This amazing airport sharing railtracks and aeroplane runways
Gisborne Airport is based in the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand.
It is a small regional airport located on the western outskirts of Gisborne. The airport is one of the very few airports in the world that have a railway track intersecting the airport runway. The Gisborne airport covers a land surface of 160 hectares with three grass runways and one tar sealed runway. The airport successfully carries a crowd of over 150,000 passengers each year.
WHY IS IT UNIQUE
Gisborne Airport is a quaint and interesting airport. Situated in the Te Hapara borough of the First Light City Gisborne, it is one of the major airports on this island with a railway line intersecting the main runway. It is the now disaffected Palmerston North - Gisborne Line.
The airport runway is a night sealed runway and is 1310 meters in length. The runway is divided by rail tracks in between 777m and 868m.
Trains or aircrafts are stopped until the one of them moves on. The runway extension is active when the airport tower is opened (0630 hours to 2030 hours daily).
When the rail track is in use by the Gisborne Vintage Steam train excursions, the task for the airport authorities is to manage landing at the intersecting runway along the operational rail track which has scheduled departures and arrivals itself. Up to this day the airport operations have been running without any glitch so far.
Gisborne Airport can all together be a different pleasure to watch and experience when the aircrafts are stopped for the departure of scheduled trains. There are three more grass runways at Gisborne Airport which are used for multiple landings and takeoffs to be used by small aircrafts which can accommodate around 50 people. The airport is a major link to enter the fabulous region of Gisborne and the East Coast and hosts more than 60 domestic flights. Air New Zealand, operated by Air Nelson and Eagle airways and Sunair are the main airlines which fly from this airport.
The cache is not on the aiport domain nor on the rail track. Bring your own pen to sign the log and please log front and back of the pages of the logbook.
Happy hunting