Extreme Airports // 3CONTENTS
54
We learned about flying from that
Courchevel is one of the most spectacular and challenging airports
in the world. Operating into it is considered an honour for pilots and
a spine-tingling experience for passengers. Back in the early 1980s,
Captain Gerhard Beer helped drive the ‘crazy idea’ of scheduled
passenger flights into the airfield.62
Above us only sky, below us only sea
Airliners have been landing at Eoligarry Airport in the Scottish Outer
Hebrides for more than 60 years. Today, Twin Otters provide a vital lifeline
for the islands’ communities, but only when the tide is out.66
Mind the icebergs
When it comes to airports, they don’t come much more extreme than
Ilulissat. Robbie Shaw found it is thriving, despite having only a 2,772ft
(845m) runway built on very inhospitable terrain.72
Sea, sun and skyliners
There is a plethora of ‘extreme’ airports in the Caribbean. Andy Martin
explores three – Princess Juliana on Sint Maarten, Saint Barthélemy’s
Gustav III, and Juancho E Yrausquin serving Saba.80
Taming Toncontín
Tegucigalpa gained a fearsome reputation due to high terrain, a hill at the
end of its runway and winds that buffet its thresholds. Action has been
taken to alleviate some of the problems, but it is still a tight squeeze for
jets, as Bernardo Andrade explains.86
In the footsteps of the abominable snowman
Explorers scaling the world’s highest peak face a stark choice from the
get-go: a ten-hour bus ride, followed by an eight-day hike, or sharing a
small aluminium tube on wings with 19 other passengers for a
30-minute trip into the world’s most dangerous airport. John
Richardson took the soft option.90
Rock and roll
Gibraltar has earned a place on lists of ‘extreme airports’ because of
its short runway, a road running across the airstrip, and turbulence
created by The Rock. But Renato Serra Fonseca discovered that its bark
is arguably worse than its bite.94
Virtually extreme
Few people will have the opportunity to visit the locations featured in
Extreme Airports, so Chris Frishmuth takes a ride into two of them on
his PC to explain how it’s done.90
54
80
6
Cover: A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747-406 passes over Maho Beach on short final for Runway 10 at Sint Maarten Princess Juliana International Airport. (Dennis Janssen Photography)02-03_Contents.indd 3 11/05/2018 14: