World’s Insanely Scary Runways

Are you kidding me? These basically exist? Travel and Leisure Magazine did a spread on some of the wildest runways about the globe. Let’s just double verify that all our tray tables and seatbacks are in the locked and upright positions.

Discussed in the write-up are the many variables in landing a plane to start with. Then you add in shortened runways, one of a kind atmospheric and meteorological conditions, heavy air traffic, or a combination of these and you have your self a white knuckle thrill ride . . . at least for some of the individuals on board (we won’t mention any TheExpeditioner.com contributors or anything).

Tom Claytor, a pilot with experience flying in and out of the Matekane Air Strip in the little African country of Lesotho, talks about taking off from this short strip of concrete sitting inches from a vast couloir at 7,550 feet high,  sometimes “you shoot off the finish of the airstrip, then drop down the 2,000-foot cliff face till you start off flying.”

The image above was taken at Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, exactly where pilots are required to have further instruction to fly there. Regardless of training or quantity of Dramamine, I’m certain there’s some seriously colorful language heard in these cabins (or cockpits).