Talk about a wing and a prayer.
East of Mount Everest and the Himalayas lies one of the world's most notorious airstrips – so dangerous that Passengers usually applaud Wheels down.
Paro International Airport in Bhutan, nestled between 18,000-foot mountain peaks and adjacent residential areas, presents such a huge challenge to pilots that only about 50 jet jockeys worldwide are known to be capable of the last-minute maneuver required for a landing.
The small craft-only, 7,431-foot-long landing strip requires special training and proven knowledge of being able to land without the aid of radar. Even the slightest miscalculation could cause a plane to land on a nearby house.
Category C qualified pilots get to walk around like they're Maverick from “Top Gun.”
“It's challenging to the skills of the pilot, but it's not dangerousCaptain Chimi Dorji of local airline Druk Air said, told CNN,
“In Paro, you really need local skills and local knowledge field proficiency. We call it field proficiency training or area training or en route training by flying from anywhere in Paro.”
Dorjee said with 97 per cent of the country covered in mountains — even Paro is 7,382 feet above the ground — thinner air means planes will travel faster.
“Your actual airspeed will remain the same, but your airspeed relative to the ground will be much faster.”
Even if you manage to land safely through the narrow window, there is another dreadful factor in this remote Asian kingdom – the weather.
The next factor to consider is the weather.
“We try to avoid operations after noon because then you get a lot of thermal power.” [winds]”The temperature is rising, the rain hasn't come yet,” Dorjee said. “So the ground is dry and you get a lot of drizzle and anabatic/katabatic winds in the valley in the afternoon. The mornings are very calm.”
However, a monsoon season filled with golf ball-sized hail can be a completely different experience where special arrangements are made.
“There are these northwesterly, northeasterly winds coming from China. And there are also periods when it rains for several days,” the pilot said.
And, since radar isn't very useful in this area, night flights are not permitted at any time.
Yes, and yes, there is also the danger of colliding with the surrounding mountains, which Dorjee explicitly calls “obstacles.”
