Five Cabin Checks: World's most dangerous airport runway: Tegucigalpa, Honduras!

I SURVIVED. Not once, but TWICE! The first time we flew to Honduras was on Wednesday, and we just got back from there again today. I had heard some 'rumors' about how difficult the landing is supposed to be at Tegucigalpa, but I had NO IDEA how it would feel being strapped into my jumpseat awaiting the final approach. What makes this airport so unique (and dangerous) is that it is LITERALLY smack dab in the middle of civilization, in between thousands of houses and also mountains on all sides. The way the planes angle in forces them to do a turn, and quickly descend as soon as possible so they have enough room to brake and stop the plane on the abnormally short runway.

This is the approach towards the airport... I'm not kidding, we were on the ground not 3 minutes after this picture was taken. And there isn't a runway in sight!

On Wednesday when we did this for my first time, Captain Theresa was landing there for the first time. As an extra precaution, we had the Captain, First Officer, In-Flight Relief Officer, and another experienced Honduras-landing Captain ALL IN THE COCKPIT to coach her along on how to do it. You CANNOT land at this airport without another experienced pilot in the cockpit with you! Let me tell you... Theresa absolutely NAILED it! It was SO awesome. I was peeking out my little window next to my jumpseat and all I saw was houses, billboards, greenery, and then immediately the wheels hit the ground. I grabbed my thighs so hard, and was SO thrilled that we landed! The BEST part was when she put the brakes on and came to the quickest stop I've ever felt in a 757. Everyone clapped when we stopped and my adrenaline was just RUSHING! It was so GREAT!