TAKE PHOTOS, LEAVE FOOTPRINTS
SCOTT DICKEN
Photos: Scott Dickens
I
t seemed as though this day had been forever in the making. I’d spent months on the gym’s stair climber trying to rid myself of my ‘extra baggage’. I’d endured the stares of the gym’s native population who had undoubtedly pondered why I was working up a sweat whilst wearing a high altitude mask that made me look like Bane from Batman. I’d abstained when given the mouthwatering opportunity to have a second serving of Christmas Dinner. Yet now it all felt worthwhile. Here we were sitting in Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport waiting to board our flight to Lukla; the gateway to Everest. There isn’t much to do at Tribhuvan airport except nervously ponder the quietly impending existential crisis going through any sane mind. Those dark thoughts, only to be broken by shuddering bursts of “garble garble, flight to mountain” over the intercom, are entirely rational as demonstrated below. As I watched my wife nervously pace across the floor, I myself succumbed to the inevitable: I began to ponder the reasons why one might be nervous about flying in to this particular airport; reasons I had refrained from disclosing to my wife:
Reason One The airport’s vital statistics. Never before have I heard such a frightening list of reasons why an airport shouldn’t be operational. At an altitude of 9,101 feet, Lukla’s Tenzing-Hillary Airport is the 36th highest airport in the world. Its runway is 1,729 feet long which, to provide a comparison, is 7.5 times shorter than London Heathrow’s Northern Terminal. The runway has an 11 degree slope, meaning one end is 200ft below the other. The landing end of the runway is a solid cliff face and the takeoff end is a 2,000ft vertical drop in to the valley below. Finally, given that the runway is located deep in a steepsided Himalayan valley, the chances of executing a ‘go-around’ if one was needed are slim to none. All that said, there are basically three options at this ridiculously high, short, slanty and perilous airport: successfully land, crash into a cliff face, or crash down 2,000ft into a valley.
Reason Two Lukla has been consistently ranked as the most dangerous airport in the world. I first heard of it some years ago when I watched the History Channel’s ‘Most Extreme Airports’. The title of the show really captured its essence and Lukla topped the charts at #1 (the one list you don’t want to top). These days, YouTube is full of such countdowns and so it was a joy to relive those hellish memories before I boarded the flight! The airport’s danger factor has resulted in strict certification requirements for pilots, including a minimum of 100 ‘short-take-off-and-landing’ (STOL) missions, one year of STOL experience in Nepal and ten flights into Lukla with a certified pilot. I guess this means, at the very least, you’re in ‘capable’ hands…..
Reason Three Plane crashes and fatalities aren’t quite as unheard of as they are at your average airport. The aviation safety website provides a daunting summary of recent crashes (at least those that were recorded) and fatalities at Lukla. Most recently (May 2017) was a crash that resulted in 2 deaths after a cargo plane ‘impacted steep rocky and wooded terrain’ after possibly attempting a ‘go-around’. When you consider that a crash at Tribhuvan Airport (our departure airport) killing 49 people also took place during our visit, it’s fair to say that the existing apprehension was further heightened.
Reason Four All of Nepal’s domestic airlines are banned from EU airspace due to their poor safety record and only domestic Nepalese airlines fly in to Lukla. I refer you to the aforementioned Reason Three and Reason Seven below as undeniable evidence as to why this is probably a wise decision by the fine people who compile the EU Air Safety List.
18 | August 2021
Old Town Crier
