Alitalia crash reveals dead bodies in the closet

The crashed "Alitalia" plane as it looked on Saturday

Last Saturday night, a plane crashed at Fiumicino (FCO), Rome's main airport. The initial news reports mentioned "an Alitalia flight from Pisa to Rome, veering off the runway after landing in strong winds".

Already from that moment, I was a bit surprised: I live 5 miles from the landing strip, and the wind was not unusually strong. Luckily only one person was seriously injured. But surprise: it was a flight attendent who was apparently not strapped in. Why would a flight attendant not be strapped in, during landing in strong winds?

And within hours, a more obscure story came up: While the plane had the colours and insignia from Alitalia, Italy's national carrier, and had an Alitalia flight number, it had nothing to do with Alitalia. The plane was not only operated by Carpatair, an obscure Romanian budget airline, with a Romanian crew, but was also owned by that same obscure airline. The plane itself was actually registered in Romania, and not in Italy, as Alitalia planes normally are...

More suspicion came in when I saw this Carpatair press release (.PDF):

The forcasted (sic) winds in FCO were in the limits for the ATR as aircraft type as well as those of Carpatair. Windshear predicition (sic) information was not available in the in the (sic) reports regarding actual weather and forecstaed (sic) meteorological conditions given to the crew before the flight, it was not mentioned to the pilots in the weather updates info through the ATIS (actual weather special radio frequency) during the flight or by on the tower (sic) frequency before landing

I am a firm believer that small details often reveal a full picture. A sloppy press release full of spelling/grammatical errors, puts Carpatair in the category of "duct tape and shoe lace"-airlines, in my book.
Now beyond that, what are they trying to say: that their ATR-72 aircraft should not have been flying in this weather, but nobody informed them? I smell rotten fish.

So here is my question: Explain why this is not plain fraud? While code sharing and the practice of "flights of one airline being operated by another", is common practice, in this case, there is absolutely nothing that ties this flight to Alitalia. Except the flight number.

And of course, less than 24 hours after the crash, the plane was neatly repainted, hiding all references to Alitalia.

The "Alitalia" plane, one day after the crash

Smell the dead bodies in the closet? Next thing we will hear is that a Moldovian hooker was giving the captain a blow job at the time of the crash, like with the Italian Costa Concordia cruise ship, which ran aground off the coast almost exactly a year ago...


Pictures courtesy Daily Mail and EPA.

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Not to worry, your life is in good hands

Not that recent of news, but I only discovered it now: On Feb.16, one of New York's JFK's air traffic controllers thought it would be a great idea to have his kid take control of the microphone. (Full)

Show the relativity of flying. Reminds me of an old joke.

On the speaker of jet just after take-off:

Ladies and Gentlemen, we just took off from JFK airport and are on our route to London Heathrow. This is the first commercial flight entirely controlled by computers.

Having no pilots aboard not only provides cheap tickets, but also avoids human errors, so we are quite enthusiastic about this new development in commercial flights.

We are aware this might feel a bit awkward for some of you, thus we will be providing free drinks for all during the entire flight.

And for the rest, be assured, nothing can go wrong (tick)
nothing can go wrong (tick)
nothing can go wronnnnnnnnngg ongggg ongggg ongggg (tick)
nothing cacaacacacaacacaccc ccc ccc ccc(fade)

More about flying on The Road.
Video via Airboyd.TV

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Computers will always be... computers - Brussels Airport version

One of the attractions of Brussels airport is a long series of computer screens showing a real time temperature scan of the people passing by on the rolling carpet. Publicity for one of the electricity companies of our united state.

Unfortunately, computers will always remain... computers:

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Travelling by plane

There is not much to say about most aeroplane journeys. Anything remarkable must be disastrous, so you define a good flight by negatives: you didn't get hijacked, you didn't crash, you didn't throw up, you weren't late, you weren't nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.
The gratitude brings such relief your mind goes blank, which is appropriate, for the aeroplane passenger is a time-traveller. He crawls into a carpeted tube that is reeking of disinfectant; he strapped in to go home, or away. Time is truncated, or in any case warped. (..) And from the moment he departs, his mind is focused on arrival.

Paul Theroux

in "The old Patagonian Express"

I thought of that quote yesterday. After spending five hours in transit at Madrid's airport before boarding. A group of 150 seven-graders from Portugal boarded just in front of me, all excited about their one week trip to Rome. I loved their excitement and aggitation. Kids should have fun, so I put on my headset, and fell asleep the moment I got in my seat.
Only to wake up half an hour later, in the midst of a school play ground. The boys and girls were running up and down, even though the "fasten seat belts" sign was on, calling the flight attendants for yet another coke or Mars bar.

I thought we were already in the air, half way to Rome, but we had not moved an inch. And we did not move an inch for three hours, unable to take off due to traffic congestion, it seemed later. Not that the captain was eager to announce anything. We just sat there. Except for the kids. They were not sleepy as I was. True, I had just flown through the night, and had been awake for 36 hours, but then again, I thought they'd been settling down after a few hours. But they did not.

It was strange to see how the other passengers reacted. The noise was that of a kids' birthday party, and so was the agitation and the running around. Kids love kids parties. Adults not. So, most other people switched off. At best, some would get up to stretch their legs, still with a blank stare focused on the horizon. One guy started to play cards with them. Only two passengers got excited. "Che casino, questi ragazzi! Calma, per favore, calma!" shouted an Italian passenger. And it was "piu calma" for five minutes straight.

I was glad to arrive in Rome, where we got stuck for another hour waiting for the transit buses to arrive. And for the luggage to arrive. When I finally opened the door of my apartment, I sighed with relief. I can't wait until time and space travel finally becomes reality. We just step into a tube, and "zwoop", we arrive where we need to be. From the hotel lobby in Santo Domingo to my apartment in Rome. "Zwoop". Hopefully by the time we can warp into time and space, it will be immune to volcanic dust.

But probably the kids would not enjoy warping that much. They enjoy the travel. I envied them.

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Here's airport security for you

It reminds me of Islamabad airport. Back in 2001, I passed security and I saw a weird reflection of the screen on the glasses of the security officer.

I glanced over his back and sure enough, the guy was looking at a screen full of moving snow particles, with a rolling picture, just like a badly tuned TV screen. No view of the xray'd material, though.

And that was at the height of the worldwide airport security increase after 9/11.

Picture via Fail Blog

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Security amiss: Firecrackers on plane and pope attacked

Further to my post about how security all boils down to "the people who implement it", rather that to "the systems themselves":

The pope was attacked at the start of the midnight Christmas mass, and someone set off firecrackers aboard a US transatlantic plane..

Lunatics in both cases, I am sure. But what if the intent was more serious?

Update:
It seems the fire cracker guy was serious, and it was an attempt to blow up the plane. To make everyone feel comfortable: US officials confirmed he was on a terrorist watchlist.

Cartoon courtesy Bob Englehart/The Hartford Courant (via The Moderate Voice)

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More about challenging landing strips

In addition to my posts The World's 10 Most Dangerous air strips and There are moments you just have to trust the pilot, I think we should add this airstrip: Juneau Alaska (picture taken on the single clear day of a year probably)... Mountains, ice cold water, and a runway with a definite end...

Picture courtesy Randy's blog

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Waste of flight capacity

Yesterday evening, I flew from Rome to Brussels. Two Brussels bound flights were leaving at the same time. At adjacent gates.
And even worse: as both were codeshared between Alitalia and Brussels Airlines, both had both an SN and AZ flight number.

I looked up the schedule for the afternoon flights from Rome to Brussels:

13:15 AZ 7438 / SN 3180
(Alitalia/Brussels Airlines codesharing)

15:00 AP 4222
(Air One - now one group with Alitalia)

15:20 AZ 160 / SN 5022
(Alitalia/Brussels Airlines codesharing)

16:55 SN 3182 / AZ 7064
(Alitalia/Brussels Airlines codesharing)

20:45 AZ 7162 / SN 3184
(Alitalia/Brussels Airlines codesharing)

Five flights per afternoon... No wonder most flights are only half full... And then we are surprised airlines go broke, even after millions of public funds are pumped into them? Maybe one should think of rationalizing before subsidizing...

Or maybe I should not complain, and be happy I can always stretch out over three seats?

Picture courtesy InventorSpot

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Rumble: Flying remains an adventure

Updates from The Road's Twitter:

08:30 - At Copenhagen airport... 8:30 and the sun just came up... Ready to fly back to Rome.

09:45 - "This is your captain speaking. Unfortunately, we have been hit by a ladder of the ground crew. Repairs will take an hour."

10:30 - "This is your captain speaking... We are still looking for the spare part." - anyone got a spare wing light for an MD82?



In the end, we took off with a little more than one hour delay. But the adventure was still to come. Approaching Rome's Fiumicino airport, the clouds got thicker and thicker. It looked like we were landing for 45 minutes. Turbulence got heavier, having people "Ohhh" and "Oosh". Plane swing up, down, left, right. Funny to see how much flex an MD82 has.

We got a direct hit by lightning (which was a bit of an anti-climax, as there was not that much of a bang, just a lot of light and a bump as if the plane hit a speed bump).

The final approach showed the strength of the wind as we were crab-crawling sideways towards the landing strip.

The applause for the pilot was well deserved...

More on The Road about travel, airports and flying.

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Picture of the day: Chaos at Bangkok airport

Thousands of travellers got stuck after Bangkok's airport was stormed by protesters.

More Pictures of the Day on The Road

Picture courtesy David Longstreath/AP

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Picks of the week: Firewood, humane investment and Oops

Here are the interesting links I harvested this week:

• Starting on a lighter note: If you suffer of flight anxiety, you should NOT want to visit The Oops List. A simple site with nothing but links to pictures, audio and video about aircraft (and other) accidents. Full of treasures. Mostly hilarious. Some sad. Others plain scary. My favourite is the clip called "My Dog Skip".
  
  
• Onto more serious matter: Get Beyond Firewood highlights the plight of refugee women, a very pragmatic way. Every day, millions of refugee women and girls around the world risk being raped, beaten —even killed— as they search for the firewood they need to cook food for their families. This site offers alternatives for firewood. Simple.
  
  
• The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children advocates for the rights of refugee women and children.
  
  
• Good.AllTop aggregates news about "doing good". It also features The Road to the Horizon (with thanks!).
  
  
• MyC4 allows you to invest in a good cause. They raise capital for African entrepreneurs as a tool in the fight to end poverty. So far 10,300 investors from 78 countries have invested €5,668,392 in 3,306 businesses through this site. The average interest rate for investors is 12.9% p.a.
  
  
• If you want to invest in a good cause, but you are not looking for interest, your Pick of the Week is definitively Kiva. If Kiva and micro-financing is your thing, join The Road's Lenders Team! Check out our score card for The Road's latest micro-financing investments in Kiva.
  
  
• And last but least, you should have a look at my latest labour:
  - AidBlogs shows all the latest post from the aidworker blogs I list in the right column of The Road.
  - The Signs Along The Road is a scratch pad for random clips.
  - For Those Who Want to Know summarizes all blogs listed my "Resources for/by Aidworkers"
  - Aid News summarizes all recent humanitarian news, assembled from over 50 different sources.
  

More Picks of the Week on The Road

Picture via The Oops List

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Rumble: There are moments you just have to trust the pilot - Part 2.

As an add-on for yesterday's post. "There are moments you just have to trust the pilot"... because "lack of better"?



For the sake of clarity: this is a vintage picture. I think they have now upgraded from Fiat Cinquecenti to Fiat Panda's :-)

Picture courtesy adr.it

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Rumble: There are moments you just have to trust the pilot...

Earlier this week a Ryanair Boeing 737-800, did an emergency landing here in Rome.

On its approach to Ciampino airport, the airplane hit a large flock of birds about 50ft off the ground. It experienced multiple bird strikes to both engines, most probably loosing its main power.

The pilot performed an emergency landing, by slamming onto the airstrip. Through the force, the plane veered back in the air and bounced again onto the tarmac. Then the plane slipped off the side of the runway, but the pilot managed to get it onto the tarmac again. He stopped the aircraft at the very end of the strip.

After evacuating the passengers from the plane, the airplane's left main landing gear collapsed (sounds almost like a cartoon script), rolling the plane on its side, severely damaging the wing and the belly of the fuselage.

For what could have been much worse, only two crew members and three passengers suffered of minor injuries. (Full)

This makes me think "there are moments you just have to trust the pilot". Including when approaching runways like these:



Lord Howe Island, Pacific




Kabua International Airport, Majuro atoll, Marshall Islands




Macao International Airport




Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland




Off the coast of Greenwood, Canada




I have never been much of a military person,
but one can not but look in amazement
at this evac landing in Afghanistan.




And for the real adventurous, there is of course...
the Alpha strip on the Antarctic.

You might also read The World's 10 Most Dangerous Airstrips, and how it can really go wrong in Italians, the Art of Flying and the Laws of Probability.

Pictures The Aviation Herald, climantartide.it and Airliners.net. With thanks to my Friend E, flying enthusiast!

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Rumble: 30 things I do not understand about airport security

I am a frequent traveller. A very frequent traveller. With questions.

1. Why can I not go through security with a flask of aftershave, but can buy all the aftershave I want in the duty free? If duty free goods are screened in a different way, why can my check-in luggage not be screened in the same way?

2. How come I can not take any liquid on board, but I can put all the liquid I want in my check-in luggage? If check-in luggage is screened in a different way, how come carry-on can not be screened in the same way? How come I can not take a bottle of water on board, even though I could drink it to show how harmless it is?

3. How come I have to put things like a deodorant and toothpaste in a sealed zip-lock plastic bag, but no-one ever sees or asks to see the bag tucked in my carry-on?

4. If my Leatherman with a 1.5 inch blade does not get it through security, how come I buy dozens of things more dangerous at the duty free (ever seen what damage a broken bottle can do?).

5. How come some airlines serve meals with stainless steel knives and forks? Why does the restaurant in the waiting lounge serve meals with stainless steel knives and forks?

6. How come the metal strings on my guitar are not considered as dangerous goods? Ever seen what damage my thin "high E"-string can do when strapped around a person's neck?

7. How come a sharpened pencil is not considered a dangerous good? Ever seen the damage a pencil does when pushed through someone's nose?

8. How come my glasses are not considered a dangerous good? They showed how to use it as a weapon in The Godfather III, didn't they?

9. How come needles and syringes are not seen as dangerous goods? How come nobody ever checks what the liquid is in the ampules I carry on? How dangerous could the combination of syringes with liquid morphine ampules be? Or the combination of a lighter, syringe and a combustible fluid in an ampule?

10. How come airport security screening never catches the three metal bottles of compressed air of our self-inflating sailing life jackets when we check it in with our luggage, but there is no way in hell we would get it on board as carry-on?

11. How come security confiscated the horse-shoe my daughter wanted to carry-on?

12. How come some airports confiscate lighters and others don't? Why do some confiscate matches and others don't? Why do some only allow one single box of matches? Why do some confiscate Zippo-lighters and others don't? What is more dangerous: a single Zippo lighter or five throw-away plastic lighters with lighter fluid in them?

13. How come in some airports, I just show a piece of paper, allegedly representing a printout of my Internet check-in, and they let me into the departure hall, and through security without scanning the barcode to see if I did not fake the print-out?

14. How come I could get on a flight even though the boarding pass was not in my name?

15. How come no-one at the gate ever checks if my plastified ID card is real? How come I can board a flight even though the lady at the gate said "I have never seen an ID-card like this!".

16. As it has been proven some lithium-ion laptop batteries are a fire hazard, can explode generating heat up to 1000 degrees, how come they don't have to be removed from laptops? How come some airlines offer adapters to charge laptops inflight?

17. How come in some airports I need to go through a security screening when entering the airport, one when entering the departure area, and one just before entering the boarding area? Just to make sure?

18. How come I could walk from the arrivals hall, back into the luggage-belt area and nobody stopped me?

19. How come the lady at the check-in counter laughs when I answer the question "Did you pack your bags yourself", with "No, my wife did."

20. How come everyone lies when asked the question "Was the luggage with you at all times?", like it was never held in the hotel luggage room by the bellboy, never stowed in the trunk of the airport shuttle, or left alone in the hotel room.

21. How come I can pick up someone else's luggage from the belt, and walk out of the airport without being checked?

22. How come, with all the security cameras around, people have their handluggage stolen at the check-in counter?

23. How come I can put my two mobile phones in the tray next to the metal detector and pick them up at the other side without them being screened?

24. How come some airport metal detectors go bazurk when I forget to take off my watch, and others don't?

25. How come I always fear for my harddisk when I see the way the security staff handles the tray in which I put my computer? Why can I not complain without being arrested for contempt?

26. How come the shuttle bus from the departure gate to the plane can drop us off at the wrong plane?

27. How come, allegedly for security reasons, I can not board with a computer bag and a small trolley, but it is OK if I put the bag in the trolley? How come it is OK to have two carry-ons when flying business class then?

28. How come I can ask a friend to hold my excess carry-on out of sight of the check-in counter, deny having any carry-on when checking in, and pick up the carry-on again before going through security?

29. How come, allegedly for security reasons, I am only allowed one bag with certain maximum weight and dimensions as carry-on, but can buy 15 bags of duty free stuff?

30. How come airlines do not award passengers when they can prove the security staff did not check thoroughly? Why am I regarded as a moron when I show what I managed to get through security this time? Why am I regarded as a nuisance when I tell the security staff they are not paying attention when I walked through the metal detector?

31. How come nobody asks these questions aloud?


More posts on The Road about flying, airports and travel.

Cartoon courtesy U.S. News & World Report

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News: An 8 yr old, a pilot and an attorney on the terror watch list.

What do an eight year old, a commercial airline pilot licensed to carry a gun into the cockpit, and a US attorney have in common?

Well for one, they can not check in for a flight like the rest of us.
Why? Well, because they need special screening.
Why? Well, because their name is on the terror watch list.

Their name, they also have in common. And that is the root of all problems: all three people are called James Robinson. And "James Robinson" needs to be watched. Apparently no matter which James Robinson.

So each time James Robinson -the third grader-, James Robinson -the ex U.S. attorney and an assistant attorney general, and James Robinson -the retired National Guard Brigadier General and commercial pilot-, want to fly, they are questioned.

Even though they have learned how to bypass the security screening system by booking tickets as Jim Robinson or J.K.Robinson or J.Pierce Robinson... We can only hope the one and only Jim Robinson, the suspected terrorist, does not find out. (More)

Pictures courtesy CNN

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Rumble: Brussels Airport: "Kiss and Drive!" and a bad luck logo...

I am at Brussels airport, waiting for my flight back to Rome. After six weeks with the family, we are off on our own again. The kids go off to sports camp, Tine starts working in Belgium and I am off to Italy, back to saving the hungry in the world.

Hey, they have new roadsigns at the airport, saying "Kiss and Drive", meant to guide people to a passenger drop off zone.
I am not sure if the combination of kissing and driving is really safe, but I am all for it. However, maybe "Park and Kiss" would have been more appropriate!

So far for the smileys.

At check-in it seems they have changed the system for self check-in: you will need your reservation number. You can't check in via your name, passport scan (as in Rome), or credit card swipe. No, you need your reservation number. Damned if I would take out my computer, boot it up, and check my email for it. Damned if I would print it out on paper before I come. Thought eTicketing was all about paperless and effortless booking and checking in? Not so with Brussels Airlines, it seems. Nope you need your reservation number, sir!.

Ok, so I try to check in at the "Express check-in", thinking "I only have hand luggage, so I guess this is 'express check-in' "? Not so. A young man stopped me asking for my boarding pass. I told him "No, I am checking in, and am following the signs." He said: "No checking in here, you need to follow that line", and pointed to another row of check-in counters.
I told him this was confusing. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked the other way, ignoring my comments. He told a colleague who approached me to explain and said: "Ignore him, difficult customer!"
He then turned to someone else, who wanted to do the same thing as I: check in through the express check-in. And another, and another.. Soon enough we were standing with 4-5 people complaining about the confusing signs. I just stood by and smiled. Ah the sweet taste of a little revenge! Life can be so sweet...

So, I am checking in. They ask to weigh my hand luggage, which is a compact trolley with my computer bag in it. In the bag some small chargers, my laptop and a book: 9.6 kg.
"Sorry sir, you are only allowed 5 kg handluggage, you will have to check it in", she said.
Dah. Checking in a computer bag? To Rome? Rrrrright. *If* it would arrive, i'd have to wait for 90 minutes at the luggage belt.
"Nope", I said, "I can show you one kilo of handluggage and then shop and buy 50 kgs of duty free goods, and you would not even know. So..."
She let me go... I *am" a difficult customer!

Anyways, last thought of the day: Did you know the Brussels Airlines logo originally had 13 balls on it. People said it would bring bad luck, so they added a 14th ball at the last minute. Some planes were already painted with 13 balls, so the 14th came with some expense. You don't believe me? It is true, as it was in the papers!"! ;-)

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Rumble: Italian soccer and flight delays

Yesterday evening, I was flying out of Brindisi, South Italy. After passing airport security, I found a group of people clustered around the window of the airport police's office. I thought something was wrong, and had a look..

Inside the office, the police officers were watching the Italy-Romania soccer match, and a small crowd was following the match through the window, shouting and commenting as if they were in a pub.
At the other end of the departure hall, two other guys had hooked up their laptops to watch the game via internet, drawing a small crowd around them too. I could even hear the luggage handlers next to the departure lounge cheering and shouting as the match went along.

Nobody seemed to mind the plane was late. Not even as the plane handlers were getting out of their office, at the last minute to prepare the flight for take-off. Every passenger understood that in Italy, they had their priorities straight: soccer first, plane later..

Eventually we took off, and when landing in Rome, the passengers did get annoyed though: the car bringing in the chocks to block the aircraft's wheels, was late, so neither the stairs nor the luggage handling equipment could be connected to the plane. Even after the chocks eventually arrived, all plane handlers took their time to engage into a lively discussion about the match, before they opened the plane.

Or would the passengers have been annoyed that in the mean time, the match ended in a 1-1 draw?


More posts on The Road about Italy

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Rumble: Airport confusion

I flew to Brindisi again, this evening. Rome to Brindisi is served by Alitalia ("Always Late In Take-off, Always Late In Arrival") or AirOne ("Air-One, Baggage-Zero"). This evening, I was booked on AirOne (and no, I did not risk to check any baggage in, otherwise I had 75% chance to spend the next day speaking to the lady at the lost luggage counter).

A bus was taking us from the terminal to the plane at Fiumicino airport. The bus zigzagged in-between parked planes, stopping here, and stopping there, until it parked itself next to an empty AirOne plane. Driver got out, talked to some guy next to the plane, who pointed to a Blu-Express plane a bit further on the tarmac. The driver was lost, did not know which plane to drive us to.

The bus drove to the Blu-Express plane. The passengers got off but were confused. "We were supposed to fly AirOne, not Blu-Express. Blu-Express does not fly to Brindisi", they mumbled. Some went up the stairs, came back down, and finally we boarded after it was clear the Blu-Express plane was chartered by AirOne.

It was funny to see. Italy at its best, shining through confusion.


More posts on The Road about Italy.

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News: Airport security: "Nipple piercing? Here are pliers!"

Mandi Hamlin from Texas was about to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

The handheld detector beeped when passed in front of Hamlin's chest. Hamlin told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent said she would have to remove the jewelry.

Asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent, the answer was "No, you can not board until the jewelry is out".
She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second and was handed a pair of pliers.

TSA officials said they are investigating to see whether its policies were followed. "Our security officers are well-trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect while ensuring a high level of security," the agency said in a statement. (Full)

Picture courtesy Silverflake.com. Source: The Road Daily

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Rumble: The World's 10 Most Dangerous Landing Strips

Landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport tonight, I wondered how on earth pilots succeed in landing a plane if their top technology does not even allow them to keep the lights from flickering on and off in the passenger area. I thought about my last weekend's post on the near-crash at Hamburg's airport (picture above). That post spurred quite some reactions from frequent travellers.

Well, if you are in fear of flying, don't visit Top 10 Most Dangerous Aircraft Landings in the World. This site describes and shows videos from the world's most dangerous air strips, listed as:
Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong
Funchal Airport, Madeira (*)
Gustaf III Airport, St. Barts (*)
Courchevel Airport, France
Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Maarten (*)
Wellington International Airport, New Zealand
Paro Airport, Bhutan (*)
Narsarsuaq Airport, Greenland
Saba Island Airport, Netherlands Antilles (*)
Lugano Airport, Switzerland (*)

Those indicated with (*) I have seen or landed at.

I would definitively add Tegucigalpa airport to this list:


I landed there at least ten times in three weeks, during the Hurricane Mitch emergency. I remember each time we approached, it seemed like we barely missed the top of the trees right before the final drop to the strip. Except for one time where it was raining that hard, we could not see a thing.

Talking about scary: try Kathmandu airport in a thunderstorm. On a PIA flight!

Or, now that we are talking about Nepal: how about Lukla? I remember so many passengers got sick on that flight, the vomit was running under the seats from the front to the back. Check out this video, and you will see why. A pity you can not feel the turbulence!


It amazes me not more accidents happen. And at the same time, I have the more admiration for the pilots.

PS: Oh, almost forgot to mention Mwanza airport in Tanzania. During an approach in 1996, I saw a sign "Beware of potholes on the landing strip". It was only AFTER landing I noticed all the wrecks besides the strip. I did not see those while landing, as I had my eyes closed. :-)

More stories about flying as an aidworker in the world's most remote locations in the short story Italians, the art of flying and the laws of probability.

Update: Sometimes it looks like some of the things I write about become reality. Within months after writing this post, a plane crashed in Tegucigalpa, and one crashed at Lukla airport.

Picture courtesy hamburg-airport-friends-forum.de

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