An Airplane Taking Off From This French Alps Airport Seriously Raised My Blood Pressure

by N/A, 10 years ago | 1 min read

Courchevel Altiport in the French Alps is one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Actually, it's not even an airport–it's an altiport, which should be obvious from the name. An altiport is basically a runway for small aircraft that slopes significantly upward, so that planes can decelerate quickly and not go toppling off the far side of the mountain. Altiports are pretty much only in the French Alps. So yeah, the Alps are so intense they need their own special runways.

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Check out this plane taking off from Courchevel Altiport. It's pretty terrifying.

Coutchevel Altiport is the airport for Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps. Seems like a whole lot of risk just so people can ski in the scenic area. It certainly is beautiful, and I'm sure many people would tell you flying in and taking off here is worth the risk.

First thing to understand about Courchevel Altiport: the weather is terrible.

Since the altiport is in the French Alps, there's often snow and ice covering the runway–not to mention rough winds, hail, etc. in the air on a regular basis. This means constant danger, and all in the name of skiing.

Now watch and see how quickly the end of the runway comes, and what's waiting below.

Extreme. And Terrifying.

Courchevel Altiport is consistently ranked as one of the world's most dangerous airports.

At Courchevel Altiport, there's no "go-around procedure." This means that if you approach the airport, you're either landing safely or crashing. That's a lot of pressure for a pilot.

Courchevel Altiport and surrounding terrain.

With plenty of trees and mountains around the airport, it's certainly not one of the safest airports to take off from/land at.

Taking off at Courchevel Altiport is only part of the terror. Watch what it looks like for a plane to land there.

And this is relatively good weather for the altiport.