Frank IBC says:

The approach to the old airport in Hong Kong (Kai Tak) was pretty crazy, too.

BubbaRay says:

Good Grief !! I’ve come that close to power lines before, and hope to never repeat that close one again. Students!

Here’s one plane that wasn’t that fortunate, trying to make an emergency landing on a highway. This is exactly why being a flight instructor isn’t just a bunch of fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGndTM-w_68

Major Jizz says:

I was there in 2003, stayed at the Maho Beach hotel, which is right near this attraction. It was kind of interesting eating burgers and watching planes land. All inclusive baby!

James Hill says:

Memo to terrorists: Forget the shoulder fired missile, just bring a rock.

Frank IBC says:

Takeoff from La Paz, Bolivia

BubbaRay says:

#9, Frank, yes, I used to fly in and out of Albuquerque NM, 5100 ft. MSL, and at 110F the density altitude approaches 10,000 ft. Cheese, it’s like taking off at near the service ceiling of a light twin. Nothing like a 13,000 ft. runway to help!

bobbo says:

#10—Thanks for the clip==it gave me the willies. And it is more unnerving to take off than it is to land. The take off roll becomes less controllable as time goes by while landing is just the opposite.

Interesting Factoid (or not?)–we had to take off and land early in the morning at La Paz because of what limitation of our aircraft??????

——- think and scroll down——

Sorry bout that, but some might want the exercise.

Answer==as stated, the higher you are (density altitude) the faster your true air speed is. So, before the air got heated up by the sun thereby raising the density altitude thereby increasing the takeoff and landing speed, my aircraft was limited to a tire rotation speed of 162 mph. Above that rotational speed, tire fatigue (blow apart) could happen rather quickly==especially on landing with the extra heat.

Night landings were fun too what with no instrument landing service.

Over and out.

Frank IBC says:

Bobbo -

Interesting. I noted that both my flights into La Paz from Miami were very early in the morning, but I didn’t know why.

Another complicating factor – for the above reasons and others, the weight of planes flying into La Paz is restricted. On my previous trip, when the plane was preparing to take off from Miami, it was determined that there was too much weight and 10 passengers were volunteered to take another flight. Unfortunately, as they were removing the luggage of the people staying behind, they took out my checked bag and didn’t put it back on the plane. So I spent the first day in Bolivia with just the contents of my carryon bag and the clothes on my back.

Frank IBC says:

Tegucigalpa, Honduras has a hair-raising approach and short runway.

T-Rick says:

Anyone that close to an American runway, or even making an effort to watch planes take off and land (see plane spotter stories) are treated like potential terrorists.