During the winter months yachtsmen find St. Barts the perfect place to slip in for a little fun. Private pilots, on the other hand, might want to find alternate routes to this sublime retreat

When I asked the government tourism office of St. Barthélemy (abridged to Saint-Barth by the French and St. Barts by Americans) about landing private planes on this Caribbean island’s notoriously treacherous airstrip, I received a bright red verbal-warning flag about the heightened risk of unsuccessful touchdowns. Not that I considered landing on a 2,170-foot runway tucked between hills and ending at a beach full of vacationers a fun tempt of fate, I simply wondered what hoops one must jump through to actually get the go-ahead from the French authorities.

Okay, I admit it, the challenge seemed like one that goes on a list with reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro . . . difficult but not impossible for those with a little training and resolve. That is until I spoke with David Zara of Tradewind Aviation, the only U.S. private charter to service St. Barts, and Bruno Magras, mayor of St. Barts and owner of St-Barth Commuter, the local air charter company. Then it became abundantly clear why it would be in the tourism officials’ best interest to dissuade private pilots from attempting such landings.

Coming in from the west, wind over the saddle creates updrafts and downdrafts that can bob your plane around, adding complexity to the downhill landing onto the short runway. Surprisingly a light south wind is more lethal since parking lots to the south paired with the surrounding hills create eddies over the runway, making it too hot and impossible for the wheels to touch down, dumping you into the water. Speaking of water, several pilots testify that rain makes this one of the world’s slipperiest runways due to hard breaking on the cement surface, and when you are landing from the water side you cannot do a go-around because of the hill in front of you. “Once you pass Eden Rock Hotel, which is the point of no return, you are committed to land into what you know will be a crash,” warns Zara.

So it should come as no shock that a skills test is required for all pilots, including those who fly for commercial airlines, but that’s not always easy to arrange. A French instructor headquartered at Grand Case Airport on St. Martin tests your competence in the air as well as during a series of touchdowns.

Even if you pass the qualification test and land on this dream destination, parking your aircraft is a nightmare—there’s next to no available space. All this being said, St. Barts still proves to be one of the best getaways for jet-setters—but land your plane in a more accommodating place and arrange alternate transportation to the island.

In 1493 when Christopher Columbus spotted this strip of land the Ciboney Indians called home, he named the island after his brother Bartolomeo. For centuries St. Barts was tossed around among the Spanish, Swedish, and French, who deemed the 8 square miles more useful as a bargaining chip than livable due to the lack of ground water. On this tropical island “lush” tends to describe overzealous yacht partiers, who prove to be more abundant than vegetation. The natural beauty is far from compromised however, and St. Barts offers stunning limestone cliffs that host promontory ocean views as well as abundant gold-crescent beaches and deep-turquoise lagoons. Of course the extravagant villas dotting the hilly terrain and the megayachts in the harbor add nice aesthetic touches. In 1962 David Rockefeller saw potential on a jagged precipice and built a house hovering over Colombier Beach that would lay the foundation for the ultra-affluent playground that the oh-so-French St. Barts has become today.

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