Yes! fasten
your seatbelts and enjoy the ride. This is no random or common
rollercoaster
ride adventure. This is more than a rollercoaster ride adventure
at times.....
yes... in which your life can be at stake!! Jeje just joking... but
numerically
speaking... yes... 1750 metres of runway, 1500-1800 metre
mountains
making the final approach to the international airport somewhat difficult.
Additionally
the pilots have to apply maximum breaking power on the planes landing
gear and flaps
to avoid the plane from falling on a cliff situated at the end of the
"01" (O One)
Runway.
Here for your
enjoyment and pleasure you can see some pretty gnarly and rare airplane
landing pictures
into the Toncontin area. The airplanes portrayed in the images are those
of the extinct
national airline TAN/SAHSA which ceased to exist in the early 1990's due
to
economic difficulties
and the "Cielos Abiertos" ("Open Skies") policy the government
implemented
to free and make more attractive the commercial aviation environment in
our
country which
in those days was basically a monopoly of Tan/Sahsa, Taca, 2 US carriers
(I
recall American
and Eastern Airlines) and minor local air carriers.
Above we can
see a Sahsa 727-200 as it nears final approach to Toncontin. As you can
see the airplane
on landing
passes over a very congested street near the south periphery of the city.
This picture was taken
13 years ago
approximately. As you can probably see the runway is !~!~!~!INDEED SHORT!~!~!~!
(Picture taken
from south to north view)
Here we can
see a TAN 737-200 airplane as it nears Toncontin. People watching at the
airplanes arrive and
depart is
still a very popular sight amongst the dwellers of the city. (Picture taken
from North to South
perspective).
Here we see
an American Airlines 727-200 airplane as it is parked in the Toncontin
terminal in the early 1990's.
This picture
is taken from the Terminal.
Due to the
the many difficulties Toncontin has for commercial aviation, the amount
of aircraft that can land
on it is quite
limited. Currently the bigest airliner that sets ground on Tegucigalpa
daily is American Airlines
190 passenger
757-200 which flies in daily from Miami. Many 737's, Airbus A-320's land
here as well as smaller
commercial
aircraft like ATR-42's and even smaller 10 passenger propeller planes.
Airlines
which service Tegucigalpa-
Approximate
Flying times from major cities to Tegucigalpa-
From......
