Re: It was *supposed* to turn the aeroplane
I remember landing at Windhoek in Namibia. The town is in an old volcanic crater - complete with high-walled surrounding landscape. The internal town airport's runway could therefore not be extended for modern jets. Fortunately the surroundings outside the crater walls are a dead flat plateau - stretching to the horizon and beyond. So they built a new airport with a single long runway on the plateau - some 25km away from the town.
The runway is aligned such that it points in the direction of the town. On approach the 737 had to fly almost to the town's towering crater outer wall - then flip 180 degrees to get the approach to the runway for landing. In the vastness of the otherwise empty plateau - an interesting piece of design for unknown reasons.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
