This tiny, 400m runway is world famous as one of the most challenging landings in the world. Photo / John Savage; Flickr.com
This tiny, 400m runway is world famous as one of the most challenging landings in the world. Photo / John Savage; Flickr.com
Fed by a runway of just 400 metres, Juancho E. Yrausquin airport is the world's shortest commercial airport. Located on the Caribbean island of Saba, there's little margin for error. Less than a metre separates the end of the apron and nose-diving into the leeward sea.
Still, passengers flock from all over the world to fly the route in the Dutch Antilles.
The tourist route from St Maarten is served by de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, prop planes designed for short-stops and difficult landings. The route has become something of a pilgrimage for pilots and aviation geeks. It's a 14 minute flight, but one few passengers forget.
Around the size of an aircraft carrier, landing on the strip is legendary.
A cabin load of passenger prepare to land at Saba. Photo / alljengi, Flickr.com
It's a parallel Captain Roger Hodge can't help but draw. The trainer for the Winair fleet calls his graduates 'Top Guns', saying that only the best of the best are cleared to make the flight.
"As a pilot I just love going into Saba because that's when you put your experience to work," the veteran instructor told CNN. "There's always adrenaline that kicks in because you're being watched by passengers and people on the ground, but you've just got to fly that machine."
Many aspiring hot shots want to see if they have what it takes to pull off the flight.
Forums for Flight Simulator games are full of challenges trying to land large commercial jets on the runway at Saba. Something that pilots would never dare try in real life.
Flight Simulator games are full of challenges to land jets at the tiny 400m runway. Photo / Screenshot, Reddit
Remarkably there have been surprisingly few air accidents since the first plane arrived in 1959. There are only two incidents recorded for the Dutch Antilles in the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents. The sole fatality was a goat, whose misfortune was to be in the cargo hold of a Dornier DO28A on May 17, 1971.
Five of the most terrifying commercial runways:
Winston Churchill Ave cuts across the main runway at GIB airport. Photo / Mustang Joe, Flickr
Gibraltar International Airport in Gibraltar
Stuck between the Rock and a hard place there's little room for manoeuvre for pilots landing at GIB. The fact that one of the city's busiest streets cuts across the middle of the runway only raises the stakes. The multi-lane Winston Churchill Avenue cuts through the middle of the concourse. Only a traffic signal and barrier stands between a safe landing and a pile up.
Another Caribbean hop served by Winair's Otters, Gustaf III is not to be attempted on a full stomach. The approach dubbed the "St. Barth Dive" drops in over the port hills at a jaunty 10 degree angle. Following this, pilots have just 600 metres to come to a stop or risk overshooting onto a pleasure beach. Despite danger, the Dive has become an attraction in itself for sightseers.
Lukla Hillary-Tenzing airport in Nepal is one of the highest altitude takeoffs in the world. Photo / Robert Nunn, Unsplash
Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal
The air link into Lukla at 2860 metres is the highest commercial airstrip in the world. Jagged mountains surround the airport and not much else. The main airport serving the Solukhumbu District and the way to Everest, it is the first test of mountaineers' courage.
Die another day? Courchevel Altiport, France. Photo / Peter Robinett, Flickr.Com
Courchevel Altiport, France
Courchevel Altiport in winter is straight out of a James Bond film. Or the worst nightmares of uneasy fliers. The French runway is one of the steepest in the world. The 18.5 per cent gradient angle is to help compensate for the short length, and stop planes from hitting the sheer cliff face at the end.
The airstrip at Matekane. Photo / Tom Claytor, Wikimedia Commons
Matekane is a high elevation airstrip serving the town in Kingdom of Lesotho. A separate runway from the main MZV airport, the high altitude runway is used for ferrying passengers and cargo up into the hills. The takeoff is truly terrifying / spectacular. It's a question of fly or fall 610 metres into the chasm
