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6:Madeira Airport (Madeira)
Madeira Airport also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina
Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira.
The airport controls national and international air traffic of
the island of Madeira. The airport was once infamous for its short
runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made
it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The
original runway was only 1,400 metres in length, but was extended
by 400 metres after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of
1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2003, almost doubling the size
of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using
landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns,
each being about 70m tall.
For the enlargement of the new runway the Funchal Airport has
won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association
for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding
Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for
engineering structures in Portugal.
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