Sunday 20 October 2013

Gibraltar Strange Airport, Where Runway Intersecting a Road

Gibraltar Airport (also called North Front Airport) is a civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, a small peninsula with an area of just 6.8 square KM. The be short of of flat space on Gibraltar means the peninsula's only runway is bisected by its busiest road, the Winston Churchill Avenue that heads towards the land border with Spain. A pair of flimsy-looking barriers closes vehicular traffic every time a plane lands or departs. Luckily, it’s not a full of activity airport. It handles only approximately 30 flights a week, all flying to and from the United Kingdom. The airport was constructed during World War II upon the territory's race course, when Gibraltar was a vital naval base for the British, originally opened in 1939. A latest terminal has been constructed at Gibraltar International due to the high number of passengers using it, and the terminal is 380,000 sq ft, which is 160,000 sq ft bigger than the old terminal. The road across the runway is constraining to operations at the airport, especially with the increase in operations since the Córdoba Agreement. The new runway tunnel will reduce delays and tailbacks caused by aircraft taking off and landing. There will be several car parks built at Gibraltar International during its expansion. A new 220-space, three-storey car park located at the east of the new terminal













World's Largest Miniature Airport of Germany

The world's largest model airport situated at Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, which is also home to the world’s largest model railway landscape. The model airport is based off of Hamburg's Fuhlsbüttel International airport. It also includes a whopping list of accessories, including 40,000 lights, 40 planes, 500 Cars, 15,000 figurines, 10,000 trees, 50 trains, 1000 wagons, 100 signals, 200 switches and 300 buildings. The display took 7 years and roughly $4.8 million to build.
















Gisborne Airport; Railway Line Intersecting the Runway


Gisborne Airport is a undersized regional airport that is situated on the western outskirts of Gisborne, the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The unique thing about this airport is one of the very few airports in the world that has a railway line intersecting the runway. The beautiful Gisborne airport covers a land of 160 hectares has three grass runways and one main runway that are intersected by the Palmerston North - Gisborne Railway Line. The airport has a single terminal with two tarmac gates.

The Tasmania’s North Western Coast, Wynyard Airport also had a railway crossing on the runway but moribund rail traffic forced the closure of rail traffic in early 2005, and thus the Wynyard airport rail crossing is no more operational. At Gisborne Airport on the other hand, the rail route functions actively and so does the airport everyday between 6:30 in the morning and 8:30 at night. After that, the runway is sealed off till morning.

One of the more appealing aspects of the Napier-Gisborne railway line is when the line passes directly on top of the Gisborne Airport runway; trains have to stop and look for clearance from the air traffic control tower to cross the runway and continue down the line. The railway tracks splits the runway approximately in the middle and very often trains or aircraft are stopped until one of them moves on.
Indeed it is a very challenging job for the airport authorities to manage landing at the intersecting runway along the operational rail route which has scheduled departures and arrivals itself. The Gisborne airport is a main link to enter the little region of Gisborne and hosts more than 60 domestic flights, and over 150,0000 passengers fly through this airport each year.












Tuesday 15 October 2013

World's Most Beautiful Glacier Waterfall in Svalbard Norway

There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing a tons of melted ice cascading into sea. Svalbard is the most striking place on earth, where the arctic cold formed an exclusive flora and fauna, and massive glaciers and crystal waterfalls attract anyone who is able to visit it. Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway as well as of Europe. It is situated about 400 miles north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. In spite of being so close to the North Pole, Svalbard is comparatively warm, thanks to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream, which makes it habitable. In fact, Svalbard is the northernmost everlastingly inhabited region on the planet.

The stunning islands cover a total area of 62,050 square KM, approximately 60% of which is covered by glacier with many outlet glaciers terminating in the sea. A few of these glaciers have small waterfalls formed from melting snow and ice. Most of Svalbard is barren rock but during the short summer, the melting snow in the milder parts of the islands give place to vast stretches of tundra vegetation, sometimes dotted with delicate flowers. Svalbard which “means cold coasts” is home to 7 national parks and 23 nature reserves cover 2/3 of the archipelago, protecting the largely untouched, yet frail, environment.

Svalbard is a breeding ground for a lot of seabirds, and also features polar bears, short legged reindeer, polar foxes, whales, seals and walruses. Svalbard is renowned for its variety of birds, including Arctic Terns, Arctic Fulmar and Puffins. Whales can be spotted off the coastlines particularly during late summer. Humpback whales, Orcas, Beluga Whales, and Narwhals all frequent the ocean waters near Svalbard?