Lukla: Experience the most dangerous airport in the world
Meteorologist
Wednesday, June 6, 2018, 1:46 PM - The landing strip is only 1,729 feet long, and the airport itself sits at an altitude of 9,334 feet. Fixed winged aircraft land on an uphill runway with a pitch of 11.7 per cent. If you miss your approach, your plane runs right into the base of the mountain. On takeoff, it drops hundreds of feet at the end of the runway before taking wing.
Scary enough for you?
Lukla airport is somewhere I was glad I was landing at in a helicopter, not a plane.
The airport's paved asphalt runway is accessible only to helicopters and small, fixed-wing, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft such as the De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Dornier Do-228, L-410 Turbolet and Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter.
It's where everyone must fly in before taking their first step on the Everest Base Camp trail -- where thousands of people hope to start the trek for a 10 – 14 day period, sleeping in traditional teahouses along with porters and yaks carrying their goods.
They are not just trekking, they are acclimatizing themselves to the higher altitude. They hope to make it to Base Camp, take a quick selfie with the tents and prayer flags, only to turn around again and come back. The extra daring gear up to climb ten thousand feet to summit the tallest mountain on earth, Mount Everest.
There are daily flights between Lukla and Kathmandu during daylight hours in good weather. Although the flying distance is short, rain is common in Lukla, and fog, high winds, cloud cover, and changing visibility often mean flights can be delayed or the airport closed.
This is exactly what happened to us. We were to arrive in the morning from Kathmandu and then fly to Lukla, then on to Base Camp. There was some fog when we took off from Kathmandu and then it only got worse as the day went on once we landed in the danger zone at Lukla. Hundreds of people were stranded there with their puffy coats and oversized backpacks eager to fly back to Kathmandu or, like us, to Base Camp.
If you landed successfully and were ready to trek, then rain or shine you started hiking. We got stranded for 38 hours before we could get back in the air. Oh, did I mention I became VERY sick during this long waiting period?
Watch below: STORMHUNTERS in THE HEIGHT OF RUIN airing on June 10th 7 pm and 10 pm ET/PT on The Weather Network on TV!
Lukla airport has had nearly a dozen crashes since the early 1990s. If you consider that the airport can accommodate as many as 70 flights in and out per day, those stats are not as bad as they sound. However, the question is, why so many crashes here at this airport? Some say it’s due to inaccurate wind information conveyed to the flight crew by the control tower, measured by an automatic wind speed sensor that is not sited as per relevant world meteorological organization guidelines. Not very comforting is it? All the nation’s airlines are banned from the EU because safety officials do not trust the regulator.
The day we flew in, I was nervous due to the extreme weather conditions. We finally were given the go ahead to go up to Base Camp, and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my whole life! I can’t tell you how much respect I have for people that make the trek themselves (I would try it one day for sure), and how much respect I have for people who go on to climb to the top of the world, Mount Everest.
The flight back out to Kathmandu after we returned from Base camp featured a hailstorm. We felt the chopper swaying in the wind and heard the pings as the hail stones hit the fuselage. If our pilot could fly through these conditions, then he could fly through anything! Let's just say when we landed, it was a big relief.
