St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport, Netherlands Antilles (Corbis)
Fly enough, and you’ll likely have your share of white-knuckle moments. Take-offs and landings can be particularly hairy, especially when traveling to or from an airport that abuts mountains, bodies of water, or both.
If you hate (or love) the rush of adrenaline you get from wondering if you’ll land in one piece, head over to airfarewatchdog. This week, the site posted its Top 10 list of “most thrilling” airports.
The site’s number one pick was Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Surrounded by mountains and with a relatively short runway, the airport requires pilots to weave through mountains and then make a 45-degree turn at the last moment before landing (as depicted in the video below).
In New Zealand, strong downdrafts give fliers the sensation of dropping suddenly before landing at Queenstown Airport, where weather conditions are often terrible, causing poor visibility.
At St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport, Netherlands Antilles, landing planes fly just feet above a popular beach, where sunbathers can practically touch the aircraft above them (pictured top). The warning signage at the airport is stark, as photographed below.
St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport, Netherlands Antilles (Corbis)
And to take off from Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal — which sits at an altitude of 9,000 feet — planes must first cruise down the slope of Himalayan mountain and hope to be in flight by the end of a 1,500 foot runway.
Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal (Corbis)
Some of the scariest airports actually lie closer to home. New York City’s LaGuardia Airport, for one, is not just insanely busy. It’s also surrounded by water, and pilots must make a full 180-degree turn, just before touching ground.
LaGuardia Airport, NYC (Corbis)
Then there’s Catalina Airport in Avalon, California. It is notorious for downdrafts and turbulence, according to airfarewatchdog:
The site’s other picks for scary airports are: Gustaf III Airport in St. Jean, St. Barthélemy; Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport in Alaska; Courchevel Airport in the French Alps; and Scotland’s Barra Airport.
Do you have any dreaded airports to add to the list?
