The Surprising Street Where You Have to Wait for Airplanes to Pass

Landing an airplane is no easy task. In fact, it's one of the most dangerous moments of a flight, not considering takeoff. However, at the Gibraltar Airport, there's a detail that turns it into a true odyssey for pilots and a surprising sight for pedestrians.

With a single runway located at the border with Spain, this small airstrip of one and a half kilometers in length is situated just 500 meters from the historic center of Gibraltar. A similar distance to the north leads to La Línea de la Concepción, considered one of the ugliest towns in Spain and the last municipality of the province of Cádiz before reaching the British colony.

The airport has many features that make it unique in the world. To start, the narrowness of the space has forced engineers to extend the runway into the sea. Then there's the rock, which, at a height of 426 meters, creates turbulence due to its proximity to the sea, complicating landing even for the most experienced pilots. But the most surprising aspect is its location, as the runway is built perpendicular to the most important avenue in the area.

Winston Churchill Avenue is the main road in Gibraltar, directly connecting the area to Spain and crossing the runway at one point. When this occurs, traffic officers raise barriers to prevent pedestrian and vehicle access, allowing the airplane to utilize it without incidents.

This presents a series of dangers, as a runway, as anyone who has visited an airport can guess, is an extremely controlled area to minimize accident risks. A loose car part, a stone, or any object that has fallen from a pocket can end up in an airplane's turbine and lead to disaster. That's why the workers must take extreme care in maintaining the pavement, cleaning it thoroughly every time an airplane has to make a maneuver.

It's no surprise that, only behind that of Madeira, this is the second most dangerous runway in Europe and considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world. A remarkable place where pedestrians wait for the planes to pass before they can cross the street.