Cockpit views - which airports give the best?
 

A panel of travel industry names has put together this list of the world's top 32 airport landings - in terms of their scenic appeal. Their picks include Amsterdam Schiphol, Rio, Chitral, Jackson Hole...

Be good to get some pilot views & votes.

Airport Approaches Poll | PrivateFly

Some very odd entries on the shortlist - Belfast City ???

Belfast City is pretty!
 

O come on.....that's not really fair to Belfast.

Landing on 22 you have an amazing view of the Holywood beaches on your left. They look stunning.
Not to mention the cranes in the shipyard. Think they have names they are so famous! ??

Matthew Stibbe (Forbes Aviation Blog) said: "I had to go there on short notice so I made a night approach and as I dropped down through the clouds the city popped into view and it looked so beautiful and peaceful; it made me very hopeful for the future."

Have a look at Corfu 'Kerkyra' airport (LGKR) cockpit approach on youtube. We stayed in the Corfu Holiday Palace Hotel (ex Corfu Hilton)in Kanoni last September and found it quite interesting as the hotel sits on the hill to the right when landing from the sea side and looks straight down onto the runway. You can actually sit at the end of the runway under the flight path on the causeway which runs across the bay. This causeway is aproximately 400yds from the end and gives you unrestricted views straight down the short runway and makes for good pictures.
While we were there on one particular day there were a couple of go arounds due to stray dogs on the runway.

PrivateFlyCorrect!
Samson and Goliath (cranes) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What about Phinda in South Africa?
 

Check out these lions planespotting on the runway. Brings a whole new meaning to scary landing!
Airport Approaches Poll | PrivateFly

Mind you, judging by the image shown that would seem to be an easyJet 737 flying over Belfast Lough (and nearly over the top of Belfast City) on approach to 25 at Belfast International. Shame there wasn't a shot which actually was of the approach into the City. :ugh:

best views
 

st maarten's princess juliana intl airport
London Heathrow
South Africa Cape Town
Ireland Belfast City
Bermuda L.F Wade International

these are my point of view !
cheers :ok:

male Maldives is pretty lovely

LAX at sunset landing 24

I wonder what is the most boring?

Countless years ago, as a trainee in BOAC, I was assigned for a short while to a flight ops documentation department. Since they didn’t have much for me to do they used to send me to their little in-house cinema to watch crew training films of airport approaches. Most were boring as hell, the only really interesting one I saw was HKG Kai Tak (as you might imagine).

The one I remember as being utterly, totally boring was Talara in Peru, which the crew had to be familiar with because it was an alternate for Lima. Very long approach over utterly featureless landscape, not a hill, tree, road or house anywhere in sight.

Belfast City
 

Thanks for the note about the image Dee747. Now amended to show the correct view of Belfast City's approach.

Airport Approaches Poll | PrivateFly

benjaavpilot - the only one of yours which didn't appear on the judges' shortlist is LHR. They preferred LCY.

I quite like RW31 into Brindisi at night flying in right over the beautifully lit up cruise ship that is always docked there during the summer months.

Boston 27(?) just as the sun goes below the horizon.

I thought flying the Rwy 10 approach from the Pain de Sucre at St. Barth's was both scenic and exciting....until I flew the Rwy 28 App left hand in between the high ground and short finals past the Eden Rock Hotel.
Now that is a great view!

Turning downwind L/H
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps37062a28.jpg

Base leg passing 400' - but closer to the rocks!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps0344129c.jpg

Short finals - sadly I had to let my passenger in the back use my camera, but you can't have it all ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps4e36a1b0.jpg

Well,

I love to land in Rio de Janeiro, Santos Dumont aiport, (SDU - SBRJ). Rwy 20L/R faces the Sugar loaf, Christ, the savior, on the right, the seashore, just beautiful.

This is a movie I made, so you will understand:
All the best,

Sydy

The Top 10
 

Thought you might be interested to see the final Top 10 - decided according to voters. The winner with the most votes was St Maarten.

See all 10 at PrivateFly Airport Poll | Results

Innsbruck? 26, circling 08 via Axams Church. Certainly interesting enough to register 5.5 on the Sphinctometer.

Heathrow is only interesting when landing over London. The other end only has Windsor Castle.

My favourite is San Francisco. Coming from London you seem to come to Point Reyes then down over the city, cross the airport at about 10000 then descend and lose speed as you fly down the Peninsular. Left turn 180 and come back up over the San Maeto bridge for a 28 arrival. You get views of the city, both bridges, the Bay, the NASA facililty and then back towards the city.

And, there's the point. Heathrow 27 interesting, 9 forget it. San Francisco from the north, nice, coming from somewhere like LAX much less so because you don't see the city. In my view it's often not the airport, it's the whole approach.