Since the first true engine-powered airplane flights back in 1903, air travel has become the preferred way to commute over long distances for business travelers and vacationers around the world. Flying a plane thousands of feet in the air, over long distances, doesn't always go as planned – especially when it comes to landing the plane at some of the most difficult airports and landing strips in the world. There have been countless incidences of airplanes over-shooting runways, sliding off the runways, or completely missing the landing strips. Lets take a look at some pictures, and video, of the most notoriously hard-to-land runways and landing strips at various airports from around the world.

Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong

Kai Tak Airport: The Kai Tak Airport served as Hong Kong's international airport from 1925 to 1998. This airport was notoriously hard to land at because of the maze of skyscrapers and mountains in the vicinity, frequent strong crosswinds and the fact that the runway was located in Victoria Harbor on a man-made strip of land. The approach to the world-famous runway 13 at Kai Tak involved grazing skyscrapers in a densely populated city, and then making a sharp right-handed turn immediately before the runway where one miscalculation could spell disaster. Not only was it tough for pilots to navigate the approach, but crosswinds made it even more difficult to keep the plane steady during, and after, the final 47° right-handed turn towards the runway. Surprisingly, there weren't many plane crashes at Kai Tak, but there were plenty of close calls – mostly due to unstabilised landings.

Funchal Airport, Madeira

Funchal Airport: This small Portuguese island was once infamous for the short runway at Madeira Airport, which was surrounded by the ocean and mountains, making it difficult to land a plane. The most notable incident at Funchal Airport was the crash of TAP Portugal Flight 425 in November, 1977. This Boeing 727 made 2 unsuccessful passes to land on the relatively short 4,593 ft long airstrip during a heavy rain storm, and the pilots decided to make one final try at landing the plane before trying a different airport. As Flight 425 touched down the plane immediately started to hydroplane then skidded onto the beach, split into two, and burst into flames. 6 out of the 8 crew members died, and 125 out of the 156 passengers lost their lives in the crash. After the crash, big changes were made with Madeira investing heavily to reassure visitors and prevent such a tragedy happening again at the airport. The runway was eventually almost doubled in length, and 180 columns, each about 210 feet high, were added to support the runway over the ocean. Today, the runway is still one of the more difficult airstrips to land in the world.

Gustaf III Airport, St. Barts

Gustaf III Airport: This small airport on the Caribbean island of St. Barts is only accessible by small planes because of the short 2,100ft long and narrow landing strip. There is no room for error when landing a plane at this beautiful island. The pilot must navigate a very steep approach down a hill, grazing cars and people at the top, while making sure to get the plane down in time so that it doesn't end-up in the ocean at the end of runway. There are signs posted on the beach at the end of the runway warning people not to lie directly at the end of the runway. There have only been a few accidents here throughout the years, but it is still one of the more difficult places on earth to land a plane.

Courchevel Airport, France

Courchevel Airport: This small airport is located high in the French Alps, and thus the runway sits 6,588ft above sea level. It features an extremely short 1,722ft long uphill runway. Not only is the runway short, but you also have to navigate through mountains to get to it. Pierce Brosnan landed at Courchevel Airport to film scenes for the James Bond flick, Tomorrow Never Dies. If you're brave enough to actually fly into this airport, you can take advantage of the awesome skiing and snowboarding that the French Alps has to offer.

Princess Juliana International Airport, Saint Maarten

Princess Juliana International Airport: This airport features a world-famous landing strip that leads airplanes directly over Maho Beach and all of its sun-bathing tourists. Some planes fly as low as 30-60ft above the beach on their approach! The landing strip is relatively short for larger airplanes at 7,152ft long, so planes must approach the runway at a low angle to compensate. Despite the somewhat tricky landing at this airport, there haven't been any major incidents here yet – but there has been plenty of sand-rashes caused by the planes' engines!

Wellington International Airport, New Zealand

Wellington International Airport: This airport in the capital of New Zealand can be dangerous for two reasons: a short runway and constant windy conditions. The runway at Wellington is relatively short at 6,647ft, which means that there is little room for error for larger planes. Also a problem are the strong crosswinds caused by nearby Cook Strait. Landing at Wellington seems to frequently be a wild experience, as a matter of fact the airport itself has adopted the slogan 'Wild at Heart'. If you need more proof of the scary landings at Wellington, just watch the video.

Paro Airport, Bhutan

Paro Airport: The approach into Paro Airport has been described as both scary and fun, I guess it just depends on whether you're a thrill-seeker or not. Flying through the Himalayan valley to get to the landing strip can be a bit hair-raising, and the airplane's final hard-banking turn to get to the runway is very reminiscent of Kai Tak's approach – although the scenery is totally different. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society even describes the approach to Paro Airport as being even more scary than Kai Tak's. They say, "the approach to Paro is a bit more hairy than Kai Tak used to be. It is rather like flying into Happy Valley as far as the foot of Blue Pool Road, doing a u-turn, and then landing on Queen's Road East using a runway about one-quarter as wide as Kai Tak's was." The video shows a view from the cockpit of a plane making its descent into Paro – the last hill that they fly over to get to the landing strip is quite a maneuver to behold!

Narsarsuaq Airport, Greenland

Narsarsuaq Airport: The approach to Narsarsuaq Airport in Greenland is no easy task to navigate – even for expert pilots. To land a plane at Narsarsuaq you must navigate a 90 degree turn through a U-shaped fjord and land on the 6,004ft long runway. This landing has been described as similar to flying down a city street with high rises on both sides with severe turbulence at all times except on the brightest of days; down-drafts are everywhere. There's even the real risk of icebergs drifting into the flight path.

Saba Island Airport, Netherlands Antilles

Saba Island Airport: This small Caribbean island is a somewhat popular honeymoon destination, but flying into the beautiful Island isn't a vacation – to say the least. Landing an aircraft on one of the world's shortest landing strips (1,300ft long), on a peninsula surrounded by 200ft tall sheer cliffs that fall into the ocean, is easier said than done. Needless to say, larger planes aren't able to fly into Saba Island Airport because of the short runway. If you're brave enough to fly into this airport, the beautiful scenery of Saba Island is an excellent reward for your courageous, and probably very stressful, flight.

Lugano Airport, Switzerland

Lugano Airport: The landing strip isn't necessarily the toughest part about landing a plane at Lugano Airport. The approach of the landing is what makes landing a plane here so difficult and potentially dangerous. This area of Switzerland is very mountainous, and there's always strong alpine crosswinds for pilots to deal with. On top of that, the approach to Lugano Airport is steeper than it is at most airports. Lugano's approach is 6.65°, whereas most airport approaches are at angles of about 3° over a flat area. This sharper angle makes it tougher for pilots to land here – especially in bad weather, which Lugano certainly has its fair share of. At one point, the Federal Office of Civil Avaiation (FOCA) in Switzerland found that this steep approach angle was illegal, and they consequently shut down all flights to and from the airport. Apparently they changed their mind.