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spaceman347
01-01-2006, 03:03 PM
I just got back from a holiday in Nepal where I trekked out to the Everest Base Camp (very cold, very nasty mountains).

Anyway, I had to take a 20 min flight to get to the start of the trail, and the airport that I landed at was unbelievable. The runway is cut into the side of a mountain and ends in a rock wall (apparently you're supposed to stop before the wall). No second chances here folks, no aborted landings, once the pilot decides to go in there's no changing your mind.

I had my video camera with me and recorded a few landings/takeoffs, including having the camera running inside the plane when I landed. I heard the landing gear go down and remember thinking to myself "Where the f**k are we going to land, there's no flat land to be seen anywhere" and then I spotted the runway through the windscreen of the plane....

see: http://members.iinet.net.au/~brett.leeder/nepal/

XLR8 V8
01-01-2006, 03:30 PM
WOW! :eek:
Did you see any old indents in the wall at the end of the runway?

spaceman347
01-01-2006, 03:46 PM
WOW! :eek:
Did you see any old indents in the wall at the end of the runway?
Nah, no obvious signs of any bingles. Apparently prior to 2001 the runway was gravel :confused:

I'm not sure if the landing or the takeoff was worse. On the takeoff you just sit there saying "go baby go!" hoping like hell to get off the ground before you run out of runway. And then within 5 seconds of takeoff the plane is a couple of thousand feet in the air due to the ground dropping away so fast.

YIIR8
01-01-2006, 05:51 PM
sounds like an awesome trip mate !!! would love to do that trek.