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Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands, FSX

The Leeward Islands are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. In particular three of the islands and their airports are famous and familiar to many flight simmers.

Saint Martin

Saint Martin (or Sint Maarten) island is divided in two territories: One is part of the Netherlands Antilles and the other is an overseas collectivity of France.

TNCM FSX

Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM) Map Photo on the Dutch side is world famous for its placement. Heavy long-haul jets, in particular the Boeing 747, are passing the crowded Maho Beach at low altitude just seconds before touchdown at runway 09.

Beyond multiple local and American destinations the airport also serves European destinations as of the historical connections with Europe.

The only instrument approaches are VOR and Locator for the 7100 ft long runway 09. Charts for TNCM is available at multiples sites [1, 2, 3, 4].

Saint Barthélemy

TFFJ FSX

Saint Barthélemy (or Saint Barth) island is an overseas collectivity of France and is located about 15 nm south-east of Saint Martin.

Especially landing on runway 10 at Saint Barthélemy Airport (TFFJ) Map Photo is difficult. First you must pass a hillside close to the runway threshold, then you have only 2400 ft of runway for braking with water on the opposite threshold. Take-off from runway 28 is prohibited.

The airport is served by multiple airlines with St. Martin as the main link.

Approach and landing chart is available in the AIP France. The airport has no instrument approaches.

Saba

SABA TNCS FSX

Saba island is part of the Netherlands Antilles and is located about 25 nm south of Saint Martin.

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (TNCS, SABA in FS) on Saba Map Photo has a 1300 ft short runway which is claimed to be the world's shortest runway for commercial flights. At both runway thresholds there are cliffs dropping into the sea. If you've ever wanted to try an aircraft carrier takeoff this would be the place :-) The airport has no instrument approaches.

Winair is the only airline that has scheduled flights to Saba.

See this post from a retired Winair pilots (also about St. Barths) and this video that shows a landing and takeoff at Saba.

Add-ons

The default scenery of St. Martin island is highly detailed with Princess Juliana Airport being a high-detail airport. Unfortunately the terrain surrounding the airports of St. Barthélemy and Saba are very inaccurate, so add-ons are highly recommended.

These add-ons for FSX improves the scenery of the three islands:

The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a common aircraft for scheduled traffic between the islands, especially because it's designed for operations on short runways:

Layover in Paradise reward

Mission and reward

The FSX mission Caribbean Landing lets you fly a straight-in visual approach and landing for runway 09. You'll earn the Layover in Paradise reward for completing the mission.

Flight

The local airline, Winair, has scheduled flights between many of the local islands, with St. Martin as the base airport. A typical Winair flight is flown in the DHC-6 Twin Otter starting from St. Martin, then stop at two islands, and finally return to St. Martin (Winair route network).

Here is a short flight plan of a flight TNCM - TNCS - TFFJ - TNCM. The typical Winair block-to-block time from one of the islands to another is 15-20 minutes.

Airport Track Distance
TNCM    
TNCS 210 24 nm
TFFJ 070 26 nm
TNCM 310 18 nm