida is fun to fly into. 2300 feet, seawall to seawall. You can have a wicked crosswind gusts since it sits right on the gulf of mexico
 
I would say my favourite is Catalina Airport (AVX)... very scary approach with downdrafts coming over the ridge:

CatalinaIslandAirport.jpg
 
Cat Cay, in The Bahamas. 1100 x 50 feet. Open water on both ends, in a heavy 206 (I mean REALLY heavy). I suppose it's not as exciting as some of the others, but it sure was exciting then!!!
 
Juneau for both flying, and as a passenger. The last minute right turn to land on 8, and the immediate left turn departing 26. It is really exciting, expecially when the weather turns to crap. I guess any airport here in Southeast is crazy:)
 
DE727UPS said:
Hey...I was gonna say Catalina.
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Same here, but other than Catalina I found San Carlos (SQL) to be pretty tricky due to the x-winds. However, the CRAZIEST airport I went to has to be Samana/Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. El Portillo airport is a small, uncontrolled airport on the East side of the island. It's surrounded by a forest of palm tress and has a short runway that's half paved and half grass.... I'll try and post the pictures I took some other time... here's one I found online..

las_terrenas.jpg
 
I've had my humble meter reset on a small crop dusting strip in Northern Colorado.. It's a private strip called Crop Air. Dimentions: 2000x16. I didn't know wheather it was a runway or a sidewalk. Did it in a Citrabria with a good instructor sitting behind me.
 
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