WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS AIRPORT! Flying to Lukla, Nepal!

I am here at Kathmandu the capital city of Nepal so I put out a post on my insta tonight and asked you guys what I should be doing here in Nepal of what sort of thing you'd like to see and overwhelming a majority of you they want me to go to the world's most dangerous airport so I'm gonna do it I've just booked a return flight to lukla which is about a 30-minute flight from here on the side of a mountain I'm gonna be heading up there and spending a couple of days there and then flying back here to Kathmandu now there have been eleven crashes here at lukla in the last 20 odd years that's what makes it the most dangerous airport to fly into apparently but there hasn't been a crush since April so yeah let's go and take the most dangerous flight in the world to the most dangerous airport in the world let's go I think thanks to pouch for sponsoring this video more on how they can save you a fortune later in the video I arrived at Kathmandu domestic terminal early in the morning flight right to Luca I was flying up to Lucca with Terra air one of three Airlines and several of them cannot do along with the passengers there were loads of supplies being checked in to be taken to the numerous countertop in the mountains hello good morning State [Music] the usually chaotic domestic departure lounge at Kathmandu was unusually quiet at this time in the morning so I'm here waiting to board the most dangerous fly in the world I've got my boarding pass for a completely different flight to the one that I was actually booked on and I think that's just the way of things here you just turn up and just hope that that's so my flight leaves 6:45 now instead of 6:15 and shifts what the original time also never mind I wonder why and again the domestic terminal equipment is essentially just a bus station and when you board your head outside to a bus that will take you down to the domestic Ram this just gives you a great chance to see the other aircraft on the ground though or nepali airlines have banned from flying in the EU on safety grounds however in my short time in Nepal I found the airlines earthly world completely acceptable with nothing at all standing out is any different to flying anywhere else in the world the pilots are incredibly skilled and they do fly in some really challenging conditions my right up to Luca today was his Viking - an otter originally delivered a new Tatara in 2015 inside it's pretty spot and indeed but perfectly acceptable for the short ride at the mountain [Music] pretty soon we fired up the engines and made our way out to the runway at Kathmandu [Music] our route today took as East out of Kathmandu towards the mountainous terrain of Eastern Nepal before making an approach and landing into runway zero six at lukla flight time today was thirty minutes at a cruising altitude of 13,000 feet [Music] after a few minutes that tallest peaks of the Himalayas began to appear on the horizon the ground below us rose really quickly and despite being at 13,000 feet at some points we were just a thousand feet above the ground eventually the town of Lucca appeared in the distance a place I've seen so many times in photos and videos and was finally seeing you in person I soon got a glimpse of the runway at Lucca that's claimed so many victims in the past it's just 518 meters or 1,700 feet long to put that into perspective you could fit this runway onto the runway at London City three times there's no option to go around at local effects of the mountain at the end of the runway and usually in the morning aircraft lamp at their tail wind did I mention that the runway also has a 12 degree slope and a sheer drop at the bottom [Music] we touched down safely and tax it into the tiny anger an Olympian [Music] the aircraft is one engine running as the passengers disembark and the next load come on board before taxiing out and disappear and down the mountain for the flight back to Kathmandu [Laughter] [Music] big thanks to pouch the sponsor in this video if you don't know what pouch is listen up it's really simple it's just a free browser extension that automatically finds it applies voucher codes for over 3,000 websites to save money on your online purchases you don't have to do anything just shop as you normally would and pouch would do its thing find your voucher code and save you money in this example you'd save over 44 pounds booking a hotel how easy is that it's so easy to install - all you have to do is click on the link in the description and install the plug into your browser and let it work his magic I tell you what I'm gonna walk from the airport terminal at lukla to my hotel let's see if you can install the plugin before I get to the door of the hotel [Music] how easy was that enjoy saving money on your travels or on those poor if your online purchases by using my hotel for the night with the Buddha lodge right next door to the airport so then here at the Buddha Lodge in Nepal at Lukla Airport I mean you want to see how close this is to airport there's the apron right outside the window so it's not far to walk at all it's a little basic yeah I'll give it that you can really see why this airport's regarded is one of the most dangerous in the world look at the length of that runway it's so short and once you've landed on approach you've kind of got this massive mountain behind you so you're not gonna be able to do it go around you kind of get one shot only and taking off isn't much easier at the end of the runway there's just a sheer cliff face so if you've not fast enough yous gonna run straight off the end pilots need a lot of training to be able to come and land here at Tenzing Hilary [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] aside from Terra Air summit air and Sita all operate flights to lukla all flights are scheduled between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. when it's daylight and the weather's its clearest of the landing a lukla which is always done visually [Music] Tenzing Hilary Airport was built in 1964 under the supervision of Sir Edmund Hillary the first person to climb Everest along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay with whom the airport named after today the runway wasn't paved until 2001 Mountain weather means at the airport can often close without warning there's been occasions where the weather's remain foggy for several days and people have got a stronger Deluca for up to a week on occasion when the weather's been bad the town of Lucca is built almost entirely around the tourism from people on their way up to the mountains the only way in or out of lukla is by air or on foot so the town is essentially the Gateway to the mountains in the Khumbu region everest of course is the most famous but most people come neither to just trekking the mountains or go to the smaller peaks such as nutsy and lotzie from Lucca it's a two-day walk to the next town of namja and a further five days to the base camp of Everest in peak season of April to May those 40 landings or takeoffs a day here aside from the airliner traffic the airport served by many helicopters taking people up to Everest or back down to Kathmandu [Music] [Music] [Music] so I figured I come for a bit of a walk around Lukla Airport all around the airport that's all around the town it's just little footpaths everywhere and you see the runway the runways right there behind me touchdown point is kind of over there the ground under thought here is just so treacherous rocks everywhere I don't know how you see these Sherpas firing up and down carrying like really heavy loads just carrying on with it somehow they don't get injured absolutely stunning look at him so there's the runway up there and there's a drop of phidian's ice wall something that's where they end up if they miss juju maybe I shouldn't have come down here and flying out of here in a couple of days every now and then you hear like a helicopter and over to eat up the climbers are bringing them back from somewhere well there's a plane just landing now let's go see if we can see a band let's watch the left for 10 take off someday another successful takeoff walking down to the bottom engine runway maybe also never here I'm certainly yes yes so out of breath hey who's crazy a visually walked so back in my room at the wonderful Buddha lodge am i selling it to you guys he's absolutely bloomin fries in here honestly they even the staff who work here or working in the coats with the hat sort of things I over it gorillas so even they of wrapped up inside there's no heating whatsoever in this hotel basic is the word I think there's no heating there's no hot water there's intermittent Wi-Fi which isn't too bad I guess and the electric though keeps going out as well see another thing here but hey I think it's cost me like twenty dollars a night or something for this hotel so it's not too expensive I just know that I can't stay here more than one night because this is just I've spent the entire afternoon rough talking duvets of a Cove on Hoover from whom you look at the cut off my hands blue from the cold yeah it's just crazy absolutely crazy but never mind so tomorrow morning then I've just changed my fly I was going to spend two nights here but I've decided to head back to Kathmandu a day early because I just can't deal with this cold in this hotel so I'm going to be heading back in the morning with Summit's air on border let fall turn hopefully got the early flight out so just one night here rocks up nice and hopefully under these duvets you can't expect too much that to be honest I mean remember Lou Claire is a little tiny village perched up high in the Himalayas there's no road access anywhere the only way in and out is by plane really you can't expect much to be fair so I shouldn't complain about it and they do the best they can try and get wrapped up nice and warm and get some sleep I'm dreading waking up in the morning and I forget out of bed in this nice colorful room that a never mind so I will speech you in the morning good night well good morning is now 6:00 a.m. and I've just got up it's absolutely freezing awoke all my fingers I couldn't feel my fingers basically my hands been outside the bed over in dressed remind me of when I went camping years ago as a kid with scouts and stuff it's just like a race to get dressed as quickly as you can before you get too cold but never mind I am off to warmer climes I'm off to back down to Kathmandu now it's 6:00 a.m. I'm gonna head across the footpath to call it out to the terminal and yeah let's get some it airs left for turn back down to come and do let's do this alright goodbye my boy watch good morning the airport at lukla was deserted at this time in the morning and I had to wait for the staff to turn off before I could check in thank you once I checked in my bag it had to be security checked at this counter before they took it to put it on a trolley after I dropped my bag it was time to go through the rather basic security check which simply involves a guide just asking me if there was anything dodgy in my bag if I walk through to the departure lounge aside that loo clear well there's just a small departure lounge with the tea stall I did chuckle at the signpost for the VIP room and I opted to give it a miss the Sun started to rise illuminating the snow-capped peak of calm Deary as the drone of a turboprop engine approached and the first fight of the day landed at Lukla [Music] later my white batter Katmandu arrived it's a let for 10 originally delivered to Russian Pam Airlines in 2014 since then it's phone for crass appear in Russia before being sold to Gomer Airlines at Nepal who changed their name to summit air back in 2018 I watched the Torah at twin otter take her turn down the ski slope before realizing it was my turn next thank you as I gently walked out to the left for 10 I had to wait as they were still off loading cargo from the aircraft the left for tens used to bring supplies up the mountain and the cabins filled with boxes of fruit vegetables and beer it was soon time to climb on board and take my seat on the left for 10 which was actually the warmest have been in two days [Music] we taxied out to the runway and lined up to take on right down the side of the mountain and I was surprised at how much I felt the hump on the runway it really lifts you out his seat we were successfully airborne a route that's a Kathmandu today to his Southwest out of Lukla and then towards Kathmandu making a white turn to the long final approach at Tribune Airport flight time today was forty-three minutes at a cruising altitude of 12,000 feet as a flew over the beautiful scenery of East in the fall I had time to reflect you see I expected this trip to be scary it was after all the most dangerous airport in the world statistically speaking at least and yes the airport does see his fair share of accidents but consider if you will that this Airport has up to 40 flights a day in peak season and in the last 20 years there's been 11 accidents yes that's high compared to some airports but it's still incredibly low compared to the number of flights that it sees and considering just how dangerous this Airport is meant to be for me this was just another affirmation that flying is still incredibly safe even at the world's most dangerous airport [Music] [Music] a pop both of my flights separately online with Tara and summit air and paid a total of 281 pounds or 365 u.s. dollars it's where it's out at a cost of 60 pence per mile compared to a long walk I think this is a pretty good deal [Music] [Music] they're in namaste I check him please well this is decent now this is a little bit better than the Shack that I was staying in up in lukla look a bit more room and look we have something incredible that's even better than hold on that had this heating and I'm not freezing it's nice it's comfortable I've got a couple of nights here and that it's beautiful right so look at the view I have a Katmandu the other side you can see the stupa and there's also like a swimming pools and stuff there I've got a few days here now ahead of my flight home I don't know what I'm gonna do though there are some other flights I've really like to do here in commando so I'm not sure I'm gonna do them listen guys let me know what you think to the floor I talked to Luke live is that something that you do I mean they call it the most dangerous airport in the world but to be honest I don't think is that bad let me know what you think to this video and let me know what you think Tallulah and Tara air and stomach tear down in the comments but in the meantime as always thank you so much for watching guys take care and I'll see you next time

Channel: Noel Philips

Views: 252,729

Rating: 4.9279337 out of 5

Keywords: worlds most dangerous airport, most dangerous airport, lukla, lukla airport, noel philips, inflight video

Id: Jy18nx13QV0

Length: 24min 12sec (1452 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/y2k2r2d2]

London here we come in our shiny new Airbus.

[u/[deleted]]

Thank god International Aviation doesnt rely on reports based on some random vloggers.

Nepal Airlines is the worst, most unprofessional airline I've ever flown in. Even Ryan and Monarch were significantly better in comparison.

I had to ask a simple question about a flight to Mumbai recently. They wouldnt answer the phone. So I had to go to NAC office in Kantipath. Turns out, there's nobody in the desk to answer phone calls. There was this old lady in a different desk casually talking in Newari. She was killing time and this continued on for nearly 60 mins.

[u/ResidentSignal64]

They are not banning Nepali airplanes for any reason; they have safety issues and maintenance records. Don't be so naive. They need an overhaul, but we have an incompetent buffoon running the business. The future is there, but there’s no one to take us there well, not with the current leadership.