St Barts: the drop over the hill
Clear a ridge with a roundabout on top, dive for a runway barely 2,100 feet long and stop before the beach — one of the most famous landings in the world.
St Barts: the drop over the hill
Gustaf III Airport · RWY 10
Why it is famous
Gustaf III Airport on St Barthélemy sits between a hill and a beach. Aircraft landing on runway 10 come in over the Col de la Tourmente — a ridge crossed by a road and a roundabout where spectators gather — then drop steeply onto a runway barely 2,100 feet long that ends at St Jean beach.
Who can land here
Pilots need a site-specific qualification, and the short runway rules out almost every business jet. In practice the approach is flown by small turboprops such as the Twin Otter, Cessna Caravan and Pilatus PC-12; private-jet travellers usually land at Princess Juliana on St Maarten and hop across in about ten minutes. This animation shows the terrain and approach path. It is not a recorded flight or a guide to aircraft suitability.
What to watch
- The ridge and roundabout just before the runway
- How late the aircraft can descend
- The beach at the far end
More legendary approaches
St Maarten: low over Maho Beach
The approach that made plane-spotting famous: a three-degree final that crosses Maho Beach moments before touchdown.
London City: the 5.5° dive past Canary Wharf
A glide path almost twice as steep as normal, between skyscrapers and the Thames — only specially approved aircraft may fly it.
Aspen: down the valley into the mountains
An airport at 7,820 feet in a narrow valley, with a wingspan limit that keeps some of the biggest private jets away.
Sources and credits
Imagery: NASA GIBS, with aerial photos from USGS, swisstopo, IGN and basemap.at where available · terrain © Mapterhorn (CC BY 4.0) · 3D aircraft models by Nick the Name and BlenderCommunityHead (CC BY 4.0) · 3D engine: CesiumJS.
- St Barts: the drop over the hill · Spotting973 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons