Turning at 100 feet AGL?

[estrellafugaz]

Some sort of approach in a very nasty airport.. but it can't be normal!

TAKEOFF TUBE - Real Paro Bhutan Landing 15 A319 Cockpit (http://www.takeofftube.com/view/2299/real-paro-bhutan-landing-15-a319-cockpit/)

here some details i've found on wikipedia:

Paro Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Paro Airport (IATA (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/International_Air_Transport_Association_airport_code): PBH, ICAO (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization_airport_code): VQPR) is the only airport in Bhutan (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Bhutan), six kilometres (three miles) away from Paro (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Paro_District). The airport is located at an altitude of 2,235 m (7,333 ft) in a steep valley on the bank of Paro river. With surrounding peaks as high as 5.48 km (18,000 ft) it is considered to be "one of the world's most challenging airports".[1] (http://www.pprune.org/#cite_note-boeing-0) Flights at Paro are allowed under visual meteorological conditions (VMC) only and are restricted to daytime hours (sunrise to sunset).[2] (http://www.pprune.org/#cite_note-1) According to Travel & Leisure, only eight pilots in the world are certified to land at the airport.[3] (http://www.pprune.org/#cite_note-2)
The airport has one runway (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Runway) and is served by a single airline, the national carrier Drukair (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Drukair) which has its base there. Yeti Airlines (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Yeti_Airlines) has stated its interest in flying into Paro from Kathmandu (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Kathmandu).[4] (http://www.pprune.org/#cite_note-3)
There is one passenger terminal (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Passenger_terminal), one cargo terminal (http://www.pprune.org/wiki/Cargo_terminal) and 2 aircraft hangars. There are also 4 check-in desks and one gate.
In 2002, the airport handled 37,151 passengers and 90,983 tonnes of cargo.

[BoeingMEL]

..but 3 things are apparent here:

1 They got down just fine.
2 Seems like it was CAVOK conditions
3 You can't always have a straight-in ILS supported approach!

Nice vid tho. Cheers bm :ok:

[Groundloop]

but it can't be normal!

It is for Paro.

[Will Fraser]

Oer the River and thru the woods...........

Buzz Mykhando

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Nice piece of flying.

[gloriais18]

YouTube - Paro Bhutan VQPR runway 33 Arrival in Falcon 900 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkPmJbkwFOo)

Pick up "pilot" who sits in the jump seat and talks you through the approach..

[Tinytim]

Not unlike Sion in the Swiss Alps........known and loved by us Biz jet jockeys :eek:

[Guttn]

The airport itself doesn`t look all that nasty, it`s the approach and manoevering on short final that makes it interesting:E. It also says that there are restrictions on flying there, i.e. VMC in daylight hours, and a special aerodrome checkout for pilots. And only 8 pilots are checked out to fly there:eek: which would translate to 4 crew. I`m guessing that the MAPt is pretty far out due to missed approach climb gradient and procedures vs terrain, probably a bit of "I can see such and such mountain on the approach" and TWR probably says something like "I can see it from the airport as well";).
And of course there should be a contingency procedure in case something would warrant a go around after the MAPt (an engine failure would have the calmest pilot sweating bullets).

Good piece of flying by the boys:ok:. Hats off to ya!:D

[p51guy]

It looks like fun for a good pilot. I did TGU and it was fun. Not a lot different than this.

[leewan]

Excellent piece of flying. Hats off to those pilots.:ok: Just wondering, do those pilots qualified to fly there have some sort of "hazardous" allowance or anything like that ?

[con-pilot]

Just from watching that video and the other videos on the 'YouTube' link I would say from personal experience it is a little more diffcult than Aspen Colorado (KASE), but that much more diffcult.

However, I've never landed at Paro Bhutan, so I cannot really tell for sure. I have operated in and out of Aspen close to a thousand times.

Because of the weather conditions the Falcon 900 video was impressive, but with my experience in flying Falcon 900s there was no period on that approach that you could not safely abandond the approach and scucessfully climb out of the valleys, even with one engine inop.

As p51guy posted TGU is as about as diffcult, I flew 727s in and out of TGU.

Sadly now that I am retired I'll never have the chance to fly an aircraft into Paro Bhutan.

Nice videos.

[dtyedytgerdy]

Boeing did some flight tests at Paro with a view to operating 737-700s there. The demonstration of handling a single engine failure at V1 is intesting (to us amateurs at least).

Aero 23 - 737-700 Demonstration Flights in Bhutan (http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_23/737-700Bhutan_story.html)

[MU3001A]

I'm thinking an approach into Paro would be a rude awakening for anyone making the claim based on personal experience (not having flown there) and watching the videos, that it is only a little more difficult than the visual into Aspen Colorado.

Perhaps it's a good thing you are retired and will never have the chance to fly an aircraft into Paro Bhutan.

[brak]

Here is another fun landing - this one in Skardu, Pakistan (spelling?)
YouTube - B-737 Landing at Sakrdu Airport Pakistan. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTJyTs1tK2w)

And this is what it looks like on a terrain map: Skardu, Pakistan - Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Skardu,+Pakistan&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=61.19447,99.84375&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FQSUGgIdhPiBBA&split=0&t=p&ll=35.469618,75.588684&spn=0.675536,0.987396&z=10&iwloc=A)

[bfisk]

Way up north in Norway, there are a few tight ones as well...

[Rainboe]

That road at Paro is just asking for someone to land on it.

[leewan]

How high is the infamous turn made in the Kai Tak approach just before the runway ?

[ShyTorque]

Relatively high. It's been a long time since I flew it (Kai Tak's been closed for over ten years now) but I have a copy of the plate for the CC NDB to runway 13 right here. The MDA for that letdown was 780 ft. I'll dig out the one for the IGS 13 later.

[con-pilot]

Perhaps it's a good thing you are retired and will never have the chance to fly an aircraft into Paro Bhutan.

Really, so you know that much about me do you? :rolleyes:

Just how many times have you landed in Aspen or Tegucigalpa or Paro Bhutan for that matter?

I never posted nor intended to claim that Paro Bhutan is an easy airport to operate in and out of or that Aspen was much more difficult. The point I made was that the two airports are very similar, both in terrain, elevation and approach difficulty. I came to this conclusion from watching the numerous videos from the links provided on Paro Bhutan and the over twenty years I flew into Aspen on nearly a weekly schedule. I'll admit I have only landed at TGU about twenty times over a ten year period.

If it was up to me, Aspen would have the same restrictions, no night operations and VMC only, as Paro Bhutan.

If I misread your comment, I am sorry and do hereby apologize.

[MU3001A]

I might agree with the Aspen comparison if we were talking about a published approach from the SE to runway 33, but we aren't because there isn't one, therefore the attempted comparison with Paro is just silly.

[OSCAR YANKEE]

Cool stuff. Don't want to sound gung-ho, but Gilgit i Pakistan is harder than Skardu, by any std.
I think the Paro app. is extraordinary, but I have not seen anything yet that
beats Yakowlang in Afghanistan. (Whether It actually "qualifies" in this debate is another matter :} )
Strictly VMC, summer only, and if memory serves me right about 8800 feet elevation, and usually ISA+20.

No youtube link I'm afraid......