If you ever wonder whether or not airline and helicopter pilots really earn their pay, wonder no more. I ran across these photos and all I have to say is, sometimes you really, really, really gotta trust the pilot:
This is Tioman Island, off the coast of Malaysia. That's a lot of water, and not much runway...
Here we have Wake Island, which is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. On the bright side, you could land a pretty wide plane here. On the other hand... is it too late to change my mind and opt to go to Tioman Island after all? At least that one only had the ocean on two sides of the runway.
This one is from Macao International Airport. It looks pretty safe, just as long as the pilot isn't one of those drivers who looks over his shoulder and accidentally jerks the wheel sideways....
This one's in Kuujjuaraapik, Quebec! That must be Quebecois for "You want me to land this thing where?!"
This photo was taken by a National Guard member during a helicopter rescue mission in Afghanistan. Repeat after me: "No matter how bad my day was, at least there's not a Chinook helicopter on top of my house. No matter how bad my day was, at least I didn't have to land a Chinook helicopter on a shack on top of a cliff."
Here we have a young military pilot practicing helicopter landings atop a rock off the coast of Greenland. You mean to tell me they do this stuff for fun?
