( Travel + Leisure ) -- It 's 10:45 a.m. on a cloudy day , and the crew of Druk Air flight KB205 is preparing to land at their home airport of Paro , Bhutan . Suddenly , ominous warnings start blaring , alerting them that their flight angle is all wrong and their rate of descent is far too fast . They fly a series of unconventional right-and-left banks through a narrow channel of hillsides before centering the swaying jet and putting it on the tarmac . An excess of government buildings and restricted airspace make it challenging to land at Washington 's Reagan National Airport . An emergency situation ? Not quite . In fact , this is a completely normal -- however nail-biting -- landing at Paro Airport , set 7,300 feet above sea level . Because of the airport 's tightly cropped valley , surrounded by 16,000-foot-high serrated Himalayan peaks , this drama replays itself on every flight . There 's a sobering saying among pilots : `` Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing . '' And it 's not until you fly into places like Paro , or Toncontìn Airport in Tegucigalpa , Honduras , that the adage starts to make sense . Both are surrounded by mountains , and Toncontìn has one of the world 's shortest international runways ; each requires a series of hard last-minute banks . It 's no wonder both give even the most seasoned pilots -- not to mention their passengers -- the sweats . While Bhutan is the most extreme example -- only eight pilots in the world are qualified to fly into Paro -- a number of the world 's airports , from St. Maarten in the Caribbean to Madeira Airport in Funchal , can present challenges for pilots . `` A lot of these airports require additional training and route familiarization because they 're so crazy , '' says one commercial pilot who flies international routes . Slideshow : Travel + Leisure 's list of the scariest runways . According to aviation experts , mitigating factors range from the truncated length of runways to unique atmospheric and meteorological conditions , dramatic geographical settings , heavy air traffic , or a combination thereof . `` Sometimes it 's just the way the airport is laid out that makes it a pain , '' says the pilot , referring to whether an airport is situated askew . One such tricky spot : Reagan National Airport , in Washington , D.C. That 's not because of strange Potomac River winds or the pressure of being watched by statues of past presidents . It 's the excess of government buildings and restricted airspace that makes setting down here like threading a needle with a 200-ton hunk of metal . In fact , cities are often tough : for years ( 73 , to be exact ) , the honor of the world 's most harrowing airport was reserved for Hong Kong 's Kai Tak , whose single runway was jammed in between Victoria Harbor and densely populated Kowloon . Pilots had to battle crosswinds and fly a complicated curved approach , all while dodging mountains and high-rises . Kai Tak was shuttered in 1998 and replaced by a modern mega-port located on a reclaimed island out in the South China Sea . But many locales do n't have that luxury , and continue to operate with their existing facilities , many of which include palm sweat-inducing approaches and photo-worthy opportunities . Travel + Leisure.com : Scariest runways . And it 's not always the landing that 's the stuff of lore . Matekane Air Strip , in the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho , features a stunted 1,312-foot-long runway perched at the edge of a couloir that sits at 7,550 feet . According to celebrated bush pilot Tom Claytor , depending on the wind during takeoff , it 's entirely possible for the aircraft not to be airborne by the end of the airstrip . `` Instead , '' he says , `` you shoot off the end of the airstrip , then drop down the 2,000-foot cliff face until you start flying . '' It 's enough to make you take the train . Planning a beach getaway this summer ? Do n't miss Travel + Leisure 's guide to Great American Beaches . Copyright 2009 American Express Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved .
Some airports require additional pilot training and route familiarization , a pilot says . Only eight pilots in the world are qualified to fly into Bhutan 's Paro Airport . Buildings , restricted airspace make it tough to land at Reagan National .