Mondo Knows Facts
Qamdo Bamda had the longest civil runway
Its single strip runs 5,500 metres at an altitude of 4,334 metres The airport on the Tibetan plateau in China opened in 1995 with a runway 5,500 metres long, the longest at any civil airport. Thin air at 4,334 metres reduces lift and engine thrust, so aircraft need far more runway to reach take off speed than at sea level. The figure refers to the original strip, and published lengths for the airport have varied as it has been surveyed and rebuilt. It sits in Mondo's records & extremes collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Civil Aviation Administration of China
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Tags: airports, china, aviation
Qamdo Bamda had the longest civil runway: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Its single strip runs 5,500 metres at an altitude of 4,334 metres. The figure is taken from Civil Aviation Administration of China, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a records & extremes fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.