Which of these airports is the most interesting for a pilot?

12/8/2011 6:46:26 AM

Graz, Klagenfurt, and Linz are mountainous terrain, making them challenging for the pilot.
The others of course can have their challenges depending on weather conditions (Amsterdam for example suffered from a severe storm all day yesterday, and dense fog for several days last week, canceling an delaying many flights when the runways dipped below even CATIII operating minimums at times).
If you can set both departure and arrival, I’d depart from the coast to enjoy the view when climbing out on autopilot and later to have a challenging arrival procedure while trying to weave your way past peaks on your descent.

9/5/2015 2:53:48 PM

Pity you can’t do London City airport (LCY) – it’s just been named in the top 10 most interesting approaches:

A VIEW TO A THRILL

Top 10 Thrilling Airport Approaches lists a few in Europe:

  • Sion Airport in Switzerland
  • Gibraltar airport (also on the previous list)
  • Madeira island (Funchal Airport)

The list of Most Dangerous Landing Strips in the World includes some gut-churning examples in Europe as well:

  • Lugano Airport, Switzerland
  • Courchevel Airport, France

However, in this case you’re limiting to specific ones. So let’s look at them:

  • Graz – Graz Airport – 340m above sea-level, smallish, nothing much.

  • Klagenfurt – Klagenfurt Airport – small airport! Some WW2 historical significance, but not much else.

  • Linz – Linz Airport – small, nothing much. 298m above sealevel. Potentially some castles and buildings visible from the air.

  • Wien – Vienna International Airport – Austrian Airline’s main hub. Nothing of note about the airport, but you’d be able to see the Danube from the air.

  • Split – Split Airport, I bussed into here, wanted to fly – but having seen the city and sailed in and out of it, the views along the coast and mountains nearby should be spectacular!

  • Nizza – Nice Côte d’Azur Airport – busiest French airport outside of Paris. Given its location on the coast, it offers great views if you come in from the right angle.

  • Paris – Charles de Gaulle Airport – Air France’s principal hub, and Europe’s second busiest airport, if you want one that most people have or will go to! U2’s “Beautiful Day” Music video was also entirely filmed here!

  • Berlin – Berlin Tegel Airport – 4th busiest in Germany, and – ABOUT to close! It shuts its doors on June 3, 2012, when the Brandenburg Airport opens. Historically this is a VERY interesting airport, being the airport for Anglo-American airlifts into West Berlin during the Cold War. Amazingly, considering its location, history, and amount of traffic, it’s had no fatal accidents. (Update Sept. 2015: TXL didn’t close, and probably won’t until at least 2018.)

  • Köln – Cologne Bonn Airport – I’ve used this airport on three occasions, fantastic as a passenger. It’s also one of NASA’s alternative landing airports for Space Shuttles. Well, it was.

  • Düsseldorf – Dusseldorf Airport – I’ve flown into here! Largest in the Rhine area, and close to Cologne/Bonn as well (20 min by train). 3rd busiest in Germany, 20th in Europe. Both this airport and Köln should offer great approach views of the Rhine river valley.

  • Hannover – Hannover-Langenhagen Airport – smaller than Hamburg, close to the city. Had a fatal airshow accident in 1988, but otherwise uneventful.

  • Hamburg – Hamburg Airport – Fairly standard (although large) international airport. Quite close to city center, so perhaps possible to include a city approach and fly over?

  • Rimini – Federico Fellini airport is 41ft above sea level on average. It’s fairly small compared to others, and doesn’t have much of note.

  • Rome – Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport is the sixth busiest in Europe, and named after Leonardo da Vinci. It’s had several hijackings, accidents and can experience heavy fog – perhaps the simulator can do weather events too?

  • Amsterdam – Schiphol Airport is Europe’s 5th busiest airport by passenger traffic. So arguably pilots there are likely to have seen it a lot. It’s historically had 10 accidents and incidents. One interesting feature from a flying point of view is that the entire airport is below sea-level – the lowest part being 11 feet beneath.

From this, I personally would suggest Split or Nice, as the coastal views should be amazing! Will provide a good mix of land and sea, and also quite close to their respective cities, for a view of those.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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