ostrich's eye

An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.

windiest city

Perth is Australia's windiest city

Nuclear Bombs

More than 92 nuclear bombs were lost at sea

Group of Frogs

A group of frogs is called an army

10 Unbelievable Amazing Airports in 2017

1.Princess Juliana International Airport

Princess Juliana International Airport also known as Saint Maarten International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, located on the Dutch side of the island in the country of Sint Maarten. The airport serves as a hub for Windward Islands Airways and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthelemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who as crown princess landed here in 1944, the year after the airport opened. The airport is perhaps best known for very low-altitude flyover landing approaches due to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach.

The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985 and 2001. Arriving aircraft approach the island on the last section of the final approach for Runway 10, following a 3° glide slope flying low over the famous Maho Beach. Pictures of low flying aircraft were published in several news magazines worldwide in early 2000. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images, made the airport one of the world's favorite places among plane spotters. To meet changing international and local regulations a 150-metre (490 ft) safety extension was required.

2. Tenzing–Hillary Airport

Search on Google “world’s most dangerous airport” and the result is Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal, consistently makes it onto the list. The geography of the airport’s location combined with factors such as a very short runway and limited electricity make this airport one of the world’s most dangerous. Add in the fact that several of the airlines that fly in and out of Lukla have such poor safety records that they are black-listed by European Commission, and you have quite a dangerous situation on your hands.

These fears are not unfounded. In 2008, an aircraft crashed while landing in Lukla, killing all 18 passengers on board, with only the captain surviving. In 2013, a helicopter crashed while landing in Lukla, killing one passenger. There have been a multitude of other crashes at Lukla, resulting in injuries to passengers and crew. Needless to say, this airport does not have a good safety record.

Lukla is perched on the side of a mountain. There is one runway that slopes upward into the side of the mountain. This incline helps to slow down landing aircraft and gives a speed boost to aircraft taking off. Planes taking off get just one chance to get off of the ground. Once the runway runs out it is just a free fall to the valley floor below.

3. Gibraltar International Airport

Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport  is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the civilian-operated terminal. National Air Traffic Services hold the contract for provision of air navigation services at the airport. Gibraltar International Airport (formerly North Front Airport) serves as the air transport link to the city of Gibraltar. The airport was established in 1939 during World War II as an emergency landing base for the British Navy.

The airport is located at the centre of Gibraltar and serves around 300,000 passengers per annum.

The airport has a single asphalt runway (09/27) of length 1.8km. The runway intersects the Winston Churchill Avenue road extending to the Spanish border. The traffic on the road is closed during every take off and landing on the runway. A road tunnel under the runway is planned to be constructed to solve this problem.

4. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport

This minuscule airport on a Dutch Caribbean island boasts a strange claim to fame: the world’s shortest commercial landing strip — and some say one of the most dangerous.

Located on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba, the landing strip at the Junacho E. Yrausquin airport stretches for a mere 400 meters or 1,312 feet — making it just a bit longer than a typical aircraft carrier — before steep cliffs on either end threaten to plunge an unsuspecting pilot into the water. That’s also assuming the aircraft doesn’t run into the high hills flanking one side.

The landing strip is closed to jets, so to experience it you’ll have to hop aboard a smaller aircraft like the BN-2 Islander of the Twin Otter. The only airline that flies regularly scheduled trips is Winair; it’s a short 12-minute flight from the island of St. Maarten or a 90-minute boat ride.

Named after former Aruban minister Juancho Irausquin (a typo in whose name was immortalized on official documents, maps, and the airport’s name) the airport began operating in September 1963. Despite the fact that there hasn’t been a fatal accident here, many aviators consider it one of the world’s most dangerous airports.

5.Toncontín International Airport-  the land

Toncontin International Airport, located 6 km from downtown Tegucigalpa, Honduras, has long been considered to be one of the most difficult, dangerous landings for any large commercial airliner thanks in part to its unusual mountainous location. Add to that an extremely short runway one of the world's shortest, that's merely 6,112 feet in length and you've got a recipe for armrest-death-gripping, butt-clenching, nervous excitement. The landing method is very difficult even for an experienced pilot.

To be more accurate, the actual landing distance of runway 02 is only 5442 feet with an approach that requires pilots to utilize everything their training didn't prepare them for. The mountainous terrain surrounding the small airport forces an approach that's anything but head on, resulting in a fast decent and a sharp turn prior to lining up with the runway. Frequent gusts of wind complicate matters even further, requiring quick yaw adjustments to the vertical stabilizer's rudder, pitch adjustments to the horizontal stabilizer's elevators and roll adjustments to the wing's ailerons in order to angle the aircraft for a sane final approach.

The largest aircraft allowed to land at Toncontín are Boeing 757s, but there have been times when larger aircraft have landed, such as a DC-8 passenger airliner and this U.S. Air Force Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) C-17 Globemaster III. We're sure military pilots are much better suited for tricky landings than their commercial counterparts, but anyone attempting to delicately drop a (roughly) 115 ton bird out of the sky has bigger gonads than us.

6. Ice Runway

The Ice Runway is the principal runway for the US Antarctic Program during the summer Antarctic field season due to its proximity to McMurdo Station. The other two runways in the area are the snow runway at Williams Field and the compacted snow runway at Phoenix Airfield , which replaced Pegasus Field in 2017.

This runway is capable of handling wheeled aircraft, that have included to date: Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Lockheed P-3 Orion. In the summer season of 2009/2010 the RNZAF trialled a modified Boeing 757 operationally. The intention is to use the Boeing 757 for passenger transport thereby freeing up capacity for C17 cargo space.

The annual sea-ice runway for wheeled aircraft is constructed at the start of each season and is used until early December when the sea ice begins to break up. Subsequently flight operations are moved back to Williams Field. Pilots landing C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft on the sea ice runway report that the surface is stable, not unlike landing on concrete. However, the similarity with land bases ends when the jet aircraft rolls to a stop. The nearly 450,000 pound (= 201 tons) weight of the plane, including cargo and passengers, causes it to sink into the ice, albeit only a matter of inches. A laser light is trained on the aircraft to measure the settlement rate. The $200 million aircraft is moved to a new location on the six-foot-thick ice as a safety measure if the 10-inch red line is reached, according to the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington.

On 31 October 1960, a United States Navy Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star from Oceanographic Development Squadron Eight crashed while attempting to land on the Ice Runway. The pilot and co-pilot were badly injured, but the other crew received minor injuries or were uninjured. The aircraft was not recovered, and was simply allowed to sink when the ice melted in the spring.

7. Courchevel Airport

Courchevel Altiport) is an altiport serving Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps. The airfield has a very short runway of only 537 metres (1,762 ft) with a gradient of 18.6%. There is no go-around procedure for landings at Courchevel, due to the surrounding mountainous terrain. The airfield primarily sees use by smaller fixed-wing aircraft such as Cessnas as well as helicopters. The runway has no instrument approach procedure or lighting aids, thus making landing in fog and low clouds unsafe and almost impossible.

The airport is considered dangerous, as it features a difficult approach, an upslope runway and ski runs in the adjacent area. The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranks it as the seventh most dangerous airport in the world.

In the 1980s, Tyrolean Airlines served Courchevel using Dash-7 STOL aircraft capable of carrying 50 passengers. More recently, De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops have served the airport.

8. Paro Airport

The tiny airport nestled among the steep mountains of the Himalayas is said to be the most dangerous in the world. Paro Airport in Bhutan is 1.5 miles above sea level and surrounded by sharp peaks of up to 18,000ft tall.

Passengers flying to this remote region may have to take something to steady their nerves. Strong winds whip through the valleys, often resulting in severe turbulence. Passengers who have been on flights to the airport have described the landing as 'terrifying'.

So treacherous is the landing that only eight pilots in the world are qualified to land there. Until July 2011, just one airline, Druk Air, was allowed to use the facility. The runway is just 6,500 feet long - one of the few in the world shorter than their elevation above sea level. Planes have to weave through the dozens of houses that are scattered across the mountainside - coming within feet of clipping the roofs.

9. Kai Tak Airport

 Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. It was officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, when it was closed and replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the west. It is often known as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Kai Tak, to distinguish it from its successor which is often referred to as Chek Lap Kok Airport.

With numerous skyscrapers and mountains located to the north and its only runway jutting out into Victoria Harbour, landings at the airport were dramatic to experience and technically demanding for pilots. The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 6th most dangerous airport in the world.

The airport was home to Hong Kong's international carrier Cathay Pacific, as well as regional carrier Dragonair, freight airline Air Hong Kong and Hong Kong Airways. The airport was also home to the former RAF Kai Tak.

 

10. Barra Airport

Barra Airport also known as Barra Eoligarry Airport is a short-runway airport situated in the wide shallow bay of Traigh Mhòr at the northern tip of the island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The airport is unique, being the only one in the world where scheduled flights use a beach as the runway. The airport is operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited, which owns most of the regional airports in mainland Scotland and the outlying islands. Barra Airport opened in 1936.

The beach is set out with three runways in a triangle, marked by permanent wooden poles at their ends, in directions 07/25, 11/29, 15/33. This almost always allows the Twin Otters that serve the airport to land into the wind. At high tide these runways are under the sea: flight times vary with the tide. Emergency flights occasionally operate at night from the airport, with vehicle lights used to illuminate the runway and reflective strips laid on to the beach.

Barra Airport also has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P792) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Highlands & Islands Airports Limited). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use.