Shockingly Few Pilots Are Cleared to Land at Paro International Airport
Have you ever flown into Paro International Airport (VQPR) in Bhutan in the Eastern Himalayas? While the Eastern Himalayas are exceptionally beautiful, Paro International Airport is considered one of the world’s top five most dangerous airports. In fact, landing there is so treacherous that only 24 pilots have been properly trained and cleared to land. Let’s take a look at why this airport is considered so dangerous.
Where are Bhutan and the Paro International Airport?
The Kingdom of Bhutan’s location is part of why landing at the airport is so dangerous. It’s landlocked by Tibet, India, and Myanmar and located in the Himalayas with 18,000-foot peaks. The airport sits 7,364 feet above sea level in a narrow valley with houses and power lines located along the mountainsides. While this offers airplane passengers a dramatic view as they approach the airport, it’s also stunningly dangerous.
Why is Paro International Airport so dangerous?
Many factors make Paro Airport dangerous, including the terrain, weather, lack of technology, and physical hazards.
1. The Airport’s Elevation
The first factor is its elevation at 7,364 feet. This is because aircraft performance is affected by density altitude, and on average, a normally aspirated aircraft will lose about 3.5 percent of its power for every 1,000-foot increase in density altitude. At 7,500 feet, the aircraft could lose as much as 25 percent of its performance.
2. The Airport’s Lack of Technology
The second factor is the lack of technology. Paro International Airport has one VOR that pilots can use to guide them to the airport. There’s no radar or ILS approach. This means that pilots must visually guide themselves to the airport and land the plane manually. The good news is that an Instrument Flight Procedure (IFP) is being developed specifically for the airport.
3. The Terrain Surrounding Paro
The third factor is the terrain. There are 18,000-foot peaks surrounding Paro. Pilots must enter the airport at a 45-degree angle, slip quickly to the runway and touch down. This is even more difficult when you learn that pilots typically only see the airport once they are 1 to 2 miles out, meaning they have only a few seconds to finalize their approach and land. At other, less dangerous airports, pilots can usually see the runway from 10 miles away, which gives them plenty of time to set up their approach and land safely.
4. The Physical Hazards
The airport experiences frequent crosswinds, which means that while the pilot navigates the physical hazards, the terrain, and the lack of technology, they must also contend with a near-constant crosswind. Due to all of these factors, pilots must land under VFR flight rules. If it’s cloudy or foggy, the flights are diverted.
With all of these dangers, is easy to understand why only a handful of pilots have been approved to land at Paro. In fact, in order to qualify to land at Paro International Airport, pilots must have a minimum of 1,500 total flight hours and an Airline Transport (ATP) certificate. Within the 1,500 hours of flight time required to earn that distinction, pilots must have logged a minimum of 500 hours of mountain flying time. Once a new pilot is brought on board to fly in the mountainous terrain of the Himalayas, they are tested in a flight simulator. The simulator allows the pilot to test their skills while landing and taking off at Paro. Those who pass the simulator training are advanced to the practical training, which will be further monitored and taught by an experienced captain. Once the pilot has made at least 30 takeoffs and landings and Paro and passed a final line check, they will be approved to fly into the airport unsupervised.