My two heroes and myself, just before leaving St.Martin. I filed IFR, and it took them 1 hour to get the clearance. My handheld ICOM saved aircraft battery/fuel. I was still happy for the IFR, as we had a lot of rain and clouds on the leg to Fort de France, half of the flight in IMC (Instrument conditions, in the clouds). New challenge: baro pressure in hectopascals, nobody knows inches of mercury (divide the HP by 33.86, and twist your Kollmans to the result!). Next evening, my portable miniprinter produced a little conversion table. Same for AvGas which comes in litres (divide by 3.78, ah, and no avgas in Grand Case!)
St. Marteen
St. Barts, the (in)famous airstrip
Guadeloupe in sight. Continuously changing the accents and languages of controllers between Caribbean English, and les francais.
Fort de France, Martinique, our lunch, and refuel stop
The "Paris of the Caribbean" looks quite impressive from the air, past KAREX, on a 4 mile final on the glideslope for ILS 10 (flew a full ILS, even weather was perfect VFR)
That's why the controller asked us to speed up our approach, the Air France Airbus was landing behind us! Very relaxed bureaucracy at TFFF. No immiggration/customs in sight. Just dropped 4 copies of GenDec into 4 post boxes airside of the General Aviation terminal. Refuelling to be paid cash (€ or $). A very popular local restaurant, Chez Maimaine, is just opposite the General Aviation Terminal. Jet Aviation was helpful with tips, weather and filing the FPL. Merci.
From TFFF to TTPP Port of Spain the weather improved, and we chose VFR, also to be free to climb/descend for some sight seeing, for some of the most spectacular views in the Caribbean
St. Lucia
Les Pitons: spectacular!
Grenadines ... islands, islands, islands ..
until we see the coastline of Trinidad, our destination for today
Short final runway 10. The International Terminal is on the left (N) side, General Aviation on the Southern side. Reception at Piarco Airport was professional, but expensive. The handler asked 250$. I recommend to call before you land, because at sunset, hungry and thirsty, your negotiation room is limited. Here also ended the coverage of the Bahamas and Caribbean Pilot's Guide
http://www.pilotpub.com/store.ph) a very valuable guide through this trip! Don't leave home without it!
St. Marteen
St. Barts, the (in)famous airstrip
Guadeloupe in sight. Continuously changing the accents and languages of controllers between Caribbean English, and les francais.
Fort de France, Martinique, our lunch, and refuel stop
The "Paris of the Caribbean" looks quite impressive from the air, past KAREX, on a 4 mile final on the glideslope for ILS 10 (flew a full ILS, even weather was perfect VFR)
That's why the controller asked us to speed up our approach, the Air France Airbus was landing behind us! Very relaxed bureaucracy at TFFF. No immiggration/customs in sight. Just dropped 4 copies of GenDec into 4 post boxes airside of the General Aviation terminal. Refuelling to be paid cash (€ or $). A very popular local restaurant, Chez Maimaine, is just opposite the General Aviation Terminal. Jet Aviation was helpful with tips, weather and filing the FPL. Merci.
From TFFF to TTPP Port of Spain the weather improved, and we chose VFR, also to be free to climb/descend for some sight seeing, for some of the most spectacular views in the Caribbean
St. Lucia
Les Pitons: spectacular!
Grenadines ... islands, islands, islands ..
until we see the coastline of Trinidad, our destination for today
Short final runway 10. The International Terminal is on the left (N) side, General Aviation on the Southern side. Reception at Piarco Airport was professional, but expensive. The handler asked 250$. I recommend to call before you land, because at sunset, hungry and thirsty, your negotiation room is limited. Here also ended the coverage of the Bahamas and Caribbean Pilot's Guide http://www.pilotpub.com/store.ph) a very valuable guide through this trip! Don't leave home without it!
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