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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

#31

Post by Hallucinaut »

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

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

#32

Post by olyjohn »

therein wrote: post #6
chris_overseas wrote: post #3

The town I grew up in, Gisborne New Zealand, had an airport that had a railway line crossing the runway. Perhaps unsurprisingly the trains had to give way to the planes. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/08/gisborne-airport-runwa...

I find that surprising rather than unsurprising. After all, a plane can easily do a no-fault turn-around and can observe the train in a collision path from up above while the same cannot be said for a train.

In Seattle, we built the light rail down the middle of a main roadway. The train has to stop for red lights to let cars through. It's so backwards, it's ridiculous. Always fun when the train driver notices it late and slams on the brakes.

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

#33

Post by Sniffnoy »

Other people have pointed out that there are more of these, but I should note that there's a list of more of these here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_crossing#Runway_crossing...

It seems to lack the Ometepe and Nauru examples people have mentioned though... but it is Wikipedia, so one can add those. :)

Edit: Although I'm not sure the Nauru example is real...

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

#34

Post by Sniffnoy »

forinti wrote: post #28

Nauru's airport also crosses a road. https://wikitravel.org/en/Nauru

Does it actually? Looking at pictures and maps, I don't see any crossings between the runway and the road. There's an intersection, but it's not a crossing; it'd only be useful for a plane going onto or off of the runway, not a car passing through.

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

#35

Post by adamcstephens »

miohtama wrote: post #20
mortenjorck wrote: post #8

Seeing the headline, I thought that can't be right; there are plenty of airport runways built on overpasses over major highways. The possibility of an at-grade crossing between a public road and an international airport runway was not even in the realm of imagination for me!

It severely limits traffic, both air and land. There will be a tunnel for cars opening later this year. It is another kind of road rage sitting 45 minutes in a car in a queue when some dick decides to land with his private jet.

Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?

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

#36

Post by bavariancake »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #27
miohtama wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It severely limits traffic, both air and land. There will be a tunnel for cars opening later this year. It is another kind of road rage sitting 45 minutes in a car in a queue when some dick decides to land with his private jet.

This doesn't seem like that much of a burden to endure. There are many many places in the USA where vehicular traffic must defer to rail traffic at level crossings. Which can easily occur more often than 30x per week (30 number is from the article). At some crossings it's not unusual to have a slow moving freight train take 15 minutes or more. How long is the road crossed for each plane? I'd expect 5 or 10 minutes ma…

It's Europe, so the burden is the mere awareness that rich people exist who haven't been taxed into oblivion.

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

#37

Post by Ericson2314 »

miohtama wrote: post #14
Ericson2314 wrote: post #2

Surely this gem hasn't gone unfilmed in some sort of James Bond type action sequence?

The Living Daylights starts with the Gibraltar scene. Ian Flemmings, the author, was stationed at Gib during WW2.

With the runway?

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

#38

Post by MS90 »

dilap wrote: post #30
MS90 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s interesting, I would’ve been concerned about what happens to the tires when a plane taking off/landing hits those tracks, but I guess it isn’t an issue.

They look small since they're next to big planes, but plane tires are actually quite big, so I'm not surprised they wouldn't have any trouble w/ the tracks.

I was more thinking about smaller GA planes, but it’s probably a similar situation. They’re designed to slam into the ground with a plane on top of them over and over again, so they’re probably more than strong enough.

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

#39

Post by miohtama »

adamcstephens wrote: post #35
miohtama wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It severely limits traffic, both air and land. There will be a tunnel for cars opening later this year. It is another kind of road rage sitting 45 minutes in a car in a queue when some dick decides to land with his private jet.

Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?

Like Ceuta?

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

#40

Post by agurk »

jaywalk wrote: post #21
FearlessNebula wrote: post #15

> Cars wait patiently as a Jumbo taxies on the runway at the Gibraltar Airport They’re showing a picture of (I think) an A220? In what world is even an A320 a jumbo…

Pretty sure it's a 757, but that's not a jumbo jet either.

That's an A320-200 [0]. Look at the cockpit windows, they're often a good way to tell similar aircraft apart.

It also has two overwing exits, so it can't be an A319 (single) or A321 (none).

The engine size gives it away that it's a 200 and not a neo.

BA did operate 757s in their shorthaul fleet but only on busy routes like ARN - LHR, I don't think there would be enough traffic to have justified it on any Gibraltar - UK route.

[0] https://www.britishairways.com/en-de/information/about-ba/fl...

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