Hoax Slayer 'proves' Gibraltar Airport runway exists!

An article on Hoax Slayer today, focuses on an email going the rounds, showing photographs of Gibraltar's Airport Runway and questions the veracity of these photographs.

Hoax Slayer is a site I use regularly. It is renowned for debunking email hoaxes and exposing Internet scams. Articles normally give a summary of the subject, then proceeds to either prove it is a hoax and debunk it, or as in the case of Gibraltar's airport runway, shows evidence that proves the original premise in the article summary is true.

In its findings, Hoax Slayer concludes:

According to this 'email forward', the attached photographs depict the runway at Gibraltar Airport - a very unusual runway in that it is traversed by a busy road. The photographs show that traffic on the road crossing the runway is controlled by traffic lights and boom gates thereby allowing aircraft to land unhindered.

Although, such a runway configuration is certainly unusual, the photographs are genuine and do depict the Gibraltar AIrport runway.

As a born and bred Gibraltarian who has walked and driven across the runway thousands of times, flown in and out of it more times than some have had hot breakfasts... now and then in very 'hairy' weather conditions... and been stopped at the barriers on more occasions than I care to recall, I'm wondering... what's all the fuss!!

The article goes on to comment on the fact that these arrangements are currently being changed with the reconstruction of the airport terminal following plans unveiled by the Government of Gibraltar, in May 2007, which will include a new tunnel that will eventually carry the road under the airport runway.

The report also carries the following YouTube video of the road crossing Gibraltar Airport's runway and of a flight taking off:



As you can see, the video firstly shows a British Airways airbus flight taking off, then the arrival of the daily Spanish airline Iberia flight from Madrid landing, with the road crossing barriers down as it stops the road traffic and pedestrians for both flights.

The viewer is then taken on a flight take-off (actual airline not seen but my guess is it's probably BA) in a Westerly direction and shows some nice views of one of the Marinas, the Rock of Gibraltar itself and the Bay of Gibraltar. As the flight circles around the Rock firstly going South over the Strait of Gibraltar (with some views of Jebel Musa and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in the distance), it then banks left to head East over the very western limits of the Mediterranean Sea towards Malaga and the Costa del Sol, on it's way for the couple of hours flight over Spain, the Bay of Biscay, France and final destination in the UK, either Luton, Gatwick or might even have been a Manchester flight.