Most Dangerous Airports In The World

#1 Lukla Airport In Nepal

If you're going to Mount Everest, this is the airport you'll need to take. It's nestled snuggly between two mountains and the runway is extremely short. Elevation makes it impossible to get any lights, so the planes fly in and out of the tiny airport with no lighting of any kind. There are no air traffic controllers on hand either, so the pilot is on his own to safely take off or land. It is one of most dangerous airports because Mount Everest is considered to be the highest point on Earth.

#2 Courchevel International Airport In France

The French airport is built into the Alps. When planes are ready to land here, they must fly through a very narrow valley for the descent. The Courchevel airport is known to have the shortest runway at in the world at just 525 meters long, point three miles, added to that the runway has a gradient downward slope of 18.5%. Pilots who are unable to get up enough speed to take off will just fly right off the end cliff. There are very few pilots who will navigate this airport.

#3 Toncontin Airport In Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Another airport situated between the mountains with extremely rough terrain. In order for a pilot to make a descent, they need to make a 45-degree turn if they plan on reaching the runway, which is buried in the depths of the valley. Once they make the turn, they need to drop their altitude quickly or the plane will scrape the rough terrain and crash. Frequent winds complicate matters, as pilots are forced to make several last-second adjustments. Only a handful of skilled pilots attempt to land at this airport.

#4 Princess Juliana International Airport In Saint Martin

The runway is only 7,140 feet long and was originally built for small planes to bring over the occasional tourist. Over the years, with the surge in tourism, the airport had no place to grow, but the people kept coming, and 747's began to fly in and out of the airport. A large plane requires 8,200 feet to land safely, which is a hazard daily since these larger planes land on a regular basis. Another weird thing about this airport is that it requires planes to fly just a few hundred feet before touching down directly over a public beach. When planes are about to reach the runway, huge gusts of wind and sand send beachgoers swarming to safety.

#5 Paro Airport In Bhutan, Himalayan Mountains

There are only 9 pilots qualified to land at Paro Airport in Bhutan. Nestled in the Himalayan Mountains, Paro sits 7,300 feet above sea level, surrounded by peaks as high as 18,000 feet, right on the banks of the river Paro Chu. The terrain is so unforgiving and the weather so severe that flights are allowed only under visual meteorological conditions and are restricted to daylight hours. The runway is only 6,400 feet long, making it as dangerous and frightening as possible to take a flight from.

#6 Gibralter International

Gibraltar is a crossroads of history, and that theme carries through to its airport. It's not considered a dangerous airport because of a short runway or its location between mountains, it's dangerous because the runway intersects a main street, Winston Churchill avenue, which is used as the only connector to Spain. When a plane is ready to land or depart, the street is closed. There is one stoplight to warn drivers. The stop signal at the intersection of 09/27 and Winston Churchill Ave is one you definitely don't want to disregard.

#7 McMurdo Air Station In Antarctica

Unless you're a dog-sledding devotee, you may not like flying into McMurdo Station on Antarctica. The good news is that the runways are long. The bad news is that they are made of ice and that the weather is very variable. People don't visit Antarctica often, so the airport doesn't have the best of safety precautions. Located on the shore of McMurdo Sound, the U.S. Antarctic Station enjoys 12 months of below-freezing average temperatures and is served by three runways. Since it is dark and stormy there for most of the year, pilots will land using night vision goggles to land on the ice-covered runways.

#8 Madeira Airport In Portugal

You may want a tall glass of Madeira wine before flying into Madeira Airport on this Portuguese archipelago. The airport's short runway, sandwiched between a rocky cliffside and a steep drop to the ocean, was known for its variable winds. It's the only airport to be built by engineers. In 2000 it was extended, almost doubling in size to 9,124 feet.

#9 Madeira Airport In Portugal

That extension might make you feel better about traveling here... until you realize that much of the extension is built on a platform partly over the ocean, supported by 180 columns, each about 230 feet tall. The columns must be able to withstand the heavy shock of an airplane landing. If an airplane comes in too hard during a landing, the runway could collapse. Drift too far on a rainy, windy day and the airplane could go over the side.

#10 Narsarsuaq Aiport In Greenland

The weather at Narsarsuaq Airport in southern Greenland isn't much warmer than Antarctica, and the approach to the airport's 6,000-foot runway is one of the most difficult in the world. It's not uncommon for an airplane to roll off the ice covered runway and crash, because there is almost always a storm, making it difficult to see where you're landing. To make things even more frightening, nearby is an active volcano which erupts often. The ash can get infused with very small particles of glass (silica, from melting ice) that can destroy aircraft engines. Only a handful of skilled pilots will fly in or out of this airport.

#11 Kai Tak Airport In Hong Kong

The world’s scariest airport landings and take-offs. Strong crosswinds and the surrounding mountains only added to the difficulties of landing here. At one time, travelers were quite upbeat about Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong. However, this was before it was christened “the mother of all scary airports.” The airport that brought us the most dangerous airports landings on earth closed in 1998. It used to be the base of Cathay Pacific as well as many regional carriers. Aircraft pilots were careful to infuse dollops of caution when making a landing or taking off.

#12 LaGuardia Airport In New York City

Sure you get stunning views of New York City, but LaGuardia is considered dangerous because of its location. The main, 7,000-foot runways over water at New York’s LaGuardia Airport were extended back in 1966. In case gliding over Flushing and Bowery bay's isn’t enough of a thrill, pilots have to avoid interfering with flights from two other extremely busy airports nearby, JFK and Newark. Another disturbing fact...a peek at the airport’s location shows that it is located just eight miles from the city of Midtown Manhattan and all the skyscrapers. The airport is domestic only and still serves over 31,000,000 passengers yearly and is currently undergoing a reconstruction.

#13 Cliff Landing

This is not a traditional airport. It is a place where an airplane was forced to make an emergency landing. Luckily, the plane stopped just 5 feet short of rolling off the cliff. It takes a very skilled pilot to perform such a feat.

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