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by twic 1540 days ago
London City Airport is also in a fairly built-up area, so I wondered how the approach lights work there. Seems they run through an industrial estate:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vTAcMJnk567MLjZ79

(and on the other side of the bridge for a little way)

2 comments

Dubrovnik has them bridged over a road at the end of the runway, which felt a bit funny driving past: https://goo.gl/maps/5cFKkiGeHaAHYgfN6
São Paulo Congonhas airport uses a mix of the techniques used in LCY and DBV. Light towers in people's yards (https://goo.gl/maps/ANcFr2kfUJB9H6FS8) and bridges over roads (https://goo.gl/maps/EZadYfA43qyMQWtN9).
And Congonhas has both, approach lights over a fairly busy road, and in a very built-up area: https://goo.gl/maps/ugtU4TgKRdP9G9eu9

Arriving at that airport on a plane (looking through the side windows) is always a sight, it feels as if you're going to land on top of the buildings, and at the last second the airport appears below the plane. The other end of the popular "ponte aérea" (short hop flights between Santos Dumont airport at Rio de Janeiro and Congonhas airport at São Paulo) feels similar, only that there it's water instead of buildings.

I used to drive this route regularly a decade ago - as a closeted av-dork, I always loved it. This streetview angle just gave me one of those memory-powered dopamine dumps. Thanks :)
SEATAC's approach is right over a minor highway, and they've built a very cool gantry to put the lights on: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZrmkT74Rg32DmZ9j7