Long reads & round-ups
Latest · Explainer02 OCT 20267 min read
Hard, not dangerous
The same dozen airports head every list of the world's most dangerous. Aviation authorities keep lists too. Theirs name the terrain, and require that the captain has seen the airport before.
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Read 28 SEP 2026Explainer
Five kilometres of concrete
The longest runways were not built for airliners. They were built for thin air, for test flights, and for a spacecraft that landed without engines and could not go around.
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5 MIN28 SEP 2026Explainer
Thin air
Above 4,000 m an airliner needs a longer runway, a lighter load and, in some cabins, oxygen for the passengers. A few airports live with that every day.
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5 MIN27 SEP 2026Explainer
Uphill landings
Most runways are built as flat as the ground allows. A few slope on purpose — aircraft land up the hill and take off down it, and there is only one way to do either.
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4 MINJournal pieces are written from register entries and link back to them. For ranked lists of airports, see Collections.