Airport Runway In The Sky
Man's Engineering Feats
Want To Land On That??
Now, here's something you don't see every day! New airport runway on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The airport's runway has a length of 2781 meters, (9000 ft) of which 1000 > (3000) are supported by 180 pillars, each pillar 50 meters in length (about 17 floors). The runway is designed to accommodate 747s. Note the cars parked below the runway.
It's a bit like landing on an aircraft carrier. The 2nd picture bestshows how high it is -- and let's not even think about running off thatrunway!
Madeira Airport (IATA: FNC, ICAO: LPMA), also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira.
The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1600 meters in length, but was extended by 200 meters 8 years after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of 1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2000, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns, each being about 70m tall. This airport is also considered the Kai Tak of Europe because of its runway and approach, excluding flying over a city.
