I have admitted in the past, I detest flying. With a passion. This article has only reinforced my absolute fear of flying. "Most Terrifying Plane Landings" First we shall start with Princess Juliana airport, St Maarten, in the tropical paradise that is the Caribbean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfQwDizpRo&eurl=http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25104842-5014090,00.html&feature=player_embedded The article goes on to explain that landing as: Ermm perilously low? The beach goers could probably have reached up while lying down on the beach to touch the plane's landing wheels.:bawl: Fun times.. you can tan, swim and crap your pants as a plane brushes your hair back as it comes in to land. And now onto Greece. Skaithos Airport to be precise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYiV9c2HQqw&eurl=http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25104842-5014090,00.html&feature=player_embedded "Bloody hell" indeed. Hong Kong takes the cake though. Kai Tak airport, was terrifying when you had to land there. The article says of Kai Tak: You'll see why.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyU9OLqQ8XA&eurl=http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,25104842-5014090,00.html&feature=player_embedded Now I can understand why my mother-in-law used to drink herself senseless and dope up on Valium each time she had to fly in and out of Hong Kong when they lived there in the 70's and early 80's.
I flew into kai Tak in '96 to see a mate who was working as an engineer on the new airport - you can see people working in offices from the window of the plane as you make the approach - definitely not one for nervous flyers. I felt like leaping out of my seat and yelling "we're all gonna die!!!" just so I could watch passengers with a nervous disposition completely lose it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Male airport in the maldives is pretty disconcerting too - the runway is really narrow and surrounded by water on 3 sides - so as you get close to the ground all you can see is water - making you think you are about to ditch.
I haven't flown into the Altiport myself, but I've sat and watched a fair few landings and takeoffs, when I've been there snowboarding, and it looks like it would be a hoot; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDY1-hnRfO8 Planes don't so much take off, as taxi off the edge of the mountain.
Bells, I've had to do the approach to landings like that in a glider. It's not that scary provided you have a professional pilot. Statistically, given the number of people that fly every day, the chance of you dying in a plane is smaller than you dying in a car crash.
