China dynamites mountain tops for Hechi airport in the sky

[Geee]

UK Telegraph:

Unable to find anywhere flat to build an airport, the Chinese mountain city of Hechi dynamited the tops of 65 mountains

 

When it opens at the end of August, pilots will be faced with one of the most nail-biting landings in the world.

A new £85 million airport in the city of Hechi, in the mountains of Guangxi in south west China, has been built at 2,200ft above sea level, on the top of 65 mountains.

"We sent men up with explosives who dug holes and blew up the tops of the mountains. It was the only way to flatten them. Then we filled in the valleys between the mountains," said Wei Yuanzhe, a spokesman for the company managing the airport.

With a runway only 1.3 miles long and 150ft wide, and with a 1,000ft sheer drop on one side, arriving at Hechi will be "like landing on an aircraft carrier", according to the city's mayor.