Last May, I went to honduras, where we landed at the tegucigalpa airport,
which I later found out is considered by many to be the world's most
dangerous airport. It is in a sort of bowl, with mountains on all sides. The
single runway is paralleled by a city street and apartments. The largest
that can land and take off there is the 757. There was an interesting DC3
along the runway that appears to be undergoing restoration.
That doesn't compare with flying just above the Colorado River below the
"mountans" from Blythe, CA to Yuma in a citation prototype.
Bill Pearce
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Norton [mailto:ken@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 9:35 AM
To: Olympus Camera Discussion
Subject: Re: [OM] photo from Michael Wong in Hong Kong
> The most terrifying landing I ever had. I swear the pilot had to
> 'roll' to avoid the wing tips hitting the skyscrapers on both sides.
Even though the approach to Kai Tak was so dangerous, it ended up being a
pretty safe place to land because the pilots were jacked up to maximum
attention. This was not an airport you just ho-hummed your way in.
My "favorite" place to land in the USA is Washington DC's National (Ronald
Reagan) airport. This is one of those places where the landing from the
north involves following the river down and avoiding all the critical
buildings along the way. Final approach is a curving affair where you are
looking up at the buildings to your right. Depending on the wind, you're
still turning when the wheels hit the runway.
Probably my scariest airline flights involved taking off from that airport
in a snowstorm. I had just reread the final report on the Air Florida crash
and noted that our pilots were doing exactly the same mistakes! (not enough
throttle, snow and ice covered wings). That take-off roll was LONG and we
barely got off the runway and that same 14th Street bridge was awefully
close. As I'd flown in and out of their dozens of times, I knew this was
not normal nor correct. As we were on the takeoff roll, I'd never felt the
need to get off as I did that flight.
AG
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