Rob Mark of Jetwhine has recently noted that Sophie Middleton along with her team at CarHire.org in the UK have assembled a list of the 25 scariest airports on the planet. Their top 25 list (complete with YouTube videos for just about every entry) included the following airports:
25. Reagan National Airport – Washington, DC, United States
24. Gibraltar Airport – Gibraltar
23. John F. Kennedy International Airport – New York, United States
22. Madeira Airport – Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
21. Barra International Airport – Outer Hebrides, Scotland
20. Congonhas Airport – Sao Paulo, Brazil
19. Don Mueang International Airport – Bangkok, Thailand
18. Yeager Airport – Charleston, West Virginia
17. La Aurora International Airport – Guatemala City, Guatemala
16. LaGuardia Airport – New York City, New York
15. Wellington International Airport – Wellington, New Zealand
14. John Wayne Airport – Santa Ana, California
13. Matekane Air Strip – Lesotho
12. Ice Runway – Antarctica
11. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport – Saba, Netherlands Antilles
10. Tioman Island – Malaysia
9. Sandane – Norway
8. Kansai International Airport – Osaka, Japan
7. Princess Juliana International Airport – St. Maarten
6. Paro Airport – Bhutan
5. Gustaf III Airport — Saint Barthélemy
4. Kai Tak Airport – Hong Kong
3. Toncontin Airport – Tegucigalpa, Honduras
2. Courchevel International Airport — Courchevel, France
1. Lukla Airport – Lukla, Nepal
As Rob noted, some of the posted YouTube videos for these airports should scare the “bejeezus” out of even experienced pilots. Nevertheless, we still want to ask our pilot readers: Are there any airports left off of this list that should be among a list of “scary” airports? Moreover, have you ever had any “scary” experiences involving any of the airports mentioned by CarHire.org? Feel free to tell us about your experiences – whether in the cockpit or as a passenger.
[…] the tiny air strip that is the gateway to Mount Everest in Nepal, easily ranks as one of the scariest airports in the world to both land at and take off from. After all, Lukla is at 2,860 metres (9,380 […]