The Jetpacker

Plane rides can sometimes be scary.  We don’t want to make the ride even scarier by taking off or landing at an airport where your odds of crashing are dramatically higher.

Thanks to a new list from SmarterTravel, we can now avoid the World’s Scariest Airports:

#1.   Barra Airport – Barra, Scotland
The runways at this island airport are on the beach… which means planes can only land during low tide when the runway isn’t covered by water.

#2.   Gibraltar Airport – Gibraltar
This one might be scarier for drivers on the road than pilots.  That’s because the city’s main avenue literally runs right through the airport’s runway.  Traffic officials have to temporarily close down the street each time an airplane takes off or lands.

#3.   Toncontín International Airport – Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Planes coming in for a landing at this airport have to fight through high winds and bank 45-degrees around a mountain in order to quickly line up with the runway.

#4.   Nantucket Memorial Airport, Nantucket, Massachusetts
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who couldn’t see the runway but said “f*ck it”
The fog was insane
But he had to land the plane
So he used only the instruments and lucked it

#5.   Paro Airport – Paro, Bhutan
This airport is tucked at the bottom of a valley in the Himalaya Mountains, meaning pilots have to twist through the mountains and make a sudden, last second turn to hit the runway.

#6.   Yeager Airport – Charleston, West Virginia
You better hope the pilot doesn’t overshoot this runway, because if he does, the plane falls over a cliff.

#7.   La Aurora International Airport – Guatemala City, Guatemala
To get to this airport, pilots must weave through mountains… and pass an active volcano.

#8.   LaGuardia Airport – New York City, New York
This is a double whammy.  Pilots have to make sure not to collide with other planes crowding the skies over nearby JFK and Newark airports, they also have to land on a runway that extends over water.

#9.   Wellington International Airport – Wellington, New Zealand
The winds are so strong coming into this airport that approaching planes wobble and often land at an angle.

#10. John Wayne Airport – Santa Ana, California
Locals complained so much about the loud noise coming from this Orange County airport — what did they expect, commercial flights on stealth jets? — that a noise ordinance was established requiring pilots to cut the throttle after a sharp ascent over Newport Beach homes.  Ah, yes, let’s endanger everyone so we don’t disturb the housewives tanning themselves on their balcony.

Which of these airports terrifies you the most?