# The World's Top 10 Scariest Airports **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649 "2009-02-13T03:46:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/21 "2009-02-13T23:03:14Z")
It wasn’t scary, but the first time I flew into Heathrow was a real eye opener. Sitting at a window seat, on a beautifully clear crisp day, and just going _fuuuuck!_ at the number of planes that were in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/22 "2009-02-14T00:25:56Z")
I always thought Dulles Airport in the DC area was weird, with those big people mover quasi-bus thingies they use to ferry people across the tarmac (often interacting with taxiing aircraft) to the terminal. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/23 "2009-02-14T00:59:52Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > I knew Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras was going to be there. > > Watch a video of a typical approach if you dare: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v\_z5HtME9n8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_z5HtME9n8) I’ve flown in there (as a passenger, I mean), and yeah, it can be scary - and so can taking off. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/24 "2009-02-14T02:25:42Z")
The basic list is below. Again, click on the link [here](http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-feature/worlds-top-10-scariest-airports-20090203-7wix.html) to see the descriptions. 1. Paro Airport, Bhutan 2. Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten 3. Reagan National Airport, Washington DC 4. Gibraltar Airport, Gibraltar 5. Matekane Air Strip, Lesotho 6. Barra Airport, Barra, Scotland 7. Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras 8. John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York 9. Madeira Airport, Funchal, Madeira 10. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba, Netherlands Antilles As for the old Kai Tak Airport, I still have an old Lonely Planet Hong Kong guide from that era squirreled away, and it says this about it: **“Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport is named after a Mr. Kai and a Mr. Tak, who once owned the land. As airports go, it has an unusual set of problems. To begin with, it’s the fourth busiest in the world, and the single runway has to accommodate one landing every two minutes (the maximum permitted by international regulations). Furthermore, it was designed in the 1930s, before the skyscrapers were built and when aircraft had propeller engines. The result is that nowadays high-rise residents get to look _down_ on approaching jumbo jets! The gridlocked air traffic and heart-in-teeth landings among the skyscrapers may have you wishing you’d purchased extra life insurance, but Kai Tak in fact has a good safety record.”** ---
**Author:** ![Ellef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8dc957/32.png) [@Ellef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellef)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/25 "2009-02-14T09:17:55Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Here is an [amazing sequence of pictures](http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?id=223249,223248,223247,223246) of a Nippon Cargo Airlines 747 landing at Kai Tak. > > […] > > Interestingly, San Diego’s worst air crash happened not down at the airport, but about a mile and a half from where i live, in the neighborhood of North Park. It was just over 30 years ago, and a Pacific Southwest 727 collided with a light aircraft and came down among the houses, killing everyone on board, 7 on the ground, and destroying 22 houses. [Wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_Flight_182) and [photo gallery](http://photos.signonsandiego.com/080920PSA?page=1). Thanks for those links. The first one especially is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/26 "2009-02-14T12:47:14Z")
The inclusion of Reagan and JFK are pretty damn weak since the only danger there is crossing an invisible artificial line in the sky… oh noes! On the other hand, the other airports look scary because you could bloody well crash into the hills or skyscrapers the planes are dodging between or shoot off a cliff, into the ocean or a densely populated area because the runways are too short. I don’t want to read too much into the inclusion of Reagan and JFK, but they seem wildly out of place by comparison. I flew into Hong Kong, although mercifully late at night when I was too tired and too drunk to care… self medicated in preparation. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/27 "2009-02-14T23:15:56Z")
I have been in a plane that has landed at Madeira Airport and it wasn’t too scary. Mind you, I had read about it before and knew what to expect. You can see such a landing here on _YouTube_ (sorry about the crap music!):- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd13rh\_BguY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd13rh_BguY) The worst part is that before the actual landing you fly parallel to the runway and then make a sharp 180 degree turn. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/28 "2009-02-15T00:12:09Z")
I \*\*\*loved \*\*\*landing at Kai Tak and have done so at least 100 times. The new airport is nice but just not the same. A colleague had a flight that tried to land 3 times as a typhoon was comining in before aborting and going to another airport. That would not have been fun. The Bhutan airport sounds like it would be scary. China’s Jiuzhaigou Huanglong airport is at 3447.65M and requires a specially made high altitude airbus for the route. The flight path goes up a narrow mountain valley that narrows as the peaks get higher and higher. You land on a leveled off mountain top. It is a spectacularly beautiful short flight. The air currents off the mountains buffet the plane quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649/29 "2009-02-15T04:21:07Z")
Obligatory St Maarten [clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDXEK244JO8&feature=related). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worlds-top-10-scariest-airports/485649.md?page=1)