Wouldn't we all love to be in our favorite GA aircraft flying around the Caribbean, well now is the chance to do just that.
How it works
We will all depart Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Known as Saba (SABA) and head towards Gustaf III Airport,Known as St Barts (TFFJ) after arrival in St Barts we will then fly to Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM). We will then fly back to Saba. If we all make it in one piece then we will fly the route again.
Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (SABA)
The airport has the shortest commercial runway in the world, only 396 meters (1,299 ft) long, flanked on one side by high hills, with cliffs that drop into the sea at both ends.
Although the airport is closed to jet traffic, regional airline propeller aircraft are able to land there under waivers from The Netherlands Antilles' Civil Aviation Authority. The most common aircraft to land there are the Twin Otter and BN-2 Islander
Gustaf III Airport (TFFJ)
Both the airport and the island's main town of Gustavia are named for King Gustav III of Sweden, under whom Sweden obtained the island from France in 1784 (it was sold back to France in 1878). In 1984, Swedish Minister of Communications, Hans Gustafsson, inaugurated the terminal building of the Gustaf III Airport.
The airport is served by small regional commercial aircraft and charters. Most visiting aircraft carry fewer than twenty passengers, such as the Twin Otter, a common sight throughout the northern West Indies. The short airstrip is at the base of a gentle slope ending directly on the beach. The arrival descent is extremely steep over the hilltop traffic circle; departing planes fly right over the heads of sunbathers (although small signs advise sunbathers not to lie directly at the end of the runway). The airport is located in the island's second-largest town, St. Jean.
The History Channel programme Most Extreme Airports ranks Gustaf III airport, which is casually referred to as "St. Barth's", as the 3rd most dangerous airport in the world.
Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM)
Princess Juliana International Airport (also known as Saint Martin International Airport) is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, located on the Dutch side of the island in the country of Sint Maarten. In 2007, the airport handled 1,647,824 passengers and 103,650 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Windward Islands Airways and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthélemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who as crown princess landed here in 1944, the year after the airport opened. There is also an airport on the French side of the island, called Aéroport de Grand Case or L'Espérance Airport.
The airport is perhaps best known for very low-altitude flyover landing approaches due to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach.
Details
Date: Saturday 2nd May 2015
Time: 1930Z-2030Z Time Converter
Where:The event will be flown on the VATSIM network, But feel free to fly it offline if you want to
What:Any GA aircraft, Make your you can takeoff from Saba in it.
Duration: Approximately 1 hour
Links
Unfortunately the Default FSX and P3D scenery for SABA and St Barts is corrupt and has some major cosmetic issues. The following links are some freeware and payware scenery options.
Saba
Freeware:Saba Airport Fix with installation instructions 1.63MB
St Barts
Freeware:St Barts Photoreal 86.7MB
The Installer is in a different language, I believe its french or something. It is relatively easy to install. It is recommended that you set the installation location to the desktop then drag and drop the contents of each folder into the corresponding folder in your FSX/P3D directory. If you have proplems installing please fell free to get in contact with me on the teamspeck server or send me an email.
Princess Juliana International Airport
Freeware:Princess Juliana International Airport 10.2 KB
Fly Tampa
Payware:Freeware:Fly Tampa
For the ultimate experience it is recommended that the Fly Tampa is installed. This addon will fix the scenery for all airports
Well thats it! Please fell free to contact me if you have any concerns, suggestions or comments my email can be found bellow.
Mikaere.flavell@gmail.com
Thanks
, i'll have to pass this time around.
Unfortunately Mike disconnected during the second leg so I continued alone. This was very disappointing as Mike had obviously gone to considerable trouble to set up the flyin. It would have been fun with a few other pilots. I have got out of the habit of hand flying light aircraft and so island hopping in a B1900D was great, and challenging too with some difficult airports. With no ATC on VATSIM this was just like flying on FSHost.