Humans like to be able to reach every point of the planet, don't we? That sometimes means going by car or, even, by foot with a machete. To go further into the globe we still have to use some trusty (and often old) planes, which means we need remote airports.
Here are ten locations around the globe that make you take a good look at the pilot before take-off. [Note: This list was produced from Jalopnik’s readers’ suggestions.]
10. Wiley Post - Will Rogers Memorial Airport, Alaska
Image: Wikimapia
The farthest north airport in the US is used by an average of 33 planes every day. That makes it a very busy airport compared to the rest of the list.
Epic Cheese commented on For Sweden's suggestion: “I had an uncle who worked as a airline mechanic out of Barrow in the '80s....he has so many stories of life out there.” So, let's hear some! Suggested By: For Sweden.
9. Nyingchi Mainling Airport, Tibet
Image: BigChan/Wikimedia Commons
Tibet is not as remote as it used to be before Brad Pitt went there, but you will still need a pretty advanced GPS system to land a jet at the strip 9,675 feet above sea level, surrounded by the peaks of a Himalayan mountain side that's generating fog, rain and heavy crosswinds. Suggested By: For Sweden.
8. Alert Airport, Canada
Image: Travel Live Now
The world's northernmost permanent airport used to be a military-only facility, but nowadays, a private company also flies there carrying fuel and sleds. Alert is also used as an emergency source of fuel for allied military aircrafts. Suggested By: Thomas Cotrel.
7. Paro Airport, Bhutan
Image: Douglas J. McLaughlin/Wikimedia Commons
Bhutan's only international airport is one of the most challenging in the world, used by just three airlines flying only at daylight. Suggested By: Jayhawk Jake, resident KIA fanboy.
6. Mataveri International Airport, Easter Island
Image: Jialiang Gao/Wikimedia Commons
Being 2,336 miles from Santiago, Chile, Easter Island's international airport was once designated as an abort site for the U.S. Space Shuttle when polar orbital flights from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California were planned. Since 1987, it can take wide-bodied jets. Suggested By: Jay_Hoff.
5. Gorge River Airstrip, New Zealand
According to muhnkee_2 - Avantime Owner and 100% Jaloper, the airstrip in the south west corner of New Zealand's South Island is "5 days walk from the nearest road, and home to New Zealand's remotest family (of nutters)."
No jets around here:
4. Svalbard Airport, Norway
Image: Bjoertvedt/Wikimedia Commons
Basically, everything is very remote in Svalbard. That obviously includes the airport too. Still, 126,350 passengers use it every year, so there's probably a coffee machine. Suggested By: Brian, The Life of.
3. Chokurdakh Airport, Russia
Image: Around Guides.com
Russia had to make it onto this list after having the most remote road in the world, and For Sweden nominated Chokurdakh. He is right, you just don't want to miss that land strip. Suggested By: For Sweden.
2. Ascension Island in the Atlantic
Image: MercoPress
I'll just let f86sabre explain: “1400 miles from South America and and 1000 miles from Africa. The airport is used by the RAF, US military and commercial flights as a diversion strip. The island also hosts one of the main GPS communications antennas and what may be the world's worst golf course.” Suggested By: f86sabre.
1. Jack F. Paulus Skiway, South Pole
Image: JHG/Wikimedia Commons
Let's put it this way:
The Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station is so far out there that we don't even have a Google satellite image of it. From October and February, there are several flights per day of ski-equipped LC-130 Hercules aircraft from McMurdo to supply the station. They call those flights "Operation Deep Freeze". Suggested By: leicester.
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