Juliana airport. Princess Juliana Airport located on the island of Saint Martin
For those who are afraid of flying :)
1. Princess Juliana International Airport, o. Saint Martin
This post has been translated and compiled specifically for Pikabu.ru (you should finally go to it :))), just kidding :) in fact, we are growing and thriving)
Princess Juliana International Airport serves Sint Maarten, the Dutch part of the island of St. Maarten. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean. The runway is only 2,180 m long - barely enough for large airliners. Pilots have to land very low, right over Maho Beach.
That's why this place is so popular among plainspotters. It is difficult to believe the authenticity of the photographs of giant airliners flying at an altitude of 10-20 meters above sunbathing tourists, however, they are real. Despite the difficult take-off and landing conditions, not a single accident has been recorded at this airport.
Here's a video of the landing:
2. Juancho Airport - Irauskin, Saba Island
Juancho Airport is the only airport on the Caribbean island of Saba, Netherlands Antilles. It is widely known among experienced pilots for its runway size.
Juancho Airport occupies quite a large part of the small island of Saba. Some experts are of the opinion that the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world, despite the fact that no accidents have occurred here. There is an X on each side of the runway, indicating that the airport is closed to commercial aviation.
The location of the airport poses a threat. On one side there are high mountains, and on the other - the sea and steep cliffs. The danger is that the plane may go off the runway when landing or taking off.
3. Courchevel Airport
Courchevel is the largest ski resort in the world, located in the French Alps. Courchevel Airport is notorious in aviation due to its short runway, 525 m (1,722 ft) long and with a slope of 18.5%. You have to approach and take off on a slope to set the required speed.
Who can land here? Well, Pierce Brosnan would be on that short list. This is the airport shown at the beginning of the movie Tomorrow Never Dies. For others, the only way to get here is by private planes, helicopters, and charter flights. Pilots undergo extensive training to land at the CVF.
You can skip straight to the 4th minute, before that there is a lot of talking and flying. And judging by the video, it’s really very difficult to land...
4. Gustav III Airport, Saint Barthélemy
Gustav III Public Airport is located in Saint-Jean on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. Most passenger planes, such as the Twin Otter, carry fewer than twenty passengers and are designed to give vacationers a view of the island from above. The short runway runs along the slope and ends right at the beach. Planes take off over the heads of tourists, there are signs everywhere prohibiting standing at the end of the runway.
And here crash plane at this airport
5. Barra International Airport
Barra Airport is the only airport in the world where planes land on a beach. The airport is located on the wide beach of Tri Moor, on the Isle of Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. If you want to travel here by commercial plane, you can book tickets with British Airways, with flights to Barra from Glasgow and Benbecula.
The airport is literally flooded by high tide once a day. If you arrive in the evening, you will notice several cars in the parking lot with their headlights on. This is additional lighting since the airport is not designed for night flights. You probably won't want to walk along the beach at Barra Airport unless you're an aviation fan. For such cases, signs are placed everywhere: “When the windsock is raised and the airport is operating, it is prohibited to be on the beach.”
landed right on the beach)) it looks so unusual)
6. Madeira Airport (Portugal)
Madeira International Airport, also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport. It operates national and international air services on the island of Madeira. Madeira Airport is considered one of the most dangerous due to its short runway, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean. This arrangement and length of the runway makes landing very difficult even for the most experienced pilots.
Previously, the length of the runway was only 1400 m, but after a plane crash in 1977, it was decided to increase the length of the runway by 400 m. In 2003, the runway was completely rebuilt, almost doubling the original length due to an external structure over the ocean, which is located at 180 reinforced concrete pillars about 70m high
For the extension of the new runway, Funchal Airport received the Outstanding Structures award from the international association IABSE. In Portugal, this award is considered the "Oscar" of engineering structures.
7. Lukla Airport, Nepal
A huge mountain on one side, and a kilometer-long cliff on the other. And this is at an altitude of 2900 m, not much depends on you here.
Lukla Airport is a small airport in eastern Nepal. In January 2008, the Nepalese government announced that the airport would be renamed in honor of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Everest. The airport is very popular as the city of Lukla is where many people begin their climb to Everest. You can read more about this airport
Let's talk about the unusual airport - Princess Juliana... Imagine: you are lying on the beach, basking in the rays of the sun, drying off after another swim in the warm sea, pouring warm sand in your palms, looking at the slowly passing clouds and suddenly... Instead of a seagull right above A huge airliner rushes past you with a terrible roar!
Under the wing of an airplane...Princess Juliana Airport
And this is not the script for an action-packed film. You can see and experience all this by visiting the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean Sea. In the southwest of the island, on the territory of the self-governing state of the Netherlands, Sint Maarten, is located one of the most dangerous airports in the world - Princess Juliana Airport. Its danger is that it is located close to Maho Beach.
The length of the runway is very short, a little more than 2 km, so planes are forced to land, literally, flying no more than 20 meters above the heads of vacationers. At the same time, they create a huge air flow that forms waves. Landing liners create excellent conditions for windsurfers.
Probably, if they asked me: ? I would recommend Sint Maarten...
Princess Juliana Airport in the Dutch part of the island of St. Maarten is one of the largest air hubs in the Caribbean region. It is among the ten most dangerous airports in the world. In the seventeenth century, the conquistadors laid siege for a long time, but were never able to take possession of the island, which was divided between the Netherlands and France according to the oldest treaty of 1648. By the way, the agreement still has de jure force. In 1942, an airfield was hastily built here, which is now an international airport. Named after the Queen of the Netherlands, who visited here as Crown Princess in 1944, a year after the airport opened.
The runway is only 2,180 meters long - barely enough for large airliners. For heavy aircraft, such as a Boeing 747 or Airbus A340, this is not enough - but there are no other options for landing here. The pilots bring the plane to land right above the famous Maho Beach. That's why this place is so popular among plainspotters. Maho Beach is the perfect place to see low-flying aircraft in detail. It’s hard to believe the authenticity of the pictures: giant airliners fly at an altitude of 10-20 meters above the vacationers. Despite the unusual take-off and landing conditions, not a single accident was recorded here.
Saint Martin Island is the smallest piece of land in the world with dual citizenship. The northern part is regulated by the French government, while the southern side is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. English is spoken on both sides, with Dutch being the official language on the southern side and French on the northern half of the island. The island has two capitals - Marigot and Philipsburg. When they say Saint Martin, they mean the French part of the island, and Saint Martin (or Sint Maarten) means the Dutch part. There is also an airport on the French side of the island near Marigot, called Aéroport de Grand Case.
Terminal
The new four-story building offers all the services you need on the road. Air-conditioned premises, shops, pharmacies, ATMs, taxi and information counters. Wi-Fi is everywhere in the terminal.
You can land a plane at this unusual airport in the popular flight simulator game Microsoft Flight Simulator X. In the full version of the program, this mission is called “Caribbean Landing.”
How to get there
Rent a car. Here are the following car rental companies:
- Adventure Car Rental American Car Rentals
- Avis car rental Best Deal car rental
- Hertz Car Rental Lucky Car Rental
- Paradise Island Car rental Safari car rental
- Sidro United Sunshine Car Rental
- Thrifty Car Rental
You can ask the price and immediately book a car of any class on official websites.
Taxis drive tirelessly all over the island. Moving from the airport to the nearest city of Philipsburg will cost about $30.
Airport shuttles operate throughout the island. They don't have numbers; the route is written on the bus itself. The island is small, any transport moves freely throughout the entire territory.
