World's Diciest Landing Strips

(NEWSER) - Mating season came to a speedy end for some turtles who strayed onto a runway at New York's JFK airport yesterday, the New York Post reports. After a pilot told air control he had run over some turtles on his way to take-off, wildlife workers shut down the runway for 35 minutes and moved the remaining 78 diamondback turtles back to the wild. The resulting delays slowed air traffic to a crawl for 90 minutes. More»

Paro Airport in Bhutan is in a treacherous location, to say the least

(NEWSER) - If you're a squeamish flier, you may want to stop reading right now. The Daily Mail reports on what is said to be the world's most dangerous airport—at the very least, Bhutan's Paro Airport seems to handily capture the title of most dangerous place to land. To wit, as of October 2009, only eight pilots in the world were qualified to land on this strip; it's tucked between the steep slopes of the Himalayas, which stretch as tall as 18,000 feet around it. Planes are forced to wind their way around the mountainside, and the houses that litter it. Other facts about the treacherous spot: More»

Mating turtles cause shell of a problem

(NEWSER) - Apparently, nothing can stand in the way of a turtle's libido—not even a 747. Turtles crawling to breeding grounds across a tarmac at JFK airport have forced the shutdown of a runway several times this week, delaying flights, reports the New York Post . "Running over turtles is not healthy for them," says a Jet Blue rep. "Nor is it good for our tires." More»

Air France A380 nicks, spins Delta aircraft on runway

(NEWSER) - All passengers escaped without injury after two planes collided on the ground at New York's JFK airport last night. A wing of an Air France Airbus A380—the world's biggest passenger jet—clipped the tail of a commuter Delta Connection plane while taxiing to the runway for takeoff, AP reports. Some 500 passengers were taken off both planes, and the aircraft were towed away for inspection. More»

New York City just starting to get moving again

(AP) - Thousands of travelers are still sitting bored and bleary-eyed in airports, stuck buses, and subways today, a day after parts of the Northeast got slammed by more than 2 feet of show. "People are exhausted. They want to get home," sighed a Tel Aviv-bound traveler who had been marooned at JFK Airport since yesterday. And some may sit for days. Many planes are booked solid because of the busy holiday season, and recession-hit airlines are operating fewer flights. More»