Nice Photos.
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 27 February 2008
Here is my candidate as being almost quite good. In fact it is two painstakingly joined.
Taken up in the mountain at Skurdalsvatn in 2000.
Though this one takien in Warsaw in November 2006 is not bad:
I know there are several good photgraphers here, and it would be nice to see some of you best efforts if you feel inclined to share!
George
Spot the airport!
400m, the shortest commercial runway in the world, apparently. Cliffs both ends. Slopes uphill to aid deceleration. Departing planes take off by virtue of driving off the bottom. Interesting.
Great view from the top. Just enough gaps in the cloud.
Anyone else been here?
You should try Lukla in the Himalaya for something that makes this look like a cakewalk!
Some Youtube clips out there.
Indeed. Lukla is crazy. You approach while trying to avoid mountains and clouds (the clouds tend to have mountains in them). The landing technique is to go into a dive and then a steep pull up almost to a stall and then land uphill. From the cockpit the runway looks no larger than a supermarket car parking space. No way could anything actually land on that - not unless it's a harrier jump jet. Then you spot the wreckage from previous flights that weren't so lucky. You find yourself scanning the area to see whether it's some kind of optical illusion. Maybe that's not the strip at all. Where's the proper landing strip? No, it's very, very short. There's a dog-leg at the end where you have to pull a handbrake turn otherwise you hit a wall built into the mountainside. You make this turn at some speed, quite often with blown tyres.
If successful, you smile cheer and hug one another. You praise the Lord, kiss the ground, and you're generally filled with the joys of still being alive. That's if you're one of the pilots...
Leaving lukla is something else again. You start rolling on the dog leg section so when you turn to run down the runway, you're already at full revs and trying pick up speed as quickly as possible. You reach the end of the runway and you're suddenly in the air. Except, you're not going up, you're falling, and all you can see through the cockpit is the rock, dust and sparse vegetation below coming towards you very quickly. Oh, and the pilot wrestling the small prop plane as you gradually pull out of a dive and pull the nose up and away.
If you're the sort who loves theme park roller coasters then it's all great stuff. If not, I'd advise you give Lukla a miss. Having said that, I was last there back in 1990 so maybe it's different now. But the sheer geography of its position means that perhaps it's not that different...
She couldn't have come through the bathroom window.
I've landed twice here (as a passenger) in a 172. Landing left to right is very briefly downhill then changes quickly to an uphill. It's Soldier Bar in Idaho on Big Creek near the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, about 4200 ft elevation. Fortunately my work was down below in the creek and I then got to float out, so never had to take-off from that strip.
She couldn't have come through the bathroom window.
I believe i passed by this place....... where is it?
The macabre dance!Are you scared?
Planetarium clock,1583. 
The macabre dance!Are you scared?
Beautiful! I told you. If you walk in some Alto Adige villages you find the same paintings on houses' walls. Thanks a lot!
I Like that!
I like that!
197/500, with love from Will and Alison:
