SXM arrivals / departures?

[Thrust Augmentation]

I'm lucky enough to be in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten on the 26th of December - possibly not the best day to be there for spotting at Maho Beach though. It's always been a bucket list thing & going there has happened by coincidence rather than planning.

I've had a look around the internet & at most of the regular carriers sites, but can't find out much (it seems route guides & schedules are a pre-history thing now...) How / where would I get an idea of arrivals / departures on 26/12/18?

Thanks.

[SpringHeeledJack]

You'll probably get more help on the spotter's forum than here. I'd look at last years movements/schedule and anticipate the same more or less. Due to the location and the many US tourists coming/going there'll be plenty of aircraft for you to see, and if not Maho Beach with it's distractions should keep you occupied ;-)

[Thrust Augmentation]

Cheers - I'll have at look at last year.

[Hotel Tango]

If you have FR24 or similar, you can check the Wednesday(s) prior to the 26th for an indication of what activity to expect.

[barry lloyd]

The Sunset Beach Bar, adjacent to the the end of the runway, and now opened again, has a board near the entrance with most of the movements for the day posted on it, too.

[Thrust Augmentation]

Well that's SXM / Maho ticked from the bucket list - although I may have to remove the tick so it has to be done again!

The tide was well up when I arrived, so the 3>400 excited people on the beach were squashed up against the roadside & apparent from some distance away, it was pretty mayhemic because of the crush on the beach - quickest way of moving around is to jog on the road with the continuous procession of taxis, van & buses! The general feeling of excitement / party atmosphere more than made up for the tide / crush though.

I only had about 3 hours, so unfortunately missed most of the bigger stuff that arrives / leaves in the later afternoon, but have to say that I was astounded by the sheer volume of flights - all the commercial stuff is listed, but there is easily as much private (mainly biz-jets) comings & goings, so looking at an average of a landing every 5>10 minutes!

Biggest aircraft was a Sky Prime A330 taking-off - a bit underwhelming to be honest, so maybe lightly loaded? Other than that a few 737's & A320 arrived, highlight of the day was a Jet Blue A320, pretty close to the fence & giving it all it was worth - just before brake release I tried to turn around to check that the rest of the group were OK only to realise that if I did turn around I would most likely get blown away! Other notable thing - a modern twin prop (private) approached from more or less 90° & turned above the confines of the bay pretty much straightening up as passing the waterline, looked like an A-10 ducking about the joint - misjudged showboating by the looks... The local island hopping turboprop boys certainly don't hang around either (but manage to carry out normal approaches)!

I was warned about the length of time a taxi in & particularly out would take, especially on busy cruise ship days, but it took 25 mins in & 25 mins out despite there being 8 (large, maybe monster) cruise ships in, so I could have had another hour there & seen most of the bigger aircraft. The Sunset Bar doesn't have schedule boards inside, the major scheduled arrivals are chalked on a surf board at the Sunset end of the beach & all the biggies are announced on their PA system.

Definitely the most exciting 3 hours of my recent life & although just "boring" commercial / private aircraft, it absolutely blew the socks of any military air show that I've ever been too! Cant recommend it enough for enthusiasts & if i had clicked that the crazy "airport" at St Bart's was so close I would have caught an island hopper over there as well!

[AndoniP]

great stuff, I am definitely going to do that. problem is flights from the UK, you need to do a week unless you use 2 different carriers and then the costs really do shoot up.

[10 DME ARC]

Flights - we are using KLM/Delta in June. KLM UK-AMS-JFK a week in US then Delta down to SXM then KLM SXM-CUR-AMS-UK. Got really good Business Class fares with KLM and only $300 BC with Delta down to SXM! Cannot wait...