Half of my family is from Madeira, Portugal, a small island off the coast of northwestern Africa. The island offers amazing beaches, beautiful year-around weather, and majestic mountains. I’m a little different than most tourists though, since I love their airport the best! Ranked by Discovery Channel as one of the top 10 most dangerous airports in the world, you could literally just watch the planes come in and have yourself a great day (and get a great sun tan while doing it).
Its been a few years since I’ve been to Madeira (though I hope to be back within the next year now that I’m about finished with school), but there really isn’t anything like landing there. To put things in perspective, to be able fly from Madeira at all, the pilot in command must have a minimum of 200 hours as captain on the aircraft type in use, and a minimum of one take-off and landing at Madeira in the last six months, or one supervised flight accompanied by a pilot qualified to land there.
Approach info for flying into Funchal's airport.
Incidents & Accidents at FNC
- On 5 March 1973, an Aviaco Sud Caravelle 10R (Registration EC-BID) crashed into the sea during approach, losing the aircraft and three crew.
- On 19 November 1977, TAP Portugal Flight TP425, a Boeing 727-200 (Registration CS-TBR) was traveling from Brussels to Madeira via Lisbon. After a go around, the aircraft attempted to land in poor weather conditions, of which it landed long on runway 24 (now runway 23) and plunged over a steep bank. It then struck a stone bridge and the right wing was torn off, and then crashing hard onto a beach. A fire then broke out, setting the aircraft alight. Out of the 164 on board, 131 lost their lives.
- On 18 December 1977, SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, a Sud Caravelle 10R (registration HB-ICK) was cleared for approach on runway 06 (now runway 05), but descended below 720 ft (220 m) causing the aircraft to crash into the sea. 36 people died out of the 57 on board.
Aeroscholar 