Landing At St Barts - One Of The World's Most Dangerous Airports

Flying is almost magical I think. When you take out the Science, the physics and the number of years these birds with engines have been in the air, and think that it's just incredible how they actually manage to stay in the sky - especially when things that have been backed up with science go wrong. As part of a series I am doing about some of the world's most dangerous airports, this part will be about St Barts, in the Caribbean and more specifically Gustaf III airport. As you're about to see, or sea if we're using a pun, landing at St Barts can be a scary experience. Even the people swimming in the sea aren't safe!

Where Is St Barts? And History Of The Airport

St Barts is located in the Caribbean, and is otherwise known as Saint Barthelemy Airport. The airport at St Barts is called Gustaf III, or Saint Barthelemy Airport, and is situated in a small village called St. Jean. Gustaf comes from the Swedish king, Gustaf III, who ruled the island before the French took it over.

My idea of a safe airport is one that isn't too high up, location wise in altitude, nor too low near the sea. Weather conditions should be of a decent standard most of the time, not in snow or in blustery conditions. And there certainly shouldn't be sunbathers just 20 yards from where I land!

The runway itself sits so that it runs into the sea, there's even space for poor sunbathers at the end - though there are small warning signs not to do so. The runway is short anyway, and there have been instances where planes overshoot the runway and end up on the beach, or even in the water, as seen below.

It must be scary for sun worshippers, who are on their holiday, enjoying catching the sun and all of a sudden you hear a planes engine hurtling down the runway. You look round to see it isn't stopping and is coming right for you. I guess they are lucky though that landing takes places with the plane coming towards them than over them, like they do in Saint Maarten. Although taking off is a totally different story.

As well as it being scary for sunbathers on the beach, the descent for the passengers in the plane can't be much fun either. The runway lies right in front of some steep mountains. The pilot has to get over the mountains and then make a fast descent for the runway, because if he doesn't descend quickly enough it's likely he will overshoot the runway.

This sure sounds scary to me. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to planes anyway, so I like to know I'm not dicing with death when I'm landing - even though that's when more accidents tend to happen. All I know is that landing at St Barts to me doesn't sound fun.