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Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

amusingplanet.com

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Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#111

Post by duiker101 »

Hallucinaut wrote: post #31
duiker101 wrote: post #7

I lived next to the runway for about an year. I can actually seem the apartment from some of the photos. It was an interesting place. It's really just after the border with Spain so if you stay in the country you don't need to cross it every day, but more people work in Gib than live so there is quite a good amount of traffic. As with most things, you get used to it and it just becomes normal very quickly. The best t…

Sunborn is relatively affordable too! I believe it claims 5 stars, which is overselling it, and the noise from the bars on the landward side isn't great but it's nice all the same

I got to stay there only once when an employer invited me over for an interview and it was indeed very cool!

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#113

Post by stevehawk »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #52

My understanding is it is legal for planes in Alaska to just land on a road. They have relatively few roads and many places are only accessible via plane, boat or some other alternative to cars (like dog sled) for at least part of the year. They have about six times as many pilots per capita as the rest of the US. Some of their little towns have amazingly minimal airport amenities and crudely constructed landing stri…

there's kind of no FAA rule specifically outlawing planes landing anywhere. There are restaurants in the US in rural parts of the mainland where planes land on a road and taxi right up to the parking lot like they're a car.

the rules are mostly around the pilot being responsible for respecting local laws, property owners (no trespassing) and the pilot being responsible for the safety of those in the plane and the road.

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#114

Post by throw0101a »

bglusman wrote: post #89
ilamont wrote: post #88

For decades Taiwan has designed sections of its highways to be converted to military runways in the event of an attack by China. Here's a review with photos of a training exercise a few years ago: The [Taiwan] Air Force sent four types of aircraft to participate in the exercise: a F-16V Fighting Falcon, a Mirage 2000-5 multi-role fighter jet, and Taiwan’s own Indigenous Defense Fighter. The jets took off and landed w…

I was about to mention what I heard many years ago about 1 mile in every 5 of US highways having to be straight, so that in emergencies it could be used as a runway, but I decided to google it first for a reference and it turns out it's an urban legend: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/00mayjun/o... also some additional details here: https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/were-u-s...

I'm sure there are enough straight stretches that it could be done anyway. Seems that the Swedes practice on their highways with their Gripens regularly:

* https://www.blogbeforeflight.net/2020/04/swaf-gripen-pilots-...

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#115

Post by ufmace »

ilamont wrote: post #88

For decades Taiwan has designed sections of its highways to be converted to military runways in the event of an attack by China. Here's a review with photos of a training exercise a few years ago: The [Taiwan] Air Force sent four types of aircraft to participate in the exercise: a F-16V Fighting Falcon, a Mirage 2000-5 multi-role fighter jet, and Taiwan’s own Indigenous Defense Fighter. The jets took off and landed w…

I wonder how they handle the support? It's not much use to land and take off warplanes if you can't also transport, load, and service weapons and also refuel the planes and fix any mechanical issues.

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#116

Post by TMWNN »

saool wrote: post #78
miohtama wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Ceuta?

Not only is that a tu quoque fallacy but it also fails to take into account that both Ceuta and Melilla are integral parts of Spain and have been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from France in 1956, whereas Gibraltar, being a British Overseas Territory, is not and never has been part of the United Kingdom.

From Spain's perspective that's a distinction without a difference.

If sometime in the past 300 years the British government had formally incorporated Gibraltar into the UK the way Hawaii is a part of the US or French Guiana is part of France, would Spain's complaints about British sovereignty over Gibraltar, and periodic attempts to regain the territory, be any less frequent? I think not.

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#118

Post by grecy »

boulos wrote: post #100
grecy wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every year friends launch their float planes from the International Airport in Whitehorse, Yukon. All the float planes are out of the water for winter freeze up, put on trailers. So in spring when the ice is gone you get a friend to drive down the runway full speed towing the trailer and plane, then take off directly from the trailer - there are no wheels on the floats and taking them on/off is a pain and not worth i…

I came here to say “that sounds made up”. Then I did a Google video search for “Whitehorse airplane take off truck” and found: https://youtu.be/r5GAZC1YoCo . Must be a long runway!

There are daily direct flights to/from Germany.

So yeah, it's a good sized runway.

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#119

Post by saool »

TMWNN wrote: post #116
saool wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only is that a tu quoque fallacy but it also fails to take into account that both Ceuta and Melilla are integral parts of Spain and have been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from France in 1956, whereas Gibraltar, being a British Overseas Territory, is not and never has been part of the United Kingdom.

From Spain's perspective that's a distinction without a difference. If sometime in the past 300 years the British government had formally incorporated Gibraltar into the UK the way Hawaii is a part of the US or French Guiana is part of France, would Spain's complaints about British sovereignty over Gibraltar, and periodic attempts to regain the territory, be any less frequent? I think not.

As long as we are talking (de)colonization, the distinction makes all the difference.

The difference in the treatment of a land and its people as equals to the rest of the country's citizens and states is what makes Hawaiians regular Americans and Ceuties regular Spaniards, and what keeps Llanitos from being British _citizens_.

To answer your question: yeah, if Gibraltar was a self-sufficient state within the UK (instead of an -arguably- geo-strategic colony that is a tax haven according to the OECD) you likely wouldn't hear as many complaints about it.

Take for example the cession of Sardinia in the very same Treaty of Utrecht. You ever hear complaints about its sovereignty?

Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road

#120

Post by TMWNN »

saool wrote: post #119
TMWNN wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Spain's perspective that's a distinction without a difference. If sometime in the past 300 years the British government had formally incorporated Gibraltar into the UK the way Hawaii is a part of the US or French Guiana is part of France, would Spain's complaints about British sovereignty over Gibraltar, and periodic attempts to regain the territory, be any less frequent? I think not.

As long as we are talking (de)colonization, the distinction makes all the difference. The difference in the treatment of a land and its people as equals to the rest of the country's citizens and states is what makes Hawaiians regular Americans and Ceuties regular Spaniards, and what keeps Llanitos from being British _citizens_. To answer your question: yeah, if Gibraltar was a self-sufficient state within the UK (ins…

You're saying that Spain wants Gibraltar back because it wants to liberate the benighted residents of the rock, which of course isn't true. Spain might claim as such as part of its overall case for regaining the territory, but that's certainly not the main, secondary, or tertiary reason.

If Sardinia were not an island hundreds of miles away, but a large peninsula physically connected to Spain, yes Spain would very much actively try to regain the territory. (Probably much more of a priority than Gibraltar.)

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