{"id":393212,"date":"2017-05-30T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/05\/30\/worlds-most-dramatic-runways-myjoyonline-com\/"},"modified":"2017-05-30T00:00:45","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T00:00:45","slug":"worlds-most-dramatic-runways-myjoyonline-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/30\/worlds-most-dramatic-runways-myjoyonline-com\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s most dramatic runways – MyJoyOnline.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

\"Short<\/p>\n

Arriving at an air terminal is rarely a memorable event.<\/p>\n

All the more reason to book a flight touching down at one of these hairy or awesome air strips.<\/p>\n

1. Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten, Caribbean<\/p>\n

Vacationers flock to the Caribbean for a laid-back vacation.<\/p>\n

But arriving at the region’s airports can have the opposite effect — the compact, rugged nature of many of the islands forces runways to be built in inventive locations.<\/p>\n

Perhaps everything feels all the more serene after landing.<\/p>\n

On St. Maarten, Princess Juliana Airport — named after Dutch royalty — has people gnawing their fingernails in the air and on the ground whenever a plane lands.<\/p>\n

The runway starts mere meters from the edge of the ocean, with aircraft coming in almost low enough over the beach to spike a volleyball set.<\/p>\n

2. Courchevel Altiport, France<\/p>\n

Unlike Caribbean-bound passengers, skiers and snowboarders touching down at Courchevel are usually geared up for an adrenaline fix.<\/p>\n

They’d better be.<\/p>\n

In winter, the tarmac air strip at the French resort’s altiport, more than 2,000 meters above sea level, is often the only thing not covered in snow.<\/p>\n

\"Landing<\/p>\n

Aircraft fly in through a channel between mountains, landing on a short, steeply sloping runway, complete with vertical drop off, that could almost double as a ski jump.<\/p>\n

The scene is so dramatic it was featured as a stunt location in the James Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies.”<\/p>\n

3. Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho<\/p>\n

There’s little chance of extending this runway very far — it ends abruptly at the edge of a 600-meter drop.<\/p>\n

Only light aircraft use the airstrip on this remote tabletop plateau in the tiny southern African kingdom.<\/p>\n

Planes sometimes fail to ascend at the end of the runway, conjuring images of a Wile E. Coyote hover and fall (before, thankfully, achieving flying speed and soaring away).<\/p>\n

4. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba, Caribbean<\/p>\n

Rivaling St. Maarten for Caribbean airport thrills, Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, on the island of Saba, has one of the world’s shortest landing strips.<\/p>\n

\"Just<\/p>\n

Wedged on a rocky outcrop at the foot of a mountain and with the end of the tarmac plunging into the sea, touchdown here is a dramatic experience.<\/p>\n

5. Gibraltar International Airport<\/p>\n

Flying toward a gigantic limestone monolith on a landing approach is never easy on the nerves, but in the 6.2-square-kilometer British overseas territory of Gibraltar there’s nowhere else to put an airport except in the shadow of the Rock.<\/p>\n

Space is so limited on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula that the runway bisects the territory’s main highway.<\/p>\n

As aircraft get priority over automobiles in the vehicular pecking order, the road is closed every time a plane takes off or arrives.<\/p>\n

6. Barra International Airport, Outer Hebrides, Scotland<\/p>\n

Where else in the world can you pick cockles on a runway?<\/p>\n

Rather than think about where to build a tarmac airstrip when you’re short on space, the Outer Hebridean island of Barra took a different approach — it didn’t bother with one.<\/p>\n

Pilots wait until the tide is out and then land on the beach — reportedly the only airport in the world where scheduled flights touch down on sand.<\/p>\n

In between flights to and from Glasgow, the public have open access to the beach\/runway.<\/p>\n

7. Paro Airport, Bhutan<\/p>\n

If there were awards for remote airways surrounded by dramatic scenery, the Himalayas would be filling a shelf.<\/p>\n

\"Bhutan&#39;s<\/p>\n

In pride of place might stand the only international airport in the mountainous kingdom of Bhutan<\/p>\n

Descending into a narrow, high-altitude bowl amid 6,000-meter peaks, pilots — who have to be specially trained to land here — bank their jets in a sharp right turn before swooping in low over farm houses.<\/p>\n

8. Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan<\/p>\n

Landing on an aircraft carrier looks thrilling, but you usually have to join the armed services to do it.<\/p>\n

You can experience a good second best at Japan’s Kansai International Airport, where the two runways appear to float on the water way out in Osaka Bay.<\/p>\n

Actually located on a purpose-built artificial island, to minimize noise pollution for city residents, the runways are in fact sizeable affairs (both more than three kilometers long) and connected to the mainland by a four-kilometer bridge.<\/p>\n

But from the air, this is the best way to get that “Top Gun” feeling on a commercial carrier.<\/p>\n

9. Harstad Airport\/Narvik, Norway<\/p>\n

On the approach to Harstad\/Narvik Airport in the region of Evenes, planes skirt through fjord-land, over frozen lakes and between snow-covered mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Atlantic<\/p>\n

Arriving at the settlement of Hammerfest, in the country’s extreme northeast, feels like touching down on an ice rink at certain times of the year.<\/p>\n

10. Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal<\/p>\n

Madeira’s international airport looks as if it’s been cheating in a tricky-runway competition.<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between a steep hillside and the sea, its dramatically short tarmac strip is extended on stilts over the water to make it long enough for a safe touchdown.<\/p>\n

Throw in frequent Atlantic turbulence and you’ve got an arrival dramatic enough to make the calmest passenger reach for the fortified wine.<\/p>\n

11. Mal\u00e9 Airport, Maldives<\/p>\n

Mal\u00e9 Airport has looks and drama.<\/p>\n

Built on its very own atoll, Hulhul\u00e9, the runway is a mere six feet\u00a0above sea level.<\/p>\n

After descending over the 26-island Maldives archipelago, undercarriages feel so close to the sea on touchdown, it’s as if they’re skimming along the water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arriving at an air terminal is rarely a memorable event. All the more reason to book a flight touching down at one of these hairy or awesome air strips. 1. Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten, Caribbean Vacationers flock to the Caribbean for a laid-back vacation. But arriving at the region’s airports can have the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld's most dramatic runways - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/05\/30\/worlds-most-dramatic-runways-myjoyonline-com\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"World's most dramatic runways - MyJoyOnline.com - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Arriving at an air terminal is rarely a memorable event. 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