Part of our complete guide: Madeira webcams: 18 live streams from across the island
Camera by Madeira-Web. Nothing reaches YouTube until you click. The click sends data to Google, including your IP address.
Camera by Madeira-Web. Nothing reaches YouTube until you click. The click sends data to Google, including your IP address.
What you see
A runway that is half of it a platform: because the terrain gave no room, from 2000 the strip was extended out over the valley on 180 concrete columns. From below it looks like a bridge with aircraft landing on it, which is what it is.
Then there’s the position between mountain and sea. The wind rarely comes down the runway — it comes gusting across it, and approaches here need a specific qualification. Not every crew is allowed to land.
Two cameras means two angles on the same strip. When one is down, the other usually isn’t.
When it’s best
In wind. That’s when you see what this airport is known for: aircraft hanging at an angle to the runway and straightening at the last moment — or going around to try again.
Practically, the camera is useful in a storm: if aircraft are going around repeatedly, flights are being diverted, usually to Porto Santo or Las Palmas. If you’re meeting someone, you’ll know here before the arrivals board says so.
Most movements fall in the late morning and the early evening.
Watch it or go?
Go — even without a flight. The two snack bars under the approach are a small sport of their own: the price is a coffee, and the aircraft come in at a height nobody believes in photographs.
It’s 20 minutes from Funchal on the expressway. If you’re dropping the hire car at the airport anyway, allow an extra half hour and watch from the parking deck. Practical notes on arriving: car hire and getting there.
