Cool airport of the day

I'm one of those people that loves aeroplanes but hates flying. Actually, the flying is OK, it's just the crashing that I'm not too thrilled about. Like most people that hate flying the phobia gets worse as I get older and, predictably, my work has seen me take over a hundred flights in the last few years. My method of dealing with it is to book myself with the same airline, pick the same type of aircraft where possible and sit in the same seat (exit row) every flight because then I know all of the noises and bumps and what to expect. I also force myself to look out of the window during the entire take off and landing phases rather than doing what a lot of people do - sit back and close my eyes, as that simply magnifies the bumps.

Today's cool airport of the day is at the ski resort of Courcheval in France. At one end, the runway is 1941m (6386') and at the other it's 2006m (6581'). There's a 535m (1760') part of the runway that is at an amazing angle of 18.5 degrees.

You know there's no flat spot anywhere in the area when the airport has to look like this:



It must be a daunting view for first time visitors.



So what's at the end of the runway if you don't have enough speed up?



OK. Nothing...



And what does an aeroplane look like when it's on its departure run?



An amazing place that just goes to show how versatile aeroplanes really are.