Name: The military base where you drive over the runway
Uploaded: 2026-01-21T17:06:23.000Z
Duration: 4 min 18 s
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I took a little diversion on the way back from filming last week's video.

Adverbs of degree

It is very cold and windy at this altitude, but

tucked away in the Swiss Alps, there's a military airfield with not one, but

two public roads that go straight across the Runway.

And I've wanted to see this for a long time.

not only do the fighter jets here have to cope with civilian traffic crossing their Runway, but

the spectacle of military aircraft roaring down the tarmac attracts tourists from all over the world.

So I wanted to ask, how do they operate an air base where the public aren't just turning up to watch, but

they can also walk, ride or drive straight through?

I don't know how many times I took off, how many times I landed, but

I'd say around 100 takeoffs, which equals 100 landings.

But every single one is very cool at times.

There can be a lot of tourists and observers all around the airfield, especially in summer.

They stay behind the barriers, they are outside of the fence, but it's all threat level dependent.

So at the moment we're at peace, but there's no problem.

If we were to find ourselves in a crisis would be another story.

Okay, all right, where am I allowed to stand?

Right, look, Tom, right here you're going to be all safe.

Jets are going to come from that side, going to take off.

When we're ready for takeoff, the air traffic controllers close the barriers.

They themselves have a look if they see anything suspicious.

And then whenever the barriers get closed, there's guys from the military police on both sides of the barriers.

Also there's the Runway controller who observes every takeoff and every landing.

So we as pilots, we can't do much ourselves.

There are a few other runways in the world with roads across them, but

In Sumbrough, on the island of Shetland in the far north of the uk, there is a commercial airport with a similar setup across one of its two runways.

It used to be that the only road in and out of Gibraltar went right across a massive airport Runway, one that took full size passenger jets.

But there is finally a new tunnel there now after years of delays, so cars and trucks no longer go that way.

So this Runway here in Switzerland would be just a little side note if it wasn't for the tourist industry that sprung up around it.

If you're the sort of aviation or military nerd that wants to see fighter jets up close and personal.

This is probably on your list of places to visit, and

if you didn't know about it before this video, it probably is now.

There's a very nice restaurant just off the base.

One of the hangars is open to the public occasionally and there's a massive military air show every October.

This place is good PR for the Swiss Air Force.

If ever there should be anyone between the barriers.

When we were coming back to land, we would be ordered a go around, so we would abort our approach, climb again and do a second approach whenever the issue has been resolved.

When we take off, it's basically the other way around.

We taxi towards the Runway and once we report ready to the air traffic controller, they close the barriers and they give us our clearance to take off once everything is settled.

It's not like there are any statistics to compare, but

that crossing is probably more safe than most railroad crossings.

Although to be fair, the rail industry is trying to get rid of as many of those as they can because they are an unnecessary safety.

You risk no one's going to build a tunnel like the anywhere near that.

The pilots have to keep in mind when they're flying.

I think it might have broken my microphone.