Anne OminousI did another travel/photo blog post...
this time about a Caribbean island called Saba, which is really small and has a very unique airport. It has also been getting a lot of attention from travel writers this year.
AI6YR Ben@rustoleumlove Yeesh, that's not an airport, that's a tiny little park!!
@rustoleumlove I think that airport is shorter than a football field.
it is 400 m (1,312 ft)
...but we landed and stopped almost immediately, we didnt use anywhere near even half of it.
we seemed to dive bomb in, and turned in next to the lil building
i have some more photos of the experience, but only a few because oof -- i got really airsick, even on those like 5 - 10 minute flights.. really bouncy in the prop planes, and it almost felt like the pilots were just having fun, coming in at an angle to Saba and then a crazy rapid descent.. i think the descent was required but not that angling/curve right before
rand ❌👑@rustoleumlove @ai6yr We flew in on a de Havilland twin otter, probably around 1980 or so. The pilots opened the accordion door to the cockpit so we could see out the front window as we flew straight at the Island, making a sharp left hand turn and plopping down. To takeoff I swear they backed the plane up so that the tail was over the cliff, and going to full power before releasing the brakes. And if I recall correctly we did drop down after clearing the runway.
@rustoleumlove @ai6yr I admit to reading your article after I posted. It was great to see through the cockpit again!
We were just on a day trip, so we flew in before lunch, took the only taxi to the other end of the road for lunch and headed back to fly out. The taxi driver was also like the island historian, describing when they got there first motor vehicle, a WWII jeep lashed on top of two boats that were lashed together (I think this may have been in the’60s). How there had been a plan to build a bigger runway and resort but it didn’t happen.
Also, at one time a really disproportionate number of sea captains were from Saba, and that was there main source of income (remittances and retirement back home).
A memorable trip!