Pirep,Kathmandu,Nepal.

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ghostsix

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The Kathmandu airport has one straight-in approach to runway 02 only. Very high terrain (10,000' local elevation ) is within seven miles of the runway.On takeoff use max.rate of climb.Bring a turboprop or better.


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It is one of the most dangerous airports in the world, especially in inclement weather. They had no ILS last I heard but this may be updated by now. A Thai flight went into one of those mountains a couple of years back. Yangdu had relatives aboard. There were no survivors.

Uncle Bill
 
Slightly off topic. I have been worse.No one asked what a pirep is; interesting. Are we the only pilots here? It has always been a small club.

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No, Ghost, not if you include a ragwing Cessna 140 taildragger with crosswind gear.
 
Another total goat rodeo is the landing strip at Bagio in the Philipines. Or Lima Site 734 in Laos.

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JP
 
John, I have had the good fortune to miss both of those.

Another honey is the strip up at Namche Bazaar -- maybe 1800 feet, dirt, on the top of a 15,000 foot mountain. Not so bad for take off but you don't want to lose your brakes on landing.

Uncle Bill
 
OK, I'll bite.

I'm not a pilot, so I have no idea what a pirep is.

What is a "goat rodeo"? Sounds like a tough place to land.
smile.gif


I -do- have a couple of friends from Laos who are now living in Phoenix. The younger one is 25 and he remembers his mom taking him and all his brothers away one day to flee to Thailand. The older one is 50 or so and he doesn't like to talk about what he remembers.

I also had a Hmong roomate my sophomore year in college.

I suppose that we have now left the topic of "khukuris" far, far behind...

-Dave
 
A Pirep is an aviation term, short for Pilot Report.

A Goat Rodeo AKA Goat Rope, is about the most polite term used by aviation people (and others in higher risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right at once if you intend to walk away from it. There are several more 'colorful' terms used, as I'm sure the other guys will attest to, but they are not used in public or mixed company.

Reading these posts about old planes and short fields brings back some fond memories. The happiest times of my life in aviation were spent flying DC-3's, DC-4's and C-46's around in central Africa. It was real, honest-to-goodness aviation. There was a sense of adventure. Now it's all business and bottom line. Sigh.......

Blackdog

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When the world is at peace, a gentleman keeps his sword by his side.......
Sun-Tzu 400 BC

 
Blackdog, I know the story. I had 500 hours logged before I ever flew an airplane that had a radio in it. A little different 45 or 50 years ago.

I've seen some of those old lovely ladies with a hundred thousand hours and they just keep on going, and going and going...

Uncle Bill
 
Bill,

A few months back I went to work one morning and watched as a scrap crew started cutting up an old C-123. She had been sitting there for a while in pretty good shape and the word was that she was going to be restored for a museum. That obviously didn't work out.

As the scrap crew started cutting into the wings with the saws, I had to leave. I felt as if I was watching a mugging or a rape and was helpless to stop it. All through the day I kept telling myself it was just an old airplane. Somehow that didn't keep me from being depressed all day. She could have been donated to one of the local aviation schools, but was instead sold by the pound. Like I said before, all business and bottom line. I fear we are all a little poorer because of it.

Blackdog

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When the world is at peace, a gentleman keeps his sword by his side.......
Sun-Tzu 400 BC



[This message has been edited by Blackdog (edited 31 August 1999).]
 
BLACKDOG,
One place you never want to visit is Davis Monthan AFB...a true boneyard.
Thanks for nicely parsing 'goat rodeo' without any 4 letter words.

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JP
 
Khatmandu is indeed on the FAA list of most dangerous fields.Catalina can be a challange.The last time I took off from Sedona,which is on a mesa, I had decided that if I was not flying in 50% of the strip; abort.Airspace above you or runway behind you is of no use.

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I'd say Dutch Island in the Aleutians compares with Kathmandu for passenger terror. How does that one rate in the Pireps? I seem to recall an interesting approach in Hong Kong also.

I don't pilot anything bigger than a hang glider. But I do fly in them, and help to build the big ones.
 
When I was a kid in my 20's I was flying home for Christmas on a milk run airlines called Ozark airlines. When we departed Joplin, MO late night I was the only passenger aboard the DC-3. The flight crew, pilot, co-pilot and a single stewardess invited me forward for coffee. About five minutes out we got a call from Joplin radio. An old lady had dozed off and missed the flight. We circled back, landed and picked her up and then continued the flight.

That's the difference, I think, Blackdog is talking about. And how many stories like this one did that grand old lady have to tell when she went to the scrap heap?

But nothing lasts forever, not even us, no matter how badly we may want it to.

Uncle Bill
 
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