Jomsom, Nepal. The World's most dangerous airport.

[Conor Dary]

Years ago I once flew to this airport. You don't really descend. You just make a turn and there is the runway.

15 Die in Nepal Plane Crash

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/world ... ?ref=world

[catson52]

Haven't been to it. The airlines operating out of Pokhara (Everest area flights) seemed to be
fairly "simple" and quite dangerous. I guess Jomsom lies quite close to Dhaulagiri, the spectacular, seventh highest mountain, in the world.

[Conor Dary]

Dhaulagiri, the Annapurnas. Spectacular flight from Pokhara, and not very long. But a dramatic change in climate. More like the moon up in Jomsom and beyond towards Muktinath, where we are in this picture in an earlier thread. (Ah, the halcyon days when we could post our own photos!)

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=42488&p=687317&

[catson52]

What are those peaks in the background of the earlier photo? Furthest to left, seems to be Machhapuchhhare.

[Conor Dary]

The most prominent on the left is Machapuchare. The others I believe are Annapurna I and II.
Dhaulagiri is to the left out of the picture.

[gh]

Anybody here ever landed in St. George, Utah? I did on the way out of the '75 NCAA in Provo, in a small prop plane (Piper Comanche maybe?) on some never-heard-of air service.

At any rate, the airport in St. George is situated on a mesa outside of town and hundreds of feet higher. I swear, we flew straight at the rock wall (Tom Jordan was in the shotgun seat, bug-eyed) which was a hundred feet or so below the landing surface and when we were just a few hundred yards out there was a huge upwelling of air from below—the reverse feeling of an air-pocket—and we elevatored uuuup! and then proceeded to be on the level to land. Can't believe the FAA permits it.

[Conor Dary]

That sounds awful. Wonder what the accident rate is there.

The Jomsom flight I was on, a Royal Nepal Pilatus Porter, was in good weather and uneventful, except for the scenery. You go right by Dhaulagiri. Though I did hear stories in Kathmandu from tourists who trekked north from Pokhara and got stuck in Jomsom for a couple of weeks because of the weather.

[Conor Dary]

(Tom Jordan was in the shotgun seat, bug-eyed)

And just a couple of weeks after Pre's Rock became famous. What irony.