[Travel] Unusual airports

[Juan Albion]

The world has quite a few unusual airports so I've no doubt that the good people of NSC have visited some of them. Please do share your experiences.

I recently flew in and out of Scarlett Martínez International Airport, Rio Hato, in Panama. So different to most international airports. It is pretty much brand new but has almost no flights and the few they have are all from Canada. There are two planes landing and then leaving again today, which is a busy day for them. It has no proper taxiways - you want to taxi, you use the runway.

It is also impossible to buy a ticket for a flight out of Rio Hato, you can only buy return tickets from Canada. So if you are a Panamanian (who paid for the airport) and want to book a trip to Canada, you are out of luck.

 

[Superphil]

Banjul Airpot in Gambia has an enourmously long runway as it was an emergency escape runway for the NASA space shuttle as it’s latitude was ideal. When I landed there back in the 90s our plane basically came to a halt on the runway, we got off, the next load of passengers got on and it carried on down the runway and took off.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Airport in Madeira is hairy to say the least.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Banjul Airpot in Gambia has an enourmously long runway as it was an emergency escape runway for the NASA space shuttle as it’s latitude was ideal. When I landed there back in the 90s our plane basically came to a halt on the runway, we got off, the next load of passengers got on and it carried on down the runway and took off.

Skiathos has a ridiculously short runway, hard on the brakes only experienced pilots allowed.
Our plane had to land at Thessaloniki to top up because it's best not to have full tanks just in case.
Also St Martin's in the Carribbean, planes land right over a beach, 2 X 747's a week is the highlight for the island plane spotters.

 

[Dave the OAP]

We are there again the week before and over Easter!

It's fun and games

The end of the runwAy is on huge stilts over the hill!

 

[Dave the OAP]

 

[Badger]

[MENTION=20]Publius Ovidius[/MENTION] that reminds me of Hamilton Island Airport in Queensland.

I particularly liked the luggage collection system. A luggage buggy is driven to the plane, all the cases are loaded on, then it drives back and stops outside the terminal. At that point it's a free-for-all to collect your cases directly from the buggy.

 

[Stat Brother]

Quality thread.

 

[Juan Albion]

Oh, I just remembered, Rio Hato does get occasional flights from the States, but no-one wants to be on one of these I suspect - some of Donald Trump's deportation flights.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OykXhUK2S04

 

[AmexRuislip]

Airport in Madeira is hairy to say the least.

I think we've chatted about the Portuguese pit pony airport before, quite an interesting landing, especially when windy

 

[Juan Albion]

Banjul Airpot in Gambia has an enourmously long runway as it was an emergency escape runway for the NASA space shuttle as it’s latitude was ideal. When I landed there back in the 90s our plane basically came to a halt on the runway, we got off, the next load of passengers got on and it carried on down the runway and took off.

Bandung in Indonesia is the opposite. The plane lands on the only runway, turns around and taxis back up the runway to get to the terminal. One of these days there will be a plane landing at the same time and they will meet head on. Mark my words, this is Indonesia we are talking about.

 

[Albion in the north]

Flown in to Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras a few times. Well renowned for being a little hairy.

 

[PTC Gull]

The old Kai Tak airport at Hong Kong.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-qssyFKHUg

 

[Badger]

Taking off from Toronto Pearson Airport is fun at this time of year. Before taking off, every plane has to pull up to the de-icing facility which is kind of like a big jet wash. They spend about 10 minutes covering every inch of the plane with bright green de-icer. Then the pilots have to do an engine test to make sure the de-icer hasn't f***ed things up.

I'm sure most other airports in cold climates have the same facility but this is the first time I've experienced it.

 

[BNthree]

Flew to La Rochelle recently. The airport is so small it makes Shoreham airport (sorry Brighton City airport) look big and bustling by comparison.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

Flown in to Toncontin Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras a few times. Well renowned for being a little hairy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKiezMjgPCI

 

[zefarelly]

I favour a civilised airport myself, none of the riff-raff you get up north at places like Croydon. And one can Park the Talbot outside the terminus, gratis.

 

[um bongo molongo]

I once took Air Uzbekistan to Bangkok (I was a student and poor). We came in to land at Tashkent and I was confused that I couldn’t see the runway - the reason became obvious when we just landed on the snow. We were all turfed off in to the terminal while they refuelled and, weirdly, had to check in again. There was one bar and a pint was the equivalent of 10p. By the time we got back on the plane, half the passengers (who mostly seemed to be middle aged Brummie men headed for delights of Bangkok) were so far gone they had to be helped up the steps to the plane.

 

[Dave the OAP]

I think we've chatted about the Portuguese pit pony airport before, quite an interesting landing, especially when windy

Last time we were there, we sat in the airport all day as there was no flights due to wind and got out the day after. Put us up in a fantastic 5star hotel that evening!