Pilots Shared Airports They Think Are Scary To Land At

“I’ll add one more: Catalina Island Airport in the Sky, Catalina Island, California. While it’s not on the level of difficulty of some of the airports on this page, the airport definitely gets the respect of pilots who take off and land there. Situated atop a mountain on the island, its short runway, crosswinds, and often adverse conditions make any good single engine pilot think twice. The airport’s reputation is so well known that the gift shop sells a coffee mug with a big bite off the lip of it emblazoned with ‘I survived a landing at Catalina Island Airport.'” —Brian Teeter

“I found both landing and taking off at the Catalina airport on Catalina Island both challenging and fun. The runway is atop a plateau, so your approach is over the water. While you are very high over the water, you are much lower relative to the airport runway. Then when you take off, the runway is humped in the middle. Sitting at the end of the runway, it looks like it ends a few hundred feet in front of you due to the bow, but as you accelerate, more and more runway appears as you get neat the top of the hump. You have to trust your chart for the runway length as it’s not visible from the end of the runway.” —Bob Nix