World's smallest airport is so tiny pilots need special training to land

This tiny airport, flanked by rugged mountains, lone has a runway spanning 400-metres which means pilots request peculiar support to land.

The world's smallest commercialized airdrome has a runway truthful small, it is hardly agelong capable to accommodate an craft carrier. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, located connected the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba, is said to beryllium 1 of the astir challenging airports for pilots to onshore at.

It was archetypal opened successful 1969 by Captain Remy F. de Haenen - who refused to judge that gathering an airdrome connected the tiny land was impossible. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is not lone known for being the smallest airdrome successful the satellite but besides for its strict landing regulations. Due to its highly abbreviated runway, pilots necessitate peculiar support from the Netherlands Antilles' Civil Aviation Authority to onshore there. It is surrounded by steep cliffs and ends successful a sheer driblet into the sea, making landings peculiarly hair-raising, particularly successful atrocious weather.

For this reason, lone specially trained pilots flying smaller aircraft, specified arsenic the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, are permitted to land. These planes typically transportation betwixt 18 and 20 passengers.

To enactment its size into perspective, Heathrow Airport’s bluish and confederate runways measurement 3,902 metres and 3,658 metres, respectively, whereas Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport’s runway is conscionable 400 metres. It's astir 10 times smaller than Heathrow’s.

Despite its size, Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport has been named 1 of the apical 10 astir scenic airports respective times. Its breathtaking surroundings, featuring rugged cliffs and sky-blue waters, pull astir 15,000 visitors each year. The airdrome besides serves arsenic a captious method of transport for residents, tourists, aesculapian and exigency services, arsenic good arsenic the transportation of goods and supplies.

Other intersting facts astir Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport:

• The archetypal craft landed astatine Flat Point successful February 1959, erstwhile the country was inactive privately owned.
• After the inaugural landing, Remy de Haenen was banned from flying to and from the island, meaning nary planes landed connected Saba betwixt 1959 and 1963.
• The island’s deficiency of an airdrome became a governmental issue, and successful 1962, the Dutch authorities agreed to money 600,000 guilders (equivalent to £258,680.58) for the airport’s construction.
• The airport’s main terminal was damaged by Hurricane Georges successful 1998, starring the Dutch authorities to money a caller building, which opened successful 2002.

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport is surely a precise unsocial airport, and an appealing destination for travellers looking for escapade and excitement - each starting from the infinitesimal you onshore successful Saba.