Most difficult/rewarding approach?

[old git 99]

Speaking purely as one who sits in the seats at the back rather than the front, the Greek Islands can be quite interesting as most are fairly small and mountainous and not many flat areas.
Skiathos is quite entertaining with a short runway meaning the brakes have to go on straight away as you land. The runway goes over the brow of a hill so you cant see the other end, and you have the sea at both ends if you overshoot. The best one has to be Samos. The island is an elongated U shape with mountains. The flight path in involves flying round the inside of the U well below the tops of the mountains. We did the trip in a 757 which didn't seem too bad inside, but looks pretty spectacular from the ground as they bank very steeply.

[BOAC]

but looks pretty spectacular from the ground as they bank very steeply.

- one hopes not! Bank angles should not vary from the norm in Samos (Max 30 degrees).

[capt.sparrow]

Surely Sion and London City are contenders - great views and steep approaches for getting your palms sweaty!

[ww2flyer]

Aspen, KASE.

Beautiful but challenging, especially for the Circle.

[plumponpies]

Circle for 36 Chambery......gets you thinking.
Fantastic on a gin clear day, very interesting in weather!

[Paradise Lost]

Rather than "where" is the most difficult/interesting approach, I would volunteer any approach when the pax have a better view of the runway than me due to max crosswind with some low level shear to spice things up a bit!

[brs planespotter]

challenging approaches

would funchal have been a candidate for a tricky approach before the runway was extended?allways been intrigued by this place,regards,brs planespotter

[Alloy]

Funchal/Maderia is only a little better with the extra stilts/runway as the winds at each end of the runway can still be the reciprocal of each other.

[brs planespotter]

funchal

in the event of bad weather at fnc,which would be the best alternate?how long would you hold for?best regards,brs planespotter

[BOAC]

Normally Porto Santo. Holding depends on what the bad weather is. If it is wind, the chances of improvement are slim in real time. If is just a shower or whatever, maybe worth holding.

[c2lass]

Just a mere SLF who lives in Aberdeen. Being a nervous flyer, especially on landing, I always hate coming back into ABZ knowing its a short runway. Occassionally I have heard some Captains' mention the short runway over the PA. I would be interested to hear if ABZ is a challenge or not. It may put my mind at rest anyway for my next flight

[Alloy]

Porto Santo as BOAC said.

[ewe.lander]

Sion on a bright hazy day...... having worked out the procedure in your thick Yorkshire head, you get to minima and the haze obscures the Airfield, and Cumulogranite surrounds.....

or....London City having just dropped off at Biggin hill, the controller says 'this will be radar vectors to a short pattern...blah blah' (Thank God for Al Murray.......) and the F/O says 'wibble.....'

[crispey]

Luckla in the Himalyas.Dark coloured clothing required.

[Alloy]

Lukla equals mountains, sloping runways, weather, few aids and no go around!

Take a look at the end of this video, end of the runway is solid vertical granite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVNI...eature=related

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_S_...eature=related

Twin Otter and Dornier 228 country!

[Doors to Automatic]

Anything around or below the 6000ft mark is a challenge for medium and larger jets so yes ABZ would be a challenge, particularly when the weather starts playing up!

Jersey is another tight one. As is Belfast City and Leeds Bradford

[mcdhu]

Gilgit, Pakistan in a 146.

[Tmbstory]

Rewarding approach

Petropavlovsk Kamchatskly on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the airport is close to sea level and there is a dormant volcano about 11000ft, 4 miles from the ARP on a downwind leg.

Keep the ILS in the middle!

Tmb

[SX983]

Nobody on here been to Khasab then?

[aviatordom]

One of the most difficult approaches i've seen (& experienced) is the Rwy 05 approach into Madeira Funchal, especially on a windy day!