10 of the Scariest Airport Landings in the World

When it comes to phobias, a fear of flying—known as aerophobia or aviophobia—is one of the most common, topping the list alongside the likes of arachnophobia and claustrophobia. Even people who don’t suffer from this specific fear often feel scared during bad turbulence or a particularly bumpy landing. But there are a handful of specific airport landings that will have even the most confident flyers filled with fear. 

The fear factor of scary airport runways can come from a few different elements: runway length, proximity to buildings or mountains, elevation, and weather. The 10 airports on this list aren’t all inherently dangerous—although some of them pose challenges that require pilots to undergo extra training—but the landings will have passengers biting their nails in terror none the less. 

1. Tenzing-Hillary Airport // Nepal
2. Courchevel Altiport // France
3. Gustaf III Airport // Saint Barthélemy 
4. Gibraltar International Airport // Gibraltar
5. Princess Juliana International Airport // Sint Maarten 
6. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport // Saba
7. Ice Runways // Antarctica
8. Agatti Airport // India
9. ​Paro International Airport // Bhutan 
10. Toncontín International Airport // Honduras

Tenzing-Hillary Airport // Nepal

Most people hoping to summit Mount Everest from the Nepalese side fly into Tenzing-Hillary Airport, located in the little town of Lukla. The travel hub was named after Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first people to reach Everest’s peak in 1953; the airport was actually built thanks to Hillary, who wanted climbers to have an easier way to get to the foot of Everest (previously, people had to hike for several days from Kathmandu).

The runway is only 1729 feet long—most runways are typically between 8000 and 13,000 feet—and it sits at an altitude of 9186 feet, meaning that planes have to fly faster to maintain lift in the thin air. The landing strip also has an incline of 12 percent, which creates an illusion that can cause pilots to fly too low, and it’s surrounded by mountains, meaning that there’s no go-around procedure.

Tenzing-Hillary Airport was named the most dangerous airport in the world by History’s Most Extreme Airports and has been the site of a fair number of crashes over the years. The worst accident happened in 2008, when a Twin Otter flew through clouds while landing, crashed into rocks near the runway, and caught fire—18 people died, with only the pilot surviving.

Courchevel Altiport // France

The ski resort of Courchevel is located high in the French Alps and those who fly in technically don’t land at an airport, but at an altiport—which means that it only serves smaller aircraft. Because it’s located on the side of a mountain at 6588 feet, Courchevel Altiport has an incredibly short runway that clocks in at just 1762 feet and is built on a slope with an 18.66 percent gradient.

Aside from pilots not having much runway to work with, there are a few other challenges that make Courchevel so hair-raising. Pilot Jean-Marie Urlacher explained that “once you’re on the approach, at a certain point, you’re committed to land because there’s no possibility for a safe go-around. The terrain rises too steeply for that.” If thick fog or cloud rolls in, pilots also can’t rely on instrument approach procedure—a set of pre-established maneuvres that are used when visibility is limited—or lighting aids, meaning that flights are typically grounded until the weather clears.

Gustaf III Airport // Saint Barthélemy 

The runway of Gustaf III Airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy is again on the short side—measuring 2119 feet—and ends right at the sea, but that isn’t what makes landing there so scary. Planes have to fly over the Col de la Tourmente neighborhood, which is nestled on a hill with only 30 feet of clearance right before reaching the airport; that makes for an incredibly steep descent to the runway. The wheels of planes are often mere feet from skimming the grassy slope just before touch down. 

Although the sharp descent looks dangerous, pilots are specially trained to fly the route and there’s only ever been one major accident. In 2001, a Twin Otter lost control on the approach to the airport while slowing down over Col de la Tourmente and crashed into a house. All 19 people aboard were killed, as was one person on the ground.

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Gibraltar International Airport // Gibraltar

The airport in Gibraltar looks scary for a couple of reasons. Most obviously, it’s built right next to the Rock of Gibraltar, a striking 1398 foot limestone mountain. The stone monolith can make landing a little tricky, with winds from the south sweeping around the rock and creating unstable conditions. It’s not that uncommon for flights to be diverted due to strong winds and for passengers to be bussed into Gibraltar. 

The other scary feature of Gibraltar Airport is that a four-lane road—Winston Churchill Avenue—cuts directly across the runway. The road is the main route for those traveling to and from Spain, so it’s a fairly busy thoroughfare, but it’s not actually dangerous. All traffic is stopped a few minutes before any planes take off or land and no accidents have ever occurred. And since 2023, the Kingsway Tunnel has been an option for those who don’t want to wait. 

Princess Juliana International Airport // Sint Maarten 

Caribbean beaches are usually known for their white sand and turquoise waters, but Maho Beach on the island of Sint Maarten (also spelled Saint Martin) is famous for a more unique reason. Princess Juliana Airport’s runway is mere feet from the sand, with just a single road and chain-link fence separating the two. This close proximity means that planes pass directly over beach-goers heads with only 30 feet of clearance. 

In addition to being a popular photo spot, some people engage in a dangerous activity known as “fence surfing”—which involves trying to hold onto the chain-link fence while planes take off. Thanks to the runway only being 7546 feet long, pilots have to rev the engines before taking off, creating up to 250 mph gusts of air. There are warning signs advising against fence surfing, with people having been injured and one tourist even dying after falling and hitting their head.

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport // Saba

Anyone looking to fly to Saba must board a plane at the above mentioned Princess Juliana Airport on Sint Maarten. It’s a 15 minute flight to the little island, which is largely made up of mountainous terrain. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport was built on one of Saba’s only flat pieces of land, protruding off of the island’s north east corner. The landing strip is only 1300 feet in length and only 900 of those feet are deemed usable—making it the shortest commercial runway in the world. Even scarier, both ends of the runway end with a sheer drop into the sea. 

Pilots flying into Saba’s airport require special training. “Once a guy has been fully trained and we’re satisfied, we radio into operations that another Top Gun is born. That’s what we call them,” said Captain Roger Hodge, who is responsible for training the pilots.

Ice Runways // Antarctica

There aren’t many paved runways in Antarctica (thanks to logistical challenges posed by the environment) and planes often land instead on carefully prepared and monitored ice runways. There are two kinds of ice runway: blue and white. The former are built on top of hard glacier ice, while the latter are comprised of compacted and leveled snow.

Landing on ice is an entirely different experience to landing on asphalt or concrete. Pilots usually use brakes to slow down, but on ice they have to use reverse thrusters because of the lack of surface friction; this means that it takes far longer to slow down, so runways have to be longer. Landing strips also have to be carefully maintained, with grooves being cut to provide extra grip and loose snow being cleared before any aircraft can touch down.

While you might think that it’s constantly freezing in Antarctica, there are rises in temperature that can have a detrimental effect on the runways. “When it’s cold, it’s not a problem to take a big aircraft down there but, when it gets warmer, the aircraft is going to land on water, not ice,” explained Sven Lindström from the Norwegian Polar Institute. The solution is to cover the runway in at least 4 inches of snow—which keeps the cold in—when the temperature gets up to 23°F or above.

Agatti Airport // India

Around 285 miles off the west coast of India is the little picturesque island of Agatti, which features an airport on its southern tip. Agatti Airport’s 4235-foot runway is built on a very thin strip of land, meaning that the asphalt surface is surrounded by water on three sides—water that is incredibly close to the plane. While it might feel scary landing on and taking off from a tiny bit of land in the middle of the ocean, at least the open water means that there aren’t any obstacles that pilots have to dodge around to land safely.

​Paro International Airport // Bhutan 

The Himalayas stretch across Bhutan, and while the mountainous terrain makes the country beautiful, it also makes flying into Paro Airport a bit of a challenge. The airport is located in the Paro River valley, which is surrounded by mountains of up to 18,000 feet on all sides. Specially trained pilots have to descend through the twisting valley to reach the landing strip—with a few sharp banks and turns along the way to avoid the mountains. “It is challenging on the skill of the pilot, but it’s not dangerous, because if it were dangerous, I wouldn’t be flying,” explained Captain Chimi Dorji.

The airport’s high elevation—it sits 7364 feet above sea level—also poses a problem, with the thin air reducing an aircraft’s performance power and requiring pilots to fly faster. Yet another challenge are the vicious crosswinds that often blow through the valley; flights are typically scheduled to land in the morning when the weather tends to be calmer.

Toncontín International Airport // Honduras

Another airport that is tricky for landings because of surrounding mountains is Toncontín International Airport, located in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. In addition to navigating around the mountains while descending, pilots also have to execute a 45-degree turn mere minutes before touching down. 

This tricky landing has led to accidents in the past. The worst crash occurred in 1989: The crew of a Boeing 727 ignored Toncontín’s standard landing procedure, which involves three step-downs to avoid the mountains, and instead performed a continuous descent. The plane crashed into the side of a mountain, killing 131 of the 146 people on board. The difficult terrain around Toncontín led to the government constructing a new airport that would be safer, with Palmerola International Airport opening a little over an hour’s drive away in 2021. 

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