World's Most Dangerous Airports | Pilot Reacts

someone in the 74 crew sent me this   most dangerous airports in the world and i thought  well there's literally no way i'm not going to do   a video on this i wonder how realistic it is  most dangerous airports in the world coming up hey 74 crew welcome back if you don't  know me my name is kelsey i'm a 747 pilot   my channel 74 gear is all about aviation i  really appreciate all of you in the 74 crew   for sending me videos like this that  i would never find on my own and i am   so curious to see if this is even remotely  realistic let's get into it luke law airport   this is the main airport that you would take  if you were going to be visiting mount Everest   the airport is nestled between two mountains  and the runway is extremely short because of   the elevation the plane cannot get any lights and  very little electrical power also there are no   air traffic controllers therefore it is up to the  pilot to safely touch down and land the plane on   their own it's up to the pilot to safely land the  plane on their own also there are no air traffic   controllers therefore it is up to the pilot to  safely touch down and land the plane on their   own clearly i've been doing it wrong this whole  time apparently air traffic control is actually   supposed to land the plane and i'm just supposed  to be up there to uh i don't know push the buttons   this is a very specialized airport meaning  random pilots aren't going to be coming here   doing touch and goes at a place like this so  you're only going to have specialized pilots who   are going to be very familiar with the area and so  having air traffic control is not really necessary   in this case there's going to be a frequency that  these pilots are all going to be communicating on   and so everyone's going to know and have kind of  a layout or a pattern of the way in and the way   out and they're gonna be coordinating and the  amount of traffic there i can't imagine is that   busy to require air traffic control but this part  had me really confused because of the elevation   the plane cannot get any lights and very little  electrical power so i'm assuming that they're   meaning the airport can't have lights and power  not the plane because a plane can fly at that   altitude fine and it doesn't need to be hooked  up anywhere to get ground power or electricity   it's able to generate its own electricity with the  engine so i'm guessing they're meeting the airport   but here's something to keep in mind an airport  like this doesn't really need lights planes aren't   going to be flying in there in the middle of  night so you're only probably going to have a day   approach and in clear skies or relatively clear  at least you're not going to have planes coming   in there at night time because of the mountainous  area you're not going to have something like that   in a place like this this airport is dangerous but  for none of the reasons what they mentioned it is   a relatively short runway it's only 1700 feet long  and i didn't know that i had to look that up but   it's only 1700 feet long which is which is very  short i would say your typical short airport that   you might see will be three thousand maybe four  thousand that's going to be your short airport   that's not something that i will fly my plane into  but you will see that and i've landed at runways   that are that short that would be a typical short  runway so it's half that size so for that reason   there's some danger and it's also at a very steep  slope pilots are used to landing on a flat place   typical runway is going to be flat and  in my experience where there's been   humped runways you'll see some that have  a big bump or a slight grade sometimes the   pilots will slam it in because they're not  used to landing on something that's not flat   obviously there's going to be special training  for these pilots to get into this place   so there isn't going to be the same problem as  you would have as let's say me an airline pilot   used to landing on a flat surface if you put me  on this runway it'd probably be a straight up   hot mess but the pilots that are flying this are  going to get special training before they go there   another reason airport like this is dangerous  is i'm guessing that there's very limited go   around procedures typically when a pilot messes  up an approach to get onto a specific runway   they're able to do a go around and come back  around again i think this is backed up to a   mountain so you'd have to make the decision to go  around pretty early on it's not like you can have   a bad landing in this oh it's okay we'll just go  around and try it again i think there is probably   a procedure for that but it's not going to be a  typical one that you're going to see at an airport   and the third reason that a place like this is  going to be dangerous is that the weather in   route going in through the mountains like that  can change quickly so you might be in route to   a place like that there's not going to be  any radar coverage from air traffic control   to help you get around those mountains and a plane  of this size is going to struggle getting above   huge mountains like you see here so if you're in  route and you get a bunch of weather that moves   in on the airport you're going to have to get  out quickly because you get stuck in the weather   in a mountain valley like that it is super  dangerous another risk for an airport like this is   the altitude it's a very high airport i think it's  around ten thousand feet i've flown into airports   over eight thousand feet and so for us there's a  lot of other things that we have to consider when   you're going into a high altitude airport like  that so for that reason it's also a dangerous   airport but for almost none of the reasons that  they mentioned is that airport really dangerous   courchevel airport this french airport is built  into the alps when the pilot is ready to land he   must fly through a narrow valley for his descent  the runway is also very short it is the shortest   runway of any airport in the world the runway is  just .3 miles long if the pilot is not able to get   up enough speed to take off they will fly right  off a cliff and hope that the plane stays in the   air another reason that takeoff is so difficult is  that the runway has a downward slope of about 18.5   most pilots avoid using this airport at all  costs shortest runway in the world it is the   shortest runway of any airport in the world i  mean what about the one you just talked about   it's shorter the reason i know that is because i  had just looked it up the airport we just talked   about is actually about 30 feet shorter and for  those of you that don't use feet it's 10 meters   about 10 meters shorter than the previous  airport so it's kind of strange they just   said it's the shortest in the world but they  just literally talked about a shorter runway   right before this still it is a very short runway  now a plane does need a certain amount of speed   to get ready for takeoff having this very steep  downward slope of i think they said 18 degrees is   only going to help you gain speed though and then  the part about going off a cliff and hoping your   plane stays in flight i mean let's just say if  your plane did go off a cliff and you were going   too slow to take off the plane is going to pick  up speed assuming you don't hit trees or rocks   as you go off that cliff you're going to plan to  pick up speed and then be able to fly away fine   so that doesn't really make any sense that's not  something that would be bad if you said if you   went off this edge of the cliff and into a pile of  rocks that's a problem but not going off the cliff   and just flying away that would just pick up speed  and you'd be flying not really a big deal they may   be confusing cars with planes having a heavily  sloped runway makes it a challenge for either   landing and takeoff because it's not the way that  we were taught how to land or how to take off   but this part most pilots avoid using this airport  at all costs that makes no sense at all the pilots   aren't going to be planning to go to a certain  place and go oh that airport's closed where should   we go let's go to this very difficult one that's  in the middle of the alps that's at this very   high slope at this high altitude that's extremely  short that's my backup plan that's not how it's   going to be so them saying that they try to avoid  it at all costs that makes no sense people are   specifically going there either for the challenge  or because it's a beautiful area to fly through   when you're on a commercial flight and you're  flying to a destination the airlines usually book   a secondary a backup place to go to let's say that  airport closes down for weather or who knows what   there's a backup to go to this airport is not  going to be a backup and it's not like your pilots   are going to be flying somewhere and then that  airport closes and the other one says i got a plan   might get us both killed but if it works it'll  be a totally boss story cool to me this is what's   dangerous about this specific airport it's at a  high slope so if you're landing in there's ice or   snow on there you're going to be skidding that's  going to make it very dangerous when i've been   flying for the airlines i've landed on a place and  the plane starts to get a little bit loose because   of ice it definitely startles you because that's  a lot of momentum to move around the smaller   planes are going to have less momentum but it is  still the same thing if you've ever driven a car   and you've been sliding around on ice it's a very  uncomfortable feeling you don't have that much   control on my plane we have specific things we can  do to try to mitigate the risk or reduce the risk   but on a very short run like this there's not  a lot of options and the guy who's doing this   narration he's doing a good job and his voice  definitely adds to the drama but it would be   more dramatic if they said something like and  this airport is only one thousand centimeters   longer than the one in lucola you know you know it  sounds a little bit more dramatic than 10 meters   longer sounds a little bit more dramatic tonkotten  airport this is yet another example of an airport   that is located between the mountains with very  rough terrain in order for a pilot to prepare   for the plane's descent they would need to make  a 45 degree turn if they're going to reach the   runway which is located in a valley once they make  the turn they would need to drop their altitude   quickly if they don't the plane can scrape the  terrain underneath resulting in a crash only the   most skilled pilots attempt a landing at this  airport no offense to any of the pilots who fly   here but the ones who go here are the ones that  are specially trained to fly to this airport and   the ones that have it show up on their schedule  it's not like the top gun of airline pilots are   the only people who can fly into this specific  airport but i found this part really funny in   order for a pilot to prepare for the plane's  descent they would need to make a 45 degree turn   if they're going to reach the runway a 45 degree  turn into a runway is pretty standard that's   nothing that's special it's called a dog leg a  lot of times if you're on a visual approach you'll   come at a 45 degree angle to then turn into the  runway we call that a dog leg so that's not weird   crazy dangerous at all i decided i'm going to pull  up the charts they have a chart for this airport i   figure some of you may have flown into honduras or  want to fly to honduras so let me pull this chart   up just so you understand there's maybe two parts  to getting into an airport imagine you're flying   in the sky that's going to be your freeway so  you're on the freeway and then the route from the   freeway to your neighborhood that's going to be an  arrival chart it's going to give you a map to get   to the airport it's going to have a path to be on  and then you're going to have when you get into   that neighborhood the one that gets you from that  to your house so you kind of have two different   charts that you look at when you're getting  off from the main freeway to get to your house   this first one i'm going to look at is getting you  from the freeway to your neighborhood this is the   part he's referring to right here and there are a  few different ways you can get into this airport   but this is the treacherous 45 degree turn here's  what this says when you're at this point you need   to be above 10 000 feet and when you're at  this point you need to be above 8 000 feet   and then once you're here you're in this death  defying 45 degree turn to get into the runway   and there's actually a more complicated one which  they didn't bring up which i thought was strange   these are some more of the ones from the freeway  to get you into your neighborhood these are all   the altitudes it's basically saying you have to  keep above each of these altitudes as you come   in to the airport and this one right here is 8 000  feet and then you're going to be landing from here   and then he mentions about the steep descent from  there to come in and land once they make the turn   they would need to drop their altitude quickly so  you know a typical descent rate that your plane   will be on if you've ever flown in a commercial  plane before is three degrees three degrees is   typically the rate of descent that we're taking  as we're coming in to land on a runway now that is   the norm everywhere in the world so there will be  some airports that have a steeper pitch but three   degrees is the norm so that's the norm let's take  a look at this runway it has one approach here   you see right here that's three degrees and this  other one is 3.2 degrees so buckle up you're 0.2   degrees steeper on the approach which is not a big  deal i've done steeper approaches than that before   your typical commercial aircraft are not going  to fly in anywhere that is going to be very   high risk for you as a passenger it may look high  risk because they're flying close to the terrain   but there's a certain parameter that every  airliner has to follow to have terrain clearance   and you saw on that plate it has certain altitudes  at those altitudes the planes are going to be safe   and the autopilot gives you protection you have  all kinds of different checks and protections   to make sure that the plane is not going to be  anywhere near the mountain the real danger for   coming into an airport like this is actually  going to be a direct flight from like new york   or boston in the middle of winter and the reason  is is that once you actually get into honduras   in the middle of winter it's going to be so warm  you're most likely going to get sunburned because   you haven't seen the sun in two months so that's  the big risk of flying into this airport princess   juliana airport this airport was initially  built for small planes this is why the runway   is just 7148 feet long in order for a large  plane to land safely it needs at least eight   thousand two hundred two feet when the tourist  industry in the area started booming the airport   began bringing 747s and a340s in its regular  air traffic rotation another reason that this   airport is so dangerous and unique is that there  is a public beach located right before the runway   when planes land huge gusts of wind and sand come  up this is a problem for the people at the beach   when he started talking about the 747s and then  had the picture of the a340 the airport began   bringing 747s and a340s in its regular air traffic  rotation i was like oh please just say 747s and   show an a340 that would be great if you're new  to plane spotting you're new to the channel or   you want a really easy plane to identify the a340  is a very easy plane to identify because it's just   one level here you can see with the windows it's  just one level and it has four engines most four   engine planes that you're going to see are going  to have at least two levels but there aren't a   lot of those flying anymore but just so you see  it one level four engines a340 pretty easy then   they talk about the runway length this is why the  runway is just 7148 feet long now it's possible at   the time of making this video which i don't know  when it was that it was that short i actually just   looked it up it's 7546 feet now now that is a  short runway i will say though when i was a new   pilot on 747 i landed continually and regularly  on a pretty short runway that was 8 200 feet or   what did they say 8 200 is the minimum so i landed  on a runway that was that length all the time when   i was a new pilot on the 747. so it can't be that  dangerous of me as a new pilot can figure it out   there's all kinds of protection as well in our  landing information when we get information to   land on a specific runway there's all kinds  of buffers for brakes for the speed brakes   all kinds of different things that are built in  for protection so we don't go off the end of the   runway and then he said this which i found pretty  funny in order for a large plane to land safely   it needs at least eight thousand two hundred  two feet so you're saying that jumbo jets have   been landing there for years but they're doing it  unsafely don't let these types of videos scare you   airline pilots are big wimps we're never going to  fly anywhere that we think that there's a chance   of us dying it's definitely not worth our paycheck  to fly in somewhere and if we don't die you won't   die so it's kind of a win-win this video actually  has a bunch more of these scary airports to go   into so i'm just gonna have to make a part two  to this video if you wanna see some actual poor   choices that some pilots are making check out this  video here and if you wanna see something a bit   funnier watch this video up here i look forward to  hearing from you until then keep the blue side up

Channel: 74 Gear

Views: 886,458

Keywords: pilot, airline pilot, 747 pilot, 74 gear, pilot Kelsey, plane landing, dangerous airports, most dangerous airports, traveling, pilot reacts, Lukla airport, airports

Id: gGtCZCDisB4

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 11 2021