Featured Image Credit: Google Maps/ Getty Stock Images
Topics: Reddit, Google Maps, Travel, World News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Reddit, Google Maps, Travel, World News
You'd think runways are built with practicality in mind, but this appears not to have been the case with one random airfield in Brazil.
There are over 40,000 airports across the globe, with the likes of Canada, the UK, Russia, and Germany having some of the most.
One of the most remote airports on the planet is Mataveri International Airport, located on Easter Island in Chile.
Advert
It earned its title of being one of the world's most remote airports, as it's over 2,300 miles away from another airport - that being Santiago International Airport.
But another extremely remote airfield is located in Brazil, and it's surrounded with nothing but jungle.
The isolated runway is by the Aripuana River, which sits in in the Mato Grosso and Amazonas states in north-western Brazil.
A Google Maps screenshot of the unusually-placed airfield was recently shared on Reddit, and people were baffled.
Sharing the snap, a Redditor pondered who would use such a runway.
"A pilot," one person quipped in response.
"A narco smuggler," suggested a second, and dozens of others echoed similar sentiments.
Someone else wrote: "My guess is if you panned out you would see the river breaking off into many smaller ones.
"Think of this as an Amazon hub for the Amazon. From this strip they can deliver goods to hundreds of small villages."
Arauazinho Village and Nova Olinda are some examples of two villages that are located by the Aripuana River.
Another person suggested that it could be an ideal landing spot for someone with a small plane.
They added: "These are not uncommon in the slightest for general aviation pilots who own both a large tract of land and a plane. A dirt or grass strip is almost free to build."
The runway in question is believed to be that of Aripuana Airport and is 1,300 meters long.
This is substantially smaller than your average airport's runway, which typically ranges between 2,438 and 3,962 meters, says Stantec.
Smaller airports like Aripuana's might have runways that are more like 1,500 meters, however.
While this airport's runway is pretty short, there's an even shorter one at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport in the Caribbean Netherlands.
This particular runway is only 400 meters long and, with this in mind, can only welcome smaller aircrafts to land there; a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, for example, which seats between 18 and 20 passengers, Metro Online reports.