LUKLA NEPAL: # 1 on History Channel's-MOST EXTREME AIRPORTS

Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 1 - 20 of total 108 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 10, 2011 - 11:22pm PT
MOST EXTREME AIRPORTS!

On the History Channel: they detail their pick of the top 10.
I have been in and out of #1 Lukla Nepal-------and the surprise #10 San Diego.

Do you have photos and stories of these or other “EXTREME AIRPORTS?”

I won’t argue with the choice of Lukla for an extreme commercial aviation field. It is scary and dangerous----but not the scariest backcountry strip I’ve been into------maybe Indian Creek Idaho?


However: Lukla has a long history of ugly, commercial accidents, with the most recent in Oct. 2008.

The History Channel only links to the video sale site, but here is my fav link to a video Lukla landing-----scary!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_S_vAsiuo&feature=related





Lukla was also discussed in the ST Airports thread” a while back.
Airports: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=659250&tn=100
WBraun

climber
Feb 10, 2011 - 11:26pm PT
That ain't scary!

That's maybe a 1 on a scale of 10.

Just wait till you fly some 10's .....
Pennsylenvy

Gym climber
A dingy corner in your refrigerator
Feb 10, 2011 - 11:29pm PT
Dominica was an interesting one for a commercial plane...did it rank?
Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2011 - 12:10am PT


I just copied the list!

The List

1) Lukla
2) Tegucigalpa-Hondurus
3) St. Barths
4) St. Maarten
5) Gibraltar
6) Hong Kong
7) Courchevel France
8) Eagle County
9) Madiera
10) San Diego

Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Feb 11, 2011 - 12:32am PT
My impression of looking at that Lukla photo is how civilized it's all become!

I first flew in there in 1973. At that time it was unpaved and smaller. We flew in a four person Pilatus Porter that had a crazy Swiss pilot who always liked to circle the airfield once to scare the passengers before landing in what looked like a potato patch. It also gave the Nepalese police time to run onto the field and beat the cows, goats, and kids out of the way with a bamboo stick. The tires were kept very floppy so that they wouldn't burst as the plane bumped uphill on the uneven ground.

As you got closer, you noticed a burned out, overturned plane at the edge of the cliff. Years later, I met a Peace Corps advisor to Royal Nepal Airlines who told me story after story about the airplane wrecks in that country.

The story of the cliffside wreck was that the Nepalese pilot didn't bother to go through the checklist before taking off and couldn't get up enough speed and realized the plane would go over the cliff and into the river below. Luckily he aborted the flight at the last minute by maneuvering to tip the plane over. Amazingly, no one was hurt. The cause of the lack of speed was later determined to be the fact that the pins were still in the flaps.

Of course it was a New Zealand pilot who had been flying for almost 24 hours straight who made the same mistake in Kathmandu which killed Hillary's wife and daughter. He got the plane off the ground but it came back down again just off the end of the runway when hit by a gust of wind.

Just a sample of some of the stories. Many more accidents are caused by Nepalese pilots taking bribes to overload the planes with luggage which causes them to crash. No one would ever fly in Nepal except for the alternative of walking several weeks to get back where you started. It's not for nothing that the Nepalese passengers always pray before hand and clap their hands when the flight is over!
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Feb 11, 2011 - 12:37am PT
As for dangerous airports in developed countries, I vote the old Hong Kong airport where one landed on a postage size runway for jets, which was surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers.

The new airport has a whole island to itself.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Feb 11, 2011 - 01:18am PT
Fritz' list is limited to commercial aviation - although I've heard terrifying stories about the airports in several developing countries. It looks like they didn't even consider them. Maybe those who watch the History (Hitler) Channel would be too frightened.

We've probably all had our moments with bush pilots, small planes and helicopters.
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Feb 11, 2011 - 01:21am PT
I've landed at Castlegar but didn't notice anything unusual about it except for the wonderful smell of evergreen trees when you get off the plane. For sure then, I knew I wasn't in Japan anymore.

Unfortunately my luggage stayed in Vancouver so I had to hang out on Castlegar for the next flight to arrive. After that I got a long minicab ride to Nelson and then the ferry across the lake where the folks from Yashodara picked me up for the last few miles. A long day with wonderful scenery, including bald eagles.
Wayno

Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
Feb 11, 2011 - 03:18am PT
I haven't been to any on the list, but I do remember a certain flight in Alaska that went from Ketchikan to Wrangell to Petersburg to Sitka, all in about an hour. It was like landing a 737 on an aircraft carrier several times in a row.
survival

Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
Feb 11, 2011 - 04:52am PT
Wayno nails it.

I was gonna say those who have never flown in or out of SE Alaska in big winds are missing some of the most dangerous carnival rides.....
mcreel

climber
Barcelona
Feb 11, 2011 - 06:21am PT
For me, JFK is the top. On one flight, blew an engine shortly after leaving and had to return, runway lined with firetrucks and ambulances. On another, blew a tire on takeoff, had to circle around for a while, dumping and burning fuel, and being inspected visually. Then another landing with firetrucks and ambulances (our landing even made the news and youtube, not a good thing).

Kathmandu is pretty exciting, too, but Lukla looks a lot worse.
jung

Big Wall climber
Subaru wagon
Feb 11, 2011 - 11:30am PT
The Loon Creek landing strip on the Middle fork of the Salmon in Idaho is about 100 times more dangerous than Lukla.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSiKsY8N9iQ
Jan

Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
Feb 11, 2011 - 11:38am PT
Both landing strips were about equally bumpy before Lukla was paved. It looks to me though that there is much more open space to maneuver on the Loon Strip. And I don't see any stone walls. One of the most nerve wracking aspects of landing in Lukla is that if you don't stop in time running uphill, you crash into a stone and cement wall about 15 feet high and 5 feet thick.
le_bruce

climber
Oakland: what's not to love?
Feb 11, 2011 - 01:39pm PT

This rural landing is in southern Utah - done it many times and between the Navajo bluff on the right, the pine and barn below, and the box canyon and rising terrain ahead if you try a go around, always been gripped.
jung

Big Wall climber
Subaru wagon
Feb 11, 2011 - 02:26pm PT
To land on the loon creek strip you have to bank a 180deg turn below the canyon walls and you are then 100 % committed with 0 margin of error or you will hit a mountain if you touch and go.

Take off is even worse, if it is hot out the air is light and you can stall just before you hit the mountain.

Oh ya, and the strip is only 1/4 mile long with deer that graze on it in the morning when you would want to use it before the air heats up.
Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2011 - 02:37pm PT
Jung! Speaking as an ex-Middle Fork Salmon boatman: Loon Creek does has a reputation as a dangerous strip. Indian Creek gets a lot more traffic, since it is the main low-water launch point for river trips.

Here's a Indian Creek landing video on Youtube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppDKUpmGck

First time I flew in to Indian Creek in 1972: I was sitting in the co-pilots seat in a Cessna 185. The pilot thoughtfully pointed out 3 different wrecked planes on hillsides, while we approached the strip.

He then turned the plane on one wing and dived into the river valley, turned a tight 180 degrees, while flying entirely too close to jagged cliffs, and landed on a tight and short dirt strip.

The most exciting trip in there: was a "thunderstorm in progress" landing in a overloaded Twin Otter. The river trip, after surviving the flight: seemed very safe by comparison.
bhilden

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
Feb 11, 2011 - 03:00pm PT
Flown into Madeira (#9 on the list). The island is so mountainous they had to extend the runway out into the ocean to get a long enough flat strip to accommodate jets.

Bruce

ps - don't understand why San Diego is #10. I would put Aspen above San Diego any day.
jung

Big Wall climber
Subaru wagon
Feb 11, 2011 - 03:45pm PT
I've landed in San Diego and Hong Kong. They register a zero on my pucker factor, lower Loon creek registers a ten.
bhilden

Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
Feb 11, 2011 - 03:52pm PT
Dingus,

you could say the exact same thing for a number of US airports. You have the same approach conditions for places like San Jose International. It didn't make the list.

Aspen is a one way in and one way out airport. When the wind blows down the valley the airlines routinely remove the baggage and sometimes passengers because of reduced lift. I was stuck there once for 8+ hours. I was never so happy to see a blizzard blow in because that meant the winds would pick up and we could finally fly out.

Bruce
Fat Dad

Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
Feb 11, 2011 - 04:05pm PT
The old Hong Kong airport, Kai Tak, was pretty crazy. You came in so low over the buildings that you'd swear you were going to take out all the antennas on top. I vividly remember looking out my window and being able to see into the windows of nearby buildings and seeing what they were watching on TV. It was pretty, well, like I said, crazy.

Never got a chance to visit Lukla. On that same trip I ended up hiking the Annapurna Circuit instead of Everest Basecamp.
Messages 1 - 20 of total 108 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta