Road Closed for… Airplanes?

R

I’ve got a cool video to share with you today.

It’s of a passenger jet taking off at Gibraltar Airport last week.

Voice from another room: “What’s the big deal about that?

Well, I had just finished walking across the runway, which is also the main road…

The airport in Gibraltar is right next to the border — and right in town
The airport in Gibraltar is right next to the border — and right in town

Gibraltar is unusual because the runway is so close to the city centre — right next to it, in fact. And it also intersects the main road into and out of the colony. So anytime an airplane takes off or lands, barricades come down and all traffic grinds to a halt.

In Gibraltar the runway crosses the main road — or is it the other way around...?
In Gibraltar the runway crosses the main road — or is it the other way around…?

It’s kinda like a railroad crossing, but for passenger jets.

I happened to be leaving Gibraltar on foot when I spotted a Monarch Airbus getting ready to depart. Check it out:

Gibraltar always makes those lists of the “world’s scariest airports” because of it’s short runway, and because of the quickly changing crosswinds caused by the Rock. Apparently when landing there, passengers see nothing but an angry sea, getting closer and closer…

How about you? Would you risk a landing at Gibraltar Airport?

About the author

Ryan Murdock

Author of A Sunny Place for Shady People and Vagabond Dreams: Road Wisdom from Central America. Host of Personal Landscapes podcast. Editor-at-Large (Europe) for Canada's Outpost magazine. Writer at The Shift. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

2 Comments

  • Hi Ryan,

    At a different store, I found a bottle of Mount Gay Rum Extra Old for $20 less than I could find earlier. And as it was for No. 1, I got it. Good stuff Maynard. Only one to two ice cubes are added to it.

    So, thanks again for your suggestion in your article for it. You may or may not recall that I wrote you earlier about this.

    From northwestern Wisconsin,

    Gary

    • An excellent rum, and a wise choice. Glad you were able to find a bottle Gary! I’m headed back to Barbados at the end of the year. Planning to stockpile a few bottles of St. Nicholas Abbey white rum. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted. (thankfully Mount Gay is available here in Malta!)

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