The world’s steepest airport: landing at Courchevel

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The airport in the French ski resort of Courchevel is one of the most dangerous in the world. Which is probably why it was the backdrop to two James Bond films over the years, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and ‘Goldeneye’. You need a special qualification to be allowed to take off and land here, proving it’s far from a ‘normal’ airport. Technically it’s an ‘altiport’ (an airport in the mountains), is located at an altitude of 2,000 metres, and has the steepest runway in the world. The runway is just 535 metres long, and is on a gradient of up to 18.5%. The difference in height on the short stretch is 65 metres, which is huge. So what does all this mean for pilots? It means they land uphill, and take off downhill – directly above the precipice. Certainly not one for the faint-hearted!



- See more at: http://www.red-blog.at/en/2014/04/the-c ... aBrJB.dpuf