Landing at the World’s Most Dangerous Tenzing-Hillary Lukla Airport (2800m) - Day 4.4

The Summmit Air airplane took off from Ramechhap Airport (493m), navigating for around 20 minutes through the valleys and mountains to land (4:07) in Lukla (2800m). The pilot (5:12) was kind enough to open the side curtain (1:22), sensing that I am trying to record the cockpit view of the landing. Tenzing-Hillary Airport (IATA: LUA, ICAO: VNLK), also known as simply Lukla Airport, is a domestic airport and altiport in the town of Lukla, in Khumbu Pasanglhamu, Solukhumbu District, Province No. 1 of Nepal (). It gained worldwide fame as it was rated the most dangerous airport in the world for more than 20 years by a program titled Most Extreme Airports, broadcast on The History Channel in 2010. Tenzing–Hillary Airport is frequently referred to as the most dangerous airport in the world. Arriving and departing aircraft must use a single very short runway (06/24). There is a low prospect of a successful go-around on short final approach due to the terrain. There is high terrain immediately beyond the northern end of the runway and a steeply angled drop at the southern end of the runway into the valley below. Due to the difficulties of successfully landing at the airport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal sets high standards, according to which only experienced pilots, who have completed at least 100 short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) missions, have over one year of STOL experience in Nepal, and have completed ten flights into Lukla with a certified instructor pilot, are allowed to land at the airport. The model of the airplane is Let L-410 Turbolet, which is a twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Let Kunovice (named Aircraft Industries since 2005), often used as an airliner. The aircraft is capable of landing on short and unpaved runways and operating under extreme conditions from −50 °C (−58 °F) to 50 °C (122 °F). By 2016, 1,200 L-410s had been built, and over 350 are in service in more than 50 countries ().