Lukla Airport

Photo for the Trip Report Even flying into Lukla to begin the trek is an exciting experience. It's hard to tell from the photo how steep the runway is. It's an average 12% grade. The runway is so steep because it allows the planes to accelerate as much as possible before hitting the end of the runway during takeoff. At the end of the runway is a 3000 foot drop into the gorge, so you want to be at liftoff before the end. The steepness of the runway also helps during landings because they hit the runway going up hill to slow down as quickly as possible. To our backs is a 20,000 foot/6000 meter mountain, so you don't want to slam into it while landing (just before landing wrekages of planes that didn't make it can be seen on the mountainside). There is no radar or anything else at the airport, you just say a prayer, hold your breath during takeoffs and landings and hope the pilot is good.