Scariest Airports in the World : Never Seen Before

How many times it has happened to you that when your plane takes off you clutch hard the seat endings as tight as it may come off! Well, not sure about you but this has surely happened with me whenever I fly.

But today, I would reveal you something which would really force you tearing apart your seat endings with fear and anxiety! This is about some of the scariest airports of the world. Weird in one sense or the other and yes this is not very easy for those chicken hearts!

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Caribbean island)


Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in Saba is the only airport on the Caribbean island of Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles. It is well known among experienced fliers for the way in which airplanes must approach or take off from the airport.

Yrausquin Airport covers a relatively large portion of the small island of Saba. This is one of the most dangerous airports in the world, despite the fact that no major tragedies have happened at the facility.

The danger arises from the airport’s physical position. It is flanked on one side by high hills, and on the other side and at both ends of the runway by cliffs dropping into the sea. This creates the possibility that an airplane might overshoot the runway during landing or takeoff and end up in the sea or on the cliffs.

The airport’s sole runway is marked with an X at each end, to indicate to commercial pilots that the airport is closed for commercial aviation.

Courchevel Airport: Courchevel (France)

Courchevel is the name of a ski area located in the French Alps, the largest linked ski area in the world.

This airport has a certain degree of infamy in the aviation industry as home to a relatively short runway, with a length of 525 m (1,722 ft) and a gradient of 18.5%. This Airport is so short that you have to land on an inclined strip to slow down and take off on a decline to pick up enough speed. Freaky enough to give a heart attack to any adventure buff!


Madeira Airport (Portugal)
Madeira Airport is also known as Funchal Airport in Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira.

The airport was once infamous for its short runway as it was surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1,400 meters in length, but was extended by 400 meters later and subsequently rebuilt in 2003, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns, each being about 70m tall.

For the enlargement of the new runway, the Funchal Airport has won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for engineering structures in Portugal.



Kai Tak Airport,(Hong Kong)

The Kai Tak certainly sets the scare port bar when it comes to terrifying landings. The Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong was considered to be notorious for its stunt runway. Jumbo jets would literally do a tower-block fly-by, dropping through the mountains and skimming between high-rise flats and landing just before a drop in the ocean. A real thrill for those wonder pilots who were paid far more than their compatriots to fly the Hong Kong leg!

Narsarsuaq, (Greenland)
The approach to Narsarsuaq Airport is a bit like flying down a city street with tower-blocks on both sides. And then imagine King Kong sneezing at the plane, followed by a huge downward smack from above. That’s pretty much the sensation when landing in Greenland.

Pilots with in depth knowledge of the area’s meteorological trends and geographical understanding, can even attempt to land or take-off in Narsarsuaq. But to be on the safer side, take-offs are only allowed in the daytime, and each take-off is carefully orchestrated.

Once in a flight in Greenland you’ve dodged the air pockets and unpredictable wind shear, you’ve then got to handle towering icebergs on the flight path, which on a cloudy day appears as riding in the milky way and the fluffy clouds on the horizon. Think Titanic in the sky!



Make Kane Airstrip ( Lesotho)
Lesotho has the lowest point of any country in the world, and this perilous air strip is used by the Lesotho Flying Doctors Service.

Taking off at this air strip is really a harrowing experience, where the plane drops down the face of a 600 meter cliff until it starts flying.The runway is only 400 meters long .

So, Tighten up seat belts to get those freaking goosebumps! Get ready to fly!