MOSCOW, May 5 (RIA Novosti)
* The final destination for the Armenian Airbus that plunged into the Black Sea Wednesday with the loss of all 113 passengers and crew was the airport of Adler.
Servicing the popular resort town of Sochi, Adler is considered one of the most difficult airports to land at in the former U.S.S.R.
"The airport of Sochi was one of the most difficult airports in the Soviet Union, and is now in Russia," said Ruben Yesayan, a former pilot of an A-320 Airbus, the same model that crashed early on Wednesday. "The problem is that you can only land there from the sea, and there is limited opportunity for making a second attempt."
The pilot of the Armavia aircraft was making a second circle in bad weather when the plane disappeared from radars.
An emergencies ministry official said Thursday that the airport infrastructure could be overhauled in the wake of the tragedy.
* Another difficult airport in Russia is Irkutsk airport in Siberia. It is situated in steep mountains, 600 meters (1,968 feet) above sea level, which is why the plane has to "drop" on the runway. Moreover, pressure is low in the area, which affects the engines, pilots say.
* Conditions are similar at the airport of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital in the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East. Apart from volcanoes and sugar loaf mountains, pilots have to struggle against strong air currents.
* The most complicated for landing and takeoff are airports at Lhasa and Bangda in Tibet. Lhasa is 3,500 meters (11,400 feet) above sea level, and Bangda 4,300 meters (14,108 feet). Both are surrounded by mountains.
Bangda is the world's highest mountain civil airport, and has the longest runway at 5,500 meters (18,000 feet).
* The airport of Katmandu, the Nepalese capital, also surrounded by mountains, is no easier because planes have to land in a gorge, on the edge of a cliff, which is why there are no night flights to Nepal.
* Another extremely "difficult" airport is in Khorremabad in southwest Iran. The airport is situated in the middle of a mountain chain with 5km (3 miles) high peaks. In winter, the mountains are covered with thick fog, and only very high-skilled pilots can land planes in such poor visibility.
* In Mongolia, Buyant-Uhaa airport servicing capital Ulan-Bator only has one route for landing and takeoff because of the complicated mountain relief of the area. In winter, crowded yurt quarters of the capital are permanently in smoke coming from stoves, which does not meet international flight safety regulations.
* Skopje, Macedonia, is considered to be the most difficult airport in Europe, with a 2km (1.2 miles) high mountain standing at the end of a short runway.
* Landing in London's Heathrow airport is complicated by side gushes of wind.
* Norway's Longyear airport in Svalbard is also difficult because it is located on the Spitzbergen Archipelago with changeable weather, low clouds, and strong winds.
(Based on Russian media resources)
