- MCAS Futenma, Okinawa
- After WW2 the US decided to put a marine air station right slap bang in the middle of Okinawa, which in hindsight was probably a mistake.
- Not that having a base on the island is dangerous, but that the airfield is surrounded by houses, schools, hospitals and a crap ton of people. The village of Ginwon that surrounded the base quickly became a city. Leading to the Marine Corps calling it “the most dangerous air station in the world”.
- This is of course because if anything goes wrong on a take-off or landing, there’s a high chance of damage to the surrounding city. Currently there a negotiations between Japan and the US to move the base to y’know…somewhere that won’t put civilians at risk.
- Courchevel Altiport
- Remember that thing we said about normal runways being 6000 feet long? Well this one is 1700 feet and it’s on the top of the French Alps.
- While slightly longer than Saba Island’s runway, Courchevel has the added feature of putting it on a hill. So even if you make the perilous journey flying through mountains, you need to hit the landing at just the right angle…otherwise you’ll basically crash and die.
- But this airport almost exclusively serves rich people who want to go to the adjacent ski resort so you probably won’t ever have to worry about any of that.
- Paro Airport
- Navigating through the Himalayas in a passenger jet isn’t something that sounds…safe…
- This particular airport, Paro is so difficult to approach that only 8 pilots in the world are actually certified to even try the death defying landing. Requiring hard S maneuvers through high, unpredictable winds make this even harder to perform. One rogue breeze could get you a premature meeting with the ground.
- Landings aren’t allowed at night or even in cloudy conditions as pilots rely more on eyesight than instrument readings. Still despite this Paro sees 30,000 tourists come through every year and some say the take-off is even worse.
- Lukla Airport
- And finally we come to the almost universally agreed upon number 1, Lukla Airport in Nepal.
- Situated almost 3000 meters above sea level, this death incarnated as an airport features a 1,600 foot runway, constantly unstable weather and is bookended with a mountain on one end…with a 2000 foot drop on the other. Can’t slow down while landing? Well just try your best not to smash into the mountain. And due to the high altitude, aircraft only get one shot at trying to land…it’s that or crash…
- Of course the opposite problem happens on Take-off where insufficient speed will see your plane plummet down to a fiery death off a cliff. So why do people go there? Because it’s the gateway to Mt Everest.
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