"A SLIMY PLACE TO LAND: Most of us have wriggled through storms to get
where we're going but the wriggling facing pilots at a small New Zealand
airport recently was of a different sort. Officials at the Queenstown
Airport issued a warning via NOTAM to pilots that its Runway 05/23 was
in medium to poor condition ... because it was covered in worms. The
NOTAM did not explain the source of the infestation or give an
estimation of when it might be over, but perhaps we can hope the episode
helped forge a new bond between local pilots and local fishermen."
OK....whaddayagottasayaboutthis?
Yes, it is true. Unfortunately I don't have the original NOTAM.
There was a period of extremely heavy rain recently and the local worm
population decided that it was time to go to the surface. Once at the
surface they decided, en masse, that the 4900' long hard vector was
definitely the place to be and so they gathered for a party, much to the
consternation of the local airport authority.
Queenstown is at the heart of the southern lakes area
(http://www.leadingattractions.co.nz/where_to_go/queenstown.htm) and is
the extreme sports capital of New Zealand... bungy was invented here,
but I am not sure if landing on a runway covered in worms counts as an
extreme sport!
Tony
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