The World's 9 Most Dangerous Landing Strips (PHOTOS)

We've all seen our fair share of landing strips: big rugged ones, skinny, barely-there ones and some that just look too dangerous to approach. The purpose of this information isn't to deter you from going to these destinations. None of these places are Jurassic Park, and you'll very likely set foot on the ground unscathed. Just make a visual note of where the barf bag is located, take a nice deep breath and hope the strip you're landing on isn't feeling too cranky.

OTP's List of the 10 Most Dangerous Landing Strips presents some plane-eating, monstrous strips around the world. Wear protection; this is going to be a rough ride.

--Anna Starostinetskaya

 

Follow Off Track Planet on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@offtrackplanet

Comments

[KBMosh]

05:18 PM on 02/14/2012

Would be nice if they'd spelled Lesotho correctly. Just check a map kids...

[tea4unme]

01:11 PM on 02/12/2012

Don't forget every single airstrip in Detroit

[Iccarus]

12:52 PM on 02/12/2012

What a joke. Not even close. I've landed on strips with tree branches 1 foot from each wingtip, a 200' strip with 30' trees on approach, a strip with giant ant hills hidden everywhere in tall grass, OK that's enough bragging, I'm starting to sound like Commander McBragg from Rocky & Bullwinkle.

[Jennilee Foster]

10:28 AM on 02/12/2012

The author should have looked into the Alaska Bush and more respectfully the Aleutian Chain (Dutch Harbor). I lived and worked for an airline out in Cold Bay, some of those bush flights are very harrowing and airline had strict protocol about the conditions of visibility, wind direction, and even if it was dark. There were weeks that we were grounded.

[AverageJoeSixPac]

03:11 AM on 02/12/2012

I’ve been in and out of a lot of different runways in my life, but I think Johnson Isle in the Canadian Northwest Territories was one I will never forget. Back in the early 70s, Saturn Airways, Lockheed L-100, we were making trips hauling fuel in 55 gal drums to a oil drilling sight somewhere that had an ice bed runway. Mind you, this was back in the LORAN navigation days, way before GPS, or INS or OMEGA, In that part of the world you had to fly Gyro Compass because Magnetic gets really squirrelly up there. Everything was done by time, airspeed, course, altitude. We would take off, fly a certain course (gyro) at a certain air speed, for a certain amount of time at a specific altitude. When the time specified we would descend at a certain rate and speed and if everything went right, when we broke out of the whiteout, the runway would be right in front of us. (the runway lights were construction site kerosene smudge pots).

There are few people that I know that I would get in, buckle up and go anywhere with, in any weather conditions, who I regard as the one of aviation’s greats, and I was lucky enough and had the pleasure of flying with him ,, Milo Tichacek . Milo is still flying his Stearman, and this link is well worth the watch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUfGXvjgeUg

[Amadahy]

01:29 PM on 02/12/2012

"When the time specified we would descend at a certain rate and speed and if everything went right, when we broke out of the whiteout, the runway would be right in front of us."

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[Auntamy09]

04:01 PM on 02/11/2012

Anyone else catch the "drapes match the carpet" and "fire crotch" references?

1. They don't even make sense.
and 2. It's kinda offensive and definitely inappropriate.

There could have been more comments like that in the captions, but I couldn't continue reading to find out.

[mailman41]

06:35 PM on 02/11/2012

You certainly seem overly sensitive today. Those references are not worth even commenting about, However,, just because you are offended doesn't make you right...

[James Bridges]

03:58 PM on 02/11/2012

Been to two of these. Don Muang several times. Tegucigalpa, Honduras only once but it was enough.

[swoboda]

03:57 PM on 02/11/2012

My favorite runways are those in South Sudan. The destroyed Russian MIG next to the runway in Juba and the down helicopters in Wau come to mind. Not like Entebbe where you don't see the destroyed aircraft when you take off and land.

[twfslc]

03:45 PM on 02/11/2012

This makes landing a 707 at Kansas City Municipal (now Wheeler Downton Airport) seem easy. The main runway is less than 7000 feet, and the Missouri River winds around the airport. So, you don't want to come in too low or run off the far end of the runway.

[Air Vice Marshal Park]

10:26 PM on 02/11/2012

I've landed there many times with no problems; a nice, convenient airport. The only airline that flies a 707 anymore is Iran's Saha Air. It is the dirtiest airplane in the sly.

[geneg69]

03:44 PM on 02/11/2012

None of these landing strips compare to the one at Los Alamos, N.M.
We used to fly in there during the late 60's and 70's in a 6 passenger
Cessna. I wish I had a picture of the landing strip I could show you.
It was built on top of a long narrow mountain peak. From the air it
seemed if you were a little off course you would would end up over
the side of the mountain either on the left or right. And if you over ran the strip it would send you over a 100 ft. cliff. I don't know if
it's still that bad I haven't been back there since. A shot of Jack
Daniels beforehand always helped make this landing.

[El Lata]

03:22 PM on 02/11/2012

Although few pilots or pasengers have experienced takeoffs and landings from these landing strips, the Big Creek Four - Dewey Moore, Mile-Hi, Simonds, and Vines Airstrips - in the USA's Idaho backcountry are worthy of consideration. The sense of accomplishment and elation which follows a successful takeoff and landing makes up for the sense of apprehension and despair which preceeds them.

[rdschuler]

03:19 PM on 02/11/2012

There are thousands of Naval pilots that land and take off from aircraft carriers every day that would make these runways featured,a piece of cake .

[willyd3310]

03:31 PM on 02/11/2012

The naval pilots also have catapults to give them a lot of extra speed, and tailhooks to slow them down! Most od the Naval jets couldn't operate without them, if any.

[pb11731]

03:44 PM on 02/11/2012

Yeah but these guys aren't launched with steam and hooked when they land.

[sdmartintc]

03:12 PM on 02/11/2012

At Goma International Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, parts of the runway are covered with lava from the 2002 eruption of a nearby volcano. The lava makes taking off and landing a challenge. At least a couple of planes have overshot the runway because of the lava and crashed, one causing fatalities.

[rjsparling]

02:53 PM on 02/11/2012

In greenland it isn't the icebergs that make them operate only in the day - there are no runway lights.

[pjohnson20]

03:37 PM on 02/11/2012

You are so right! If you show up after dark and can raise someone on the radio, they have been known to set out a few kerosene pots on the sides of the runway....;-)))

[USMAIL]

02:30 PM on 02/11/2012

Hello "bryanmerrittper2" I think it would be great to check my brakes before I landed-------------so now
how can I check the brakes--against what surface and at the same time it would also give me a great time to make sure that none my tires are also aired up. ha ha