Re: Extreme Runways

[JohnMcGrew]

In article >,
(Scott Lowrey) writes:

>Anybody have experience with truly bizarre runways (not including
>carriers)?

St Barts, in the Carribean. The approach has you aiming about 50 feet agl
through a "saddle". (hills on both sides of you as you decend) After crossing
to the other side, you dive to where you pick up the approach end of the
runway, with about 5%+ downslope. The usable part of the runway is less than
2500 feet. Kill the lift asap, and hit the brakes. (The ****ters I watched
there have the props in flat-pitch even before the wheels are on the ground)
Departure is almost as interesting; taxi to the uphill side, and zip on down
the hill. At the other end of the runway is a beach. After you're over water,
you immediately turn left while climbing to avoid the raising terrain on the
other side of the cove. As a reminder of the cost of failure here, there's a
pile of about a half-dozen wrecks litterally stacked one on top of the other.
(as usuable space is limited)

John

[Les Gawlik]

Yes, I think this is the one where you come in over a road in one direction.
There was a great picture of a plane landing, with vehicles on the road.
The link to the picture was posted here a while ago. It was just amazing.


"JohnMcGrew" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> (Scott Lowrey) writes:
>
> >Anybody have experience with truly bizarre runways (not including
> >carriers)?
>
> St Barts, in the Carribean. The approach has you aiming about 50 feet agl
> through a "saddle". (hills on both sides of you as you decend) After
crossing
> to the other side, you dive to where you pick up the approach end of the
> runway, with about 5%+ downslope. The usable part of the runway is less
than
> 2500 feet. Kill the lift asap, and hit the brakes. (The ****ters I
watched
> there have the props in flat-pitch even before the wheels are on the
ground)
> Departure is almost as interesting; taxi to the uphill side, and zip on
down
> the hill. At the other end of the runway is a beach. After you're over
water,
> you immediately turn left while climbing to avoid the raising terrain on
the
> other side of the cove. As a reminder of the cost of failure here,
there's a
> pile of about a half-dozen wrecks litterally stacked one on top of the
other.
> (as usuable space is limited)
>
> John

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
"Les Gawlik" > wrote:

> Yes, I think this is the one where you come in over a road in one direction.
> There was a great picture of a plane landing, with vehicles on the road.
> The link to the picture was posted here a while ago. It was just amazing.
>
>
> "JohnMcGrew" > wrote in message
> ...
> > In article >,
> > (Scott Lowrey) writes:
> >
> > >Anybody have experience with truly bizarre runways (not including
> > >carriers)?
> >
> > St Barts, in the Carribean. The approach has you aiming about 50 feet agl
> > through a "saddle". (hills on both sides of you as you decend) After
> crossing
> > to the other side, you dive to where you pick up the approach end of the
> > runway, with about 5%+ downslope. The usable part of the runway is less
> than
> > 2500 feet. Kill the lift asap, and hit the brakes. (The ****ters I
> watched
> > there have the props in flat-pitch even before the wheels are on the
> ground)
> > Departure is almost as interesting; taxi to the uphill side, and zip on
> down
> > the hill. At the other end of the runway is a beach. After you're over
> water,
> > you immediately turn left while climbing to avoid the raising terrain on
> the
> > other side of the cove. As a reminder of the cost of failure here,
> there's a
> > pile of about a half-dozen wrecks litterally stacked one on top of the
> other.
> > (as usuable space is limited)


I've visited St Barts (although I did not fly in) and can verify the
above. The approach is just ovet a prime intersection for the island,
with the planes 30 feet overhead.

I think that it would be especially dicey with a crosswind, as the
runway sits in a box canyon.

[Doug]

Mile High in the Wilderness area of Idaho has to be one of the most
spectacular looking airstrips I have ever seen, although it is not as
impossible to land on as it appears. I looked on the web and couldn't
find a photo of it, although there are two good ones in the Fly Idaho
book.

[Morgans]

"Orval Fairbairn" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Les Gawlik" > wrote:
>
> > Yes, I think this is the one where you come in over a road in one
direction.
> > There was a great picture of a plane landing, with vehicles on the road.
> > The link to the picture was posted here a while ago. It was just
amazing.
> >
> >
> > "JohnMcGrew" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > In article >,
> > > (Scott Lowrey) writes:
> > >
> > > >Anybody have experience with truly bizarre runways (not including
> > > >carriers)?
> > >
> > > St Barts, in the Carribean. The approach has you aiming about 50 feet
agl
> > > through a "saddle". (hills on both sides of you as you decend) After
> > crossing
> > > to the other side, you dive to where you pick up the approach end of
the
> > > runway, with about 5%+ downslope. The usable part of the runway is
less
> > than
> > > 2500 feet. Kill the lift asap, and hit the brakes. (The ****ters I
> > watched
> > > there have the props in flat-pitch even before the wheels are on the
> > ground)
> > > Departure is almost as interesting; taxi to the uphill side, and zip
on
> > down
> > > the hill. At the other end of the runway is a beach. After you're
over
> > water,
> > > you immediately turn left while climbing to avoid the raising terrain
on
> > the
> > > other side of the cove. As a reminder of the cost of failure here,
> > there's a
> > > pile of about a half-dozen wrecks litterally stacked one on top of the
> > other.
> > > (as usuable space is limited)
>
>
> I've visited St Barts (although I did not fly in) and can verify the
> above. The approach is just ovet a prime intersection for the island,
> with the planes 30 feet overhead.
>
> I think that it would be especially dicey with a crosswind, as the
> runway sits in a box canyon.

The ultimate for tricky approaches, at least for the big iron, might be
Quito Ecuador. In a curved canyon, high steep sides, around 11,000 feet
elevation, and RIGHT in the middle of a city of 2 million. I heard you have
to serve as 1st officer for 1 year, flying in and out regularly, before they
will let you captain there. (at least for 1 Latin major)
--
Jim in NC

[JohnMcGrew]

In article
>, Orval
Fairbairn > writes:

>I think that it would be especially dicey with a crosswind, as the
>runway sits in a box canyon.

The wind there is pretty constant, and except during extreme weather. The wind
is usually funnelled up the saddle.

John

[JohnMcGrew]

In article >, "Les Gawlik"
> writes:

>Yes, I think this is the one where you come in over a road in one direction.
>There was a great picture of a plane landing, with vehicles on the road.
>The link to the picture was posted here a while ago. It was just amazing.

Yes, I took one like that. What I missed out on was on a picture of me
standing in the middle of the saddle with my arms reached up appearing to touch
the gear of the approaching planes. It's rather a thrill standing there
watching the planes dive at you, and then pass over your head at less than 30
feet! You feel like you could jump up and spin their wheels.

John

[Randy Wentzel]

For those of you who can't quite picture St. Bart's approach in your head (I
couldn't), here are some photos I found on the net. The site had a bunch of
pop-ups, so I put them in my web dir:

http://www.sonic.net/randyw/pics/st_bart/st_barts.jpg

http://www.sonic.net/randyw/pics/st_bart/st_barts2.jpg

Wow!

--
Randy

[Dan Thomas]

randall g > wrote in message >...
> On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 20:08:08 GMT, "Bob Gardner" >
> wrote:
>
> >Landed on an uphill strip up near Kamloops, BC. Had to turn 90 degrees when
> >slow enough because if I hadn't, I would have rolled back down the hill.
> >Took off downhill, of course. I would guess the slope was ten degrees, but I
> >have no data to confirm it.
> >
> >Bob Gardner
>
>
> Do you remember exactly where this is? I am not aware of any such public
> strip here in BC.
>

Anglemont, on Shuswap Lake, East of Kamloops. Since closed. Owners
got nervous about liability, I believe.

Dan (former resident)

[Wolfgang K.]

http://www.afpm.org/Faucon-atterrissage.mpg

be patient, about 13 MB, but landing on a steep sloping hill, great mpg.
field: faucon/provence/france

wolfgang, loww, vie, vienna, austria