Practice makes perfect!

[Corbin]

Thought it might be neat to try out fun, difficult, challenging or down right impossible airports (runways) around the world....just to see them, test them out and practice piloting skills.

To start everything off lets give the call numbers, location and most important....why you think it qualifies.  I think our list will make great places to practice "touch and goes" - "night landings" etc.  

To start everything off try Male International.....yes, Male International, Maldives....(VRMM).  Runway 36 is long enough to land heavys on.  This is an island in the Indian Ocean with controled traffic.  Beautiful blue water that makes you feel like your landing on a "flat top" with a deck long enough for a 747!  Great place to practice and since there isn't very many buildings etc.....crank up the traffic just for fun!  

[Daz]

Sion in switzerland LSGS has a challenging approach in a heavy.. beautiful swiss alps on both sides and for as far as the eye can see.. great flight

[Corbin]

DAZ ~  Will give LSGS a try tonight....sounds like fun.  :D

Try this one...make sure you use a very short take off and landing type aircraft! Courchevel, France..(LFLJ).    Talk about a challenge!  Couldn't take off in the Mooney even with full flaps, brakes locked and at full power used every inch of the runway....hit the trees at the end.  Tried to land ( I know I cheated my take off and used a lot of unpaved dirt at each end of the runway to get airborn) and from the direction that ATC gave me to land... I almost hit the mountains, again flaps full down, speed brakes up....touched down at the very end of the runway and hit the binders instantly....couldn't stop (no way) and hit the same trees on landing!  Tried the J-3 Cub....with no problems however!  And this is a controled runway.....what a trip!  There are about 10 parking spaces at your wing tip and you have to call the tower for taxi instructions!

[Michael161]

I tried male international it is fun to land and some nice scenery as well.

[JBaymore]

Corbin,

Check the past threads from about maybe 6 mos to a year ago...... I and others mentioned this subject...... there is a series of "flights" available for fs2004 called "Dogherty's Difficult and Dangerous Approaches" that are volumes of just this sort of stuff.  There are maybe 20 or more volumes with about 7-8 flights in each volume.

They are a lot of fun.

best,

....................john

[zeberdee]

Hi Corbin, try vnlk @9000 ft don't forget to lean the mixture, also don't try the active runway use the other one. A nice trip from this one is takeoff and turn left fly down the valley with "gps" there is another airport ahead on a flat top mountian land then return to VNLK. Not tried to land/take off in the dark there yet!

[Bazza]

Corbins correct about LFLJ, there's something terribly wrong with this one.     I think Microsoft got it wrong somehow, if you can't get off in a straight line in the RealAir Cessna 172 without crashing into large trees at the foot of the runway, someone's goofed.    I think they forgot about 1/4 mile of tarmac.

I don't think any Aviation Authorities would permit this airfield, mind you I could fix the problem in about half an hour with my chainsaw.  ;D

[gw]

Okay, I'll throw in Anchorage (PANC) runway 24L or 24R.  Nice long runways and lots of room for a small airplane.

But if you're flying IFR in a heavy and get assigned one of these ILS approaches ATC will vector you to about 7,500 feet or so over the mountains to the east of the airport.

By the time you turn final you're still at 5,000 feet or so.  I have been over the threshold and cleared to land while still over 3000 feet.  I've had to fly a 360 to get down to a proper altitude for landing.

gw

[MadDriver]

I live here in Alaska, just out of Anchorage.  When they were doing something to the runways last summer, all the planes had to land on runways 24L and 24R a lot.  It was interesting to see 747's fly right over where I worked, banking towards the airport just a couple miles away.  The mountains are in the way to make a straight in approach.  

[Corbin]

Yea! I finely got my PC to allow me to post at home.  Sent an e-mail yesterday to the Simvation Webmaster about it and he fixed the problem....."great service on a great site" ~ Problem: Had my firewall set to reject "cookies"....many thanks.  

DAZ ~ I tried LSGS....and you are right....outstanding....what a beautiful setting!  Sion is just breath taking.  I had my flight settings on Fall/Daytime and flew around the place, went to Turtmann (LSMJ) and Raron (LSMN).  I am going to try the glider because I could feel the thermos lifting my plane.  

So here is what we have so far:

VRMM ( Male International ) Michael161 & Corbin rate it
...fun!

LSGS (Sion, Switzerland) DAZ & Corbin rate it Beautiful and Breath Taking!

JBaymore gave us 20 volumes of places to try!  

VNLK from Zeberdee.....will try it today....

CFLJ (Courchevel, France) Bazza & Corbin want to cut down the trees with a chainsaw...somebody goofed!  
Notice the EVEL in the name!  

PANC (Anchorage, Alaska) GW & MaDriver suggest we give it a go......I have a feeling it should be PANIC!  Will post again after trying it!  

[beefhole]

i checked out Courchevel recently, and there is no doubt MS made a very grave mistake.  That runway cant be more than 60 feet long! I seriously doubt it is that long in real life.

[Galactic_eyes]

LFLJ is one heck of challenge in my 172 Skyhawk! The only way I could take off is from the opposite end of the runway and make a sharp left. Sheezz, I'm still pulling evergreen branches from my landing gear. I was able to land it though. That was tons of fun!!.

[Corbin]

Beefhole ~ Try VNLK (Lukla, Nepal) sent in by Zeberdee....."Oh, My Goodness"!!!! This one is unbelieveable - have you ever tried to take off from inside a hole?   Tried the Mooney..."no chance" towards the mountain!  The J-3 just made it, after my 3rd crash.  :-X  Fun, Dangerous, and Challenging (FDC).
Fly out of it then look back.....WOW!  Got the Mooney to take off away from the mountain and fell off the end of the runway @ 9,000 feet....climbed in circles to reach 10,000 feet...then landed.....ground looped just before running out of runway.....all I can say is....this one is a MUST...."you got to try it"!  By the way VNLK stands for "Very Nearly Lost Kookies"!   :-/

Galactic-eyes ~ Roger the evergreen branches...just glad its a Sim.  

GW & MaDriver~ PANC was great...took off at dawn and there was a bunch of traffic...twas fun!  

[Sobby]

Hi

Is it just me or at the end or the runway (at both ends) are their alot of thermals at Male Intl around the island

cause I was flying my C-130 Herc and when I flew over the edge of the island the whole plane raised up

not that it bothers me, makes it more fun

And America rules, for one reason, I picked up FS2004 in Circuit city for $21.95 which = at

[Sobby]

I thought it would be a laugh to try and take off the POSKY A380 from Male Intl

So full flaps,full throttle and..........................I run off the end of the runway by about 3 lengths of my plane before scraping over the tops of the trees what fun

Later I checked the wieght of the aircraft and found out that the planes default is way over the maxium wieght

what fun