The Falklands | Blue Seas & White Sands
GOOD EVENING…… I’M BACK!!! Well back in ‘The Friendly Island’.. Saint Martin the glorious island in the Caribbean Sea divided between the French Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands….. There are plenty of facts about the island in terms of its division and the fact that it’s part of The European Union, but for pilots and aviation lovers only one thing gets our hearts beating faster, and it’s also the reason for a stop-over (even if it is an overnight stop)…
The Island is probably best known for how close the airport’s runway is to the beach. Princess Juliana INTL airport is situated on the Dutch side of the Island (but serves the entire island). Named after Queen Juliana (she visited in 1944 whilst she was heir presumptive to the Dutch throne). Maho beach is the usual watching and standing area for runway 10 departures and landings. And it’s there I will be having breakfast tomorrow….
So what about the trip? Well so far this trip as been long but successful venture with very little technical issues. We have had so far a faulty Radio/Avionics bus and had to have our fuel pumps overhauled following dust and sand debris from our time in Mexico but fortunately they where repaired before we flew to Jamaica. Today we travelled the 760nm pus from Jamaica, through alot of wet, violent and humid thunderstorms which I can tell you in a little aircraft are no fun. Tomorrow I think I will have to double and triple check the METAR before we go…..
The good thing about flying into TNCM is that the 747 support aircraft arrived this evening and the engineers have been busy cleaning and inspecting the Cessna following today’s flight.
Tomorrow the plan is that we’re hoping for an early start and meet down at the restaurant at Maho Beach to breif for the flight before heading back to the airport for the trip. We are hoping to fly over to Saint Lucia as Island that’s actually still part of The British Commonwealth, the Caribbean trip of two halves…
