Most Terrifying Plane Landings

[peter991]

Most terrifying plane landings

HOLD on to your seats and be thankful you weren't onboard these terrifying flights as we take a look at some of the scariest plane landings ever.

From nearly hitting the heads of beachgoers to swinging violently from side to side, these videos show some extreme and amazing landings.

Princess Juliana airport, St Maarten, Caribbean

Beachgoers at St Maarten have a near miss as a plane comes in for landing perilously low over their heads at Princess Juliana International airport.

The Caribbean island airport is famous for its very short runway, which is just over 2,000 metres long. This forces planes to fly very low over the heads of tourists on Maho beach while approaching the runway.

Princess Juliana was rated the second most terrifying runway in Travel + Leisure website’s pick of the world’s scariest runways.

Lisbon airport, Portugal

A pilot strikes fear into the heart of his passengers while attempting to land at Portugal’s Lisbon airport. The plane is tossed side to side as it bears down on the runway in poor weather, with the pilot eventually aborting the landing. The bad weather and thus poor visibility is no doubt a factor in the failed landing.

Lisbon airport is situated seven kilometres from the Portuguese capital and is one of the largest airports in Southern Europe. It has been expanded since its opening in 1942, and now has six jetways.

Several videos of extreme plane landings at the airport have been posted online, so this was not an isolated incident.

... and so on. More fun than sitting through a couple of hours of Air Crash Investigation on Foxtel/Austar/Cable TV before flying to LOS.

World's Scariest Runways

Peter

[samuibeachcomber]

thats pretty dam_n low,but coming into samui they're quite low too,but still above 1 storey dwelling height,so anyone reading this and coming to samui dont worry.

[siam2007]

Most terrifying plane landings

HOLD on to your seats and be thankful you weren't onboard these terrifying flights as we take a look at some of the scariest plane landings ever.

From nearly hitting the heads of beachgoers to swinging violently from side to side, these videos show some extreme and amazing landings.

Princess Juliana airport, St Maarten, Caribbean

Beachgoers at St Maarten have a near miss as a plane comes in for landing perilously low over their heads at Princess Juliana International airport.

The Caribbean island airport is famous for its very short runway, which is just over 2,000 metres long. This forces planes to fly very low over the heads of tourists on Maho beach while approaching the runway.

Princess Juliana was rated the second most terrifying runway in Travel + Leisure website's pick of the world's scariest runways.

Lisbon airport, Portugal

A pilot strikes fear into the heart of his passengers while attempting to land at Portugal's Lisbon airport. The plane is tossed side to side as it bears down on the runway in poor weather, with the pilot eventually aborting the landing. The bad weather and thus poor visibility is no doubt a factor in the failed landing.

Lisbon airport is situated seven kilometres from the Portuguese capital and is one of the largest airports in Southern Europe. It has been expanded since its opening in 1942, and now has six jetways.

Several videos of extreme plane landings at the airport have been posted online, so this was not an isolated incident.

... and so on. More fun than sitting through a couple of hours of Air Crash Investigation on Foxtel/Austar/Cable TV before flying to LOS.

World's Scariest Runways

Peter

didnt LUKLA in Nepal deserve the title ?

http://www.jaunted.com/city/Lukla

[Sir Burr]

I always liked flying into Hong-Kong at the old airport. Flying between buildings and seeing into peoples living rooms.

Unique.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Sir Burr

[joskydive]

Landed here in Bangkok on 17th Feb. at 6.55 am and then again at 7.10am. The wheels touched down and then immediately we were, sharply, taking off again. The Pilot gave us a message to say 'Sorry about that folks, we were given the all clear to land but it wasn't all clear'. We then did a circuit and landed properly at 7.10am.

[syd barrett]

Caticlan Airstrip: Panay Island for Boracay Island. Asian Spirit.

I did this on a 18/19 seater in bad weather. It is the first time in my life I have actually fouled my pants in fear.

If you ever go to Boracay Island from Manila or any other Philippine city choose Kalibo as the airport for Boracay.

[siam2007]

Caticlan Airstrip: Panay Island for Boracay Island. Asian Spirit.

I did this on a 18/19 seater in bad weather. It is the first time in my life I have actually fouled my pants in fear.

If you ever go to Boracay Island from Manila or any other Philippine city choose Kalibo as the airport for Boracay.

yeah true !

and just a few weeks ago, a ZEST AIR plane that was actually NOT suitable to use this airport had a crash-landing there.

If you sit in a plane that has been made for take offs and touch downs on short runways, everything should be fine.

SEAIR operates DORNIER and planes which are good for that, but the infamous ZEST AIR (ex: Asian Spirit) uses newly bought Chinese planes that are way too clumsy for that.

here is the report:

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news2_jan12_2009

and here a pic:

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/rp-c8893/photo.shtml

I dont think there is a need to fly to Kalibo to get to Boracay, just fly a RELIABLE airline even it is a bit more expensive. SEAIR is something like the BANGKOK AIR of the Phils...... recommended. though, PAL EXPRESS is okay too, but they use rather big ATR-72 to get to Caticlan (as does Cebu Pacific)

[stevehaigh]

Mali in the Maldives is pretty cool, the island is barely the width of the 747's wingspan

[jtp]

Landed here in Bangkok on 17th Feb. at 6.55 am and then again at 7.10am. The wheels touched down and then immediately we were, sharply, taking off again. The Pilot gave us a message to say 'Sorry about that folks, we were given the all clear to land but it wasn't all clear'. We then did a circuit and landed properly at 7.10am.

That wasn't Thai airways,was it??? I had a similar landing in Sydney once,the crosswinds were pounding the plane,left to right,then as the plane touched down,it took off again!Scared the hel_l out of me,and everybody else.Then,just for fun,the same pilot landed in Brisbane a few hours later(Same flight)so dam_n hard that the over head lockers opened on people's heads..... On a different Thai airways flight,as the jet took off the ceiling compartment broke away,coming down on the passengers in front of me.They had to hold it up for the entire take off period,'till they were in the sky.

[BigSnake]

Most terrifying plane landings

HOLD on to your seats and be thankful you weren't onboard these terrifying flights as we take a look at some of the scariest plane landings ever.

From nearly hitting the heads of beachgoers to swinging violently from side to side, these videos show some extreme and amazing landings.

Princess Juliana airport, St Maarten, Caribbean

Beachgoers at St Maarten have a near miss as a plane comes in for landing perilously low over their heads at Princess Juliana International airport.

The Caribbean island airport is famous for its very short runway, which is just over 2,000 metres long. This forces planes to fly very low over the heads of tourists on Maho beach while approaching the runway.

Princess Juliana was rated the second most terrifying runway in Travel + Leisure website’s pick of the world’s scariest runways.

Lisbon airport, Portugal

A pilot strikes fear into the heart of his passengers while attempting to land at Portugal’s Lisbon airport. The plane is tossed side to side as it bears down on the runway in poor weather, with the pilot eventually aborting the landing. The bad weather and thus poor visibility is no doubt a factor in the failed landing.

Lisbon airport is situated seven kilometres from the Portuguese capital and is one of the largest airports in Southern Europe. It has been expanded since its opening in 1942, and now has six jetways.

Several videos of extreme plane landings at the airport have been posted online, so this was not an isolated incident.

... and so on. More fun than sitting through a couple of hours of Air Crash Investigation on Foxtel/Austar/Cable TV before flying to LOS.

World's Scariest Runways

Peter

Thank for the Warning :sick:just looking at this bad boy.

[jtp]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b83_1220225583

Try that for a light landing...

[phetaroi]

Hardly terrifying, but dumb: I was on the way to Thailand on NW Airlines and had reboarded for the flight from Detroit to Tokyo. We were on the tarmac quite a while and finally the captain came on the speaker and actually said, "We are holding here on the tarmac because there's a flight coming in for a crash landing...." Oh yeah, just what we want to hear! Ultimately, the incoming flight did not crash.

[syd barrett]

Caticlan Airstrip: Panay Island for Boracay Island. Asian Spirit.

I did this on a 18/19 seater in bad weather. It is the first time in my life I have actually fouled my pants in fear.

If you ever go to Boracay Island from Manila or any other Philippine city choose Kalibo as the airport for Boracay.

yeah true !

and just a few weeks ago, a ZEST AIR plane that was actually NOT suitable to use this airport had a crash-landing there.

If you sit in a plane that has been made for take offs and touch downs on short runways, everything should be fine.

SEAIR operates DORNIER and planes which are good for that, but the infamous ZEST AIR (ex: Asian Spirit) uses newly bought Chinese planes that are way too clumsy for that.

here is the report:

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news2_jan12_2009

and here a pic:

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/rp-c8893/photo.shtml

I dont think there is a need to fly to Kalibo to get to Boracay, just fly a RELIABLE airline even it is a bit more expensive. SEAIR is something like the BANGKOK AIR of the Phils...... recommended. though, PAL EXPRESS is okay too, but they use rather big ATR-72 to get to Caticlan (as does Cebu Pacific)

Wow! Thanks for those great links. I was right Caticlan is a crazy airstrip. Imagine that? (In the news report) restricting the number of passengers on a plane for safety. That is amazing and so dangerous. Thanks.

Edited March 2, 2009 by syd barrett

[bkkjames]

This one in HK is amazing...

Edited March 3, 2009 by bkkjames

[bkkjames]

Nevermind, video won't upload. but its on the airdisaster site

Edited March 3, 2009 by bkkjames

[Old Man River]

Many years ago I was in a commercial plane landing in Belize and it was obvious from where I was sitting that we were going to miss the runway. At the last moment the plane banked hard to the left and we landed on the runway with fire engines driving fast towards the plane. Nobody was hurt and I think few even knew we almost crashed.

At another time while in a Central American plane we saw a 5 inch, black, furry tarantula running up and down walls where we were sitting. Nobody had a good ride that day.

[Sir Burr]

Flying Garuda from Balikpapan to Jakarta in an MD-80.

We were making our descent into Jakarta in the middle of a huge storm. Torrential rain, thunder and lightning.

It seemed like we were descending through the cloud forever.

When we finally popped out of the cloud, we were a hundred metres off the ground and the airport could clearly be seen several kilometres away on the starboard side.

The engines were immediately put to maximum thrust and the MD-80 stood on its tail to regain altitude.

Real fun.

[beano2274]

Gibraltar is also a bad one, you see the sea coming towards you as you get to the end of the Runway

Danair the worst airline I have been on, named DAN DARE after many landing attempts in Gib failed

[IMA_FARANG]

Landing in the Faroe Islands, in the north Atlantic, the closest thing to landing on an aircraft carrier I've ever done.

The airport perches on the side of a mountain. Approach from one direction over the ocean to a landing strip about 500 feet high with a shear drop to the sea. Other side of the runway ends about 350 feet over rocks and breaking sea.

When the plane lands, a short runway landing plane is required, the pilot goes to full reverse on landing, and steps on the brakes. If the plane doesn't stop soon enough, there's no way to overun the runway, either side you end up dropping at least 350 feet to the rocks below.

The Faroes has many days a year when it is fogged in, or the runway is wet, Even the official tourist guide says that the Faroes average 300 days of precipitation each year. That doesn't leave a lot of clear days, does it?

When I was there, the pilot on the flight from Copenhagen to the Faroes had flown the route for many years. He was one of the half dozen or so who were qualified for the flight. It is a very short runway, and the fog, wind, and rain makes the landing difficult.

Everybody in the Faroes knows the legendary story about the day when the wind across the airport was so strong, it blew a parked aircraft off the runway and turned it over.

It was possible to land at at the airport and not be able to leave the island where the airport is once. Then you had to take a passenger ferry from the airport to another island then, and sometimes the wind was too strong for the ferry to run.

Now, since I left, I understand there is a tunnel that was built, so you can drive to the airport, and no longer have to take the ferry.

I worked there in from 1985 to 1993, and every time I had to land there from Copenhagen, my palms were sweaty.

Edited March 8, 2009 by IMA_FARANG

[chefshane]

Landed here in Bangkok on 17th Feb. at 6.55 am and then again at 7.10am. The wheels touched down and then immediately we were, sharply, taking off again. The Pilot gave us a message to say 'Sorry about that folks, we were given the all clear to land but it wasn't all clear'. We then did a circuit and landed properly at 7.10am.

That wasn't Thai airways,was it??? I had a similar landing in Sydney once,the crosswinds were pounding the plane,left to right,then as the plane touched down,it took off again!Scared the hel_l out of me,and everybody else.Then,just for fun,the same pilot landed in Brisbane a few hours later(Same flight)so dam_n hard that the over head lockers opened on people's heads..... On a different Thai airways flight,as the jet took off the ceiling compartment broke away,coming down on the passengers in front of me.They had to hold it up for the entire take off period,'till they were in the sky.

I had similar from Sydney to Tasmania on an old airline called EastWest.

On the flight to Hobart, the weather took a turn for the worse and they tried to divert.

Flew into Burnie, then decided not to even try. Then off to Launceston. Descended but as the plane was almost flying sideways they announced they would land at Devonport instead.

At Devonport the plane touched down like a deranged kangaroo on amphetamines, bounced, skidded sideways off the runway onto the grass, then went full tilt and took off again.

The whole plane was eerily silent. No screaming - I think we were all too shell-shocked.

A few minutes later, the pilot announced that we would land at Hobart as planned. (He probably needed the time to change his brown pants and bring his heartbeat back under 500/minute.)

We DID land at Hobart safely, and I think most passengers headed straight for a bottle of the strongest spirits they could find after clearing baggage claim.

Grim. :D :D

[Jimjim]

Flying the island hop from Guam to Hawaii landing in Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Majuro there are some short runways and rough landings. In Majuro, the runway is wider than the island itself. I can't believe people actually live in the Marshall Islands with their amazingly thin, thin islands.

[hhgz]

Talk about scary landings....months ago, a TV regular's flight was landing, and the air conditioner stopped working. Oh no! As soon as his plane landed, he SMS'd everyone he knew, telling them about his harrowing experience, and the near-deathness of breathing uncooled air. Heavens!

[SKORPiO]

Few years ago when flying from Poland to US the plane was hit by a lightning right in the middle of the wing. I have never ever in my life seen such brightness. It happened right before the landing. It turned dead silent for few seconds Still feel funny every time i land at Chicago O'hare

regards, Bartek.

[peter991]

I think the scariest landing I ever experienced was flying back into Perth (AUS) on an 18 seater twin prop plane on the fly-in / fly-out mining contract from the Nllarbor town of Balladonia in 1987. We were at 500 feet (or metres) up and 1km prior to Perth domestic airport - when we caught the jet-wash of a Singapore Airlines flight which had just taken off from nearby Perth International Airport on a runway which runs at right-angles to ours.

Our little plane dropped at least half way between where we were and the ground and rocked violently left to right. instead of applying full power and making a second attempt at landing, our new (and very inexperienced) pilot continued in and we handed heavily (but in one piece) on the tarmac.

Peter

[Mosha]

The worst I experienced was at Phuket on a Thai 747. The pilot landed long, we were still travelling at speed when the aircraft left the runway. We were thrown sideways as the aircraft turned.

A friend was flying to Madeira on a 757, as the aircraft was flying parallel to the runway, the passenger were told if they looked out they could see the runway. As they were approaching to land, the pilot said, do not be alarmed if you feel reverse thrust apply before touch down, this is normal for this airport.

[pampal]

Kharg Island-Persian Gulf

the runway was made for small propeller planes(ie:Cessna)

we flew in on a 727 and flew out in a C130

at the time the runway was 1820 meters, it has since been extended to 2300 meters

[mogoso]

I've had a few strange landings and of course the always thrilling lightning strike. The lightning strike itself was of course odd, not rare but infrequent, but the dang turbulence on that flight was nothing short of Disneyland. Seems like all my flights through Taipai end up odd.

Flying from San Pedro Sula to Roitan the old DC-3 went 45% and back on the landing to miss a palm tree. As soon as we hit the tarmac rather joltedly a cabinet flew open to scatter toilet paper in the front aisles. Seemed rather appropo

Coming from Miami to Bogota we just about put wheels on the runway when pilot gave it full power and got it airborne again. As we circled around to try the landing again the American Airline pilot announced a Colombian Air Force plane wandered into our runway. Quick reactions and knowledge of his aircraft has my thanks.

[Pistolbelt]

Flying Gatwick to Kingston Jamaica a few years back, we were halfway over the ocean and there were some rather disturbing clunking noises coming from the left wing, anyway, the co-pilot and another crew member came down the aisle and started peering out of the windows, then went back to the front, shortly after the plane noticably lost power, and it felt like it was flying very much nose up...so the pilot comes on and tells us that we have lost the engine, and he is calculating if we will have enough fuel to make it to kingston!!! (I dont think there are many closer places to land on this route!) by now all the jamaicans are making a great noise and the women are praying...anyway it took us 2.5 hrs extra to get there, and on the landing, the engines shut off completely and we glided the bloody thing in!! good job i was drinking most of the way..

Another scary flight/landing is the chinook heli you have to take from Lungi airport, Sierra Leone to Freetown, it is old and russian, shakes like it will fall apart, and you dont get used to it fast..infact it shakes soo much I believe the Lagos football team all died when it eventually shook its self apart...

[Thai at Heart]

Depressurisation after taking off from Nairobi with a bunch of emotional Greeks on Olympic.

There had been an incident before where we took off when one of the passengers asked what was the name of the plane. When told the name he demanded to get off because it had had problems before. Everyone told him to sit down so we could leave.

10 mins in, down come the masks and all the Greeks started screaming. We circled and came down like a lead balloon.