15 of the world's most terrifying airport runways
Flickr/Jay Colbath
Even the most jaded jetsetter might find their nails embedded in the armrest when landing at these airports.
From a Caribbean island where the runway ends right at a popular beach to a runway made entirely of ice in Antarctica, here are 15 of the most terrifying airport runways around the world.
Also known as "The Ice," Sea Ice Runway in Antarctica is unpaved. And if that wasn't scary enough, it is literally made of ice, which, on top of it all, could crack under the weight of a plane. And when temperatures rise and the ice melts, there's essentially no runway to land on at all.
Josh Landis, Wikimedia Commons
The Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten might be scarier for sunbathers than passengers, as its insanely short runway ends right on the beach. This means that planes have to fly really low, frazzling beach-goers with strong winds and loud noise.
Wikimedia/Lawrence Lansing
Bhutan's only international airport, in Paro, sits 7,333 feet above sea level and is surrounded by over 16,000 Himalayan peaks. The landing is so dangerous only a handful of pilots are qualified to fly here.
REUTERS/STR New
Aside from the fact that planes at Barra Airport in Scotland land on an actual sandy beach, they have to time their landing according to the tide, lest the "runway" disappears completely.
Wikimedia
As if the notoriously windy mountains at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on Saba Island didn't make landing here tough enough, overshooting the 1,300-foot runway even by a little bit means nosediving straight into the ocean.
Flickr/killians_red
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