You got that right, Toncontin is one of the world's most dangerous commercial airports. On 21 October 1989 a a Boeing 727 crashed on approach to this airport. My father was on that flight. The crash was determined to be due to pilot error. Most everybody perished, including my dad. The pilots survived. Right after the crash some of the locals rushed to the site, and looted whatever was available, luggage, personal artifacts, and jewelry off of dead or dying passengers.
Just last year a smaller plane also crashed into nearby roads trying to land in this airport. My plane landed a week later and as we drove down the road we could see the plane covered in tarps. My family is from Honduras and every time we land in tegus the passengers applaud like crazy after landing. This runway is pretty much just long enough to land and take off, one mistake and boom crash. Edit: I found a link to an article with pictures of the crash that happened a week before I landed www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/why-this-airport-is-one-of-the-most-dangerous-in-the-world/news-story/61394ec7a38d7e53a944ac1c704d963c
That's terrible and unfortunate, I believe that is Tan-Sahsa Flight 144, broke into three parts due to poor piloting. Those citizens weren't very considerate...
@@thecaynuck4694 Most people in Honduras are so poor that they take whatever opportunity they can find to make money and survive. And they don't care too much about others. It's very sad.
Commenters that claim it is not a dangerous approach should remain as passengers or better, on the ground. There is a VOR/DME 112.30 as a waypoint/fix for final approach with an NDB beacon of 405.0 for runway 02 heading 019. There is no ILS or any type of CAT (I,II,III) type of landings here. Coming out of high terrain, even in good weather there are always strong winds, (gusts) usually cross winds and thermals. The runway is short and unforgiving. Just before the threshold of runway 02 is a hill, which makes the touchdown more difficult because the pilots must come in high and hot, descending quickly. Decision must be made or a go around must be declared. TACA had a crash there as the A320 came in high and hot as well as too heavy and over ran the runway. It is one of the most dangerous for these reasons.
@NakNaksdad N. The hill on the 02 approach was razed and runway extended some additional 600 ft. Still remains dangerous for the conditions you and Cris have described TACA A320 landing long on Rw 02 in a downpour and mist skidded into the ravine you can see at 3:46. This video shows approach to Rw 20 which is no less dangerous. Toncontin AP is catalogged as a high-risk AP requiring qualified crews.
Also the TACA flight landed with a 10 kt tailwind. They tried landing the other way but the visibility was below minimums for that approach. Sadly, it was a case of "getheritis" and corporate pressure to land. They should have gone back to San Salvador. Capt Cesar DeAntonio got in trouble with the company a few weeks before the accident, because he made an operational decision (for safety reasons) that cancelled a flight, and management was not happy about it,and he might have felt he was already under the gun. Some of those little tidbits that never make the news.
@@infiniteflyer8136 Congrats to your dad! So this navigational information is all false? The approach is false? The strong winds, the terrain (even though the runway was lengthened) is all false? TACA's A320 over running the runway was false? Decision height is all false? The turn for final over the "Cul De Sac" as a visual point is all wrong? Please enlighten me, i have been doing this all wrong, for years! :-)
I flew into this airport in 2018 (shortly after the 2018 crash) for a mission trip. I well remember the spectacular landing...you are flying low with mountains on each side and with the wings almost grazing the mountain sides and then it just as it seems you will crash land in the mountains the small runway appears and you land on it...voila...I still remember it so clearly...
Nice landing. Welcome to Honduras. When you land at Toncontín the adventure has already begun. 😎✌🏼 They're making a new airport now. Actually it's due to open in 2021. With a larger runway, a new and modern terminal with more capacity and high tech equipment. The Palmerola International airport. And Toncontín is going to be used only for regional flights operated with smaller planes. 🇭🇳
This made me nostalgic. I visited Tegucigalpa a few times growing up but we drove from our hometown in SPS (a 4-hour-drive believe it or not because of all the mountains). Tegucigalpa means "hills of silver" in Nahuatl.
My first time flying (back in 1994) was a trip to Honduras. We left out of Louisville, KY, then flew to Houston, then New Orleans, then took TACA Airlines from there on a multi-hop journey to Belize, then San Salvador, El Salvador, then into Tegucigalpa. Back then, the runway was even shorter than it is now. Since it was my first-ever flying experience, I didn't really have a sense of how unique the landing and takeoff were into TGC. But I vividly remember the takeoff from there, as the pilots ran up the engines to full power with the brakes on, then popped them and we all got pushed back into our seats. That first trip was in a 737. The second time I visited the following year, we arrived and left on a 757. Having stayed up in the mountains with a vantage point of watching planes come and go, and seeing how short that runway was/is, I always had a sense of "I don't think there's much runway left," especially on takeoff. And, not sure if it's still the case, but there was something like a 50 foot drop-off just past the end of the runway, followed by a major thoroughfare. I believe more than one plane accident occurred because of failure to stop.
@@Jen-ts4sqSPS is really not that dangerous as they make it seem. Yes of course there’s danger and crime and violence, but it’s not like they are going to assassinate you every day for no reason. You’re making it seem like it’s a war or something, it’s a pretty chill country, you you’ve just got to know what places to go to or not to. That’s Latinamerica for you aye🤪
Only certain pilots are allowed to land at Toncontin. The amazing thing is there has only been one major accident there is the time of its existence, the 1950s.
Michelle Caballero I think there was one in 87 , went to school barrio abajo Tegucigalpa and the morgue was three blocks from my school. Three classmate and I went to see when they brought them in , I never forget. Some couldn’t fit and their body bags because there limbs were sticking out . Some were so burned they couldn’t be no more than 3’ in length. I think there were 127 dead mostly from Nicaragua
Michelle, there has been more than just one major accident, there has been several. Javier, the crash was on 21 October 1989. My father was on that flight. It was determined that the crash was due to pilot error. The pilots survived. Yes, a lot of the bodies were badly burnt, some more than others. I had to travel there to claim my dad's body. Right after the crash some of the locals rushed to to the site, and looted whatever was available, luggage, personal items, and jewelry off of dead or dying passengers.
Bullshit! There is more than 1 major accident there! Look up TACA Airlines 390, on May 30th 2008. The Airbus A320 overran the runway and crashed killing 5 people! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hKiezMjgPCI.html
I agree with everyone. Toncontin Airport is one of the most dangerous airports on the planet. The city is practically surrounded by high mountains and dense fog. Also, air pockets form, making it difficult for pilots to land conventionally. It wasn't uncommon for pilots to go around in circles around the city many times and, as seen in the video, to fly very low over homes just before landing. As of 2022, the International airport is now in Comayagua, farther away from Tegucigalpa, but it is safer. I heard it is a state-of-the-art airport. I'll be there in a few weeks. Toncontin is still an active airport for Cessnas and small planes flying locally inside Honduras and the Bay Islands. I'm glad the airport is no longer in Tegucigalpa!
Runway 02 MHTG, final approach: Coming in through a narrow valley with a tight left U turn in a 3-steps descent - each with a very high rate of descent, followed by a short flat -, in limited lateral space, to a very short high-elevation runway, usually in high temperature. Not for the faint-hearted pax. Just for the really cool well trained pilots.
I hear people saying that this isn’t a Very safe approach well yes it’s not that good but for passengers they see no danger but when he’s a pilot it’s way more aggressive to get down to the ground
The most healthy decision was to get Palmerola Military Airport in conditions to be our new international airport. Toncontín was the second most dangerous airport in the world.
Minute 2:29, usually airplanes will be on the other side of that hill and make the final turn tighter than this flight did. I have heard or seen some smaller airplanes even fly it straight in and literally graze those hills.
Trevor, compose yourself! Have you ever landed at Miami International, LAX, O'Hare, or in any of New York's airports? Guess not, the plane flies over houses and high rise buildings.
aéroport très compliqué pas de marge sur simulateur fsx j'atterris bien sur l'aéroport mais le touché des roues est en fin de piste j'ai essayer plusieurs fois je suis trop haut trop bas trop vite trop près de la montagne même le personnels d'équipage qui ne croie pas en dieu cette fois ci prie
Tell that to the survivors of the TCA flight or even better tell that to the families that have lost someone on that day sinds 4 people on the plane and 2 on the ground had died! I think the thrill is gone when someone died!
@@MrsXxJeSsIxX It is not the only airport in the world that has registered an accident. Actually it's accidents rate is really low, compared to others, even though it's claim to be one of the most extreme airports in the world. Welcome to Honduras, when you land at Toncontín (TNT) the adventure has already begun. ✌🏼🇭🇳
Why can't the take the dirt from the mtn. on approach and transfer it over to the ditch to make a longer runway. A little common sense for the Tegucigalpa airport authorities.
They're making a new airport now. Actually it's due to open in 2021. With a larger runway, a new and modern terminal with more capacity and high tech equipment. The Palmerola International airport. And Toncontín is going to be used only for regional flights operated with smaller planes. 🇭🇳
The runway is extremely short with a cliff off the other end of the runway and with all the mountains and houses around it makes for a difficult approach and many accidents have happened here.
Lindo video. Veo que fue un aterrizaje normal. Una lástima que le hayas puesto un título tan peyorativo. Basta ya con el descrédito contra Honduras. Es de nosotros decir lo mejor. Ya tenemos demasiado detractores que solo hablan lo malo se nuestro país.
Nothing dangerous there, as always they build the airport out of town and they keep building till the surround the airport then they want to throw the airport out, gees whose fault is it now ?
For pilots is dangerous, counting that is not ILS and you need to do an RNAV App, MANUAL APPROACH Between Mountains. then a short runway. Excuse me but if you don’t know anything don’t talk pls
The high decent rate at final approach and the tight sharp turn right before touchdown also the cross wind in the basin area and the short runway. Everything is freaking dangerous here
