Col de la Tourmente at St. Barth Airport

Updated: October 2026 – Some spots you know from a thousand photos before you ever go there. Col de la Tourmente on Saint-Barthélemy is one of them: a hilltop with a roundabout, and above it a Twin Otter skimming so close over the car roofs that passersby instinctively duck. A few seconds later it tips forward and dives steeply down to a runway that ends after 646 meters in the sand of Baie de Saint-Jean.

This page shows you how the approach works, when the spot is worth it, where to stand and why you need more consideration at this roundabout than at any airport fence in Europe.

An airport between hill and beach

Saint-Barthélemy, St. Barth or St. Barts for short, is a small island of about 25 square kilometers in the Lesser Antilles and a French overseas collectivity. Payment is in euros, and traffic drives on the right. The main town of Gustavia and the airport’s former name recall the Swedish era: in 1784 the island passed to Sweden under King Gustav III and returned to France in 1878.

The airport is in the Saint-Jean district. It was long called Gustaf III; since 2015 it has carried the name Aéroport de Saint-Barthélemy – Rémy de Haenen. Rémy de Haenen was a Caribbean aviation pioneer who in 1946 was the first to land on the site – then still a sheep pasture – and later became mayor of the island. The present terminal dates from 1984, and the airfield is run by the island administration.

The only runway, 10/28, is just 646 meters long and wedged between a steep ridge in the west and Baie de Saint-Jean in the east. Right on this ridge, at the transition from Gustavia to Saint-Jean, lies Col de la Tourmente.

Small does not mean quiet here. For 2023, the published traffic figures show about 41,000 aircraft movements and a good 200,000 passengers, with operations densest in the days around New Year’s. For an island of just over 10,000 residents, that is an enormous density – and for you at the roundabout it means: in high season, you rarely wait long for the next subject.

The approach over the col

On landings on runway 10, the aircraft come from the west, from the direction of Gustavia and the harbor. Ahead of them lies the ridge with the roundabout. According to reference works, they clear the crest by only about 30 meters and go immediately afterward into a strikingly steep descent to touch down in time on the short strip. At the end of the landing roll, the beach awaits.

Between 2003 and 2005, the crest was somewhat lowered and the road rerouted so that road traffic no longer lies quite so directly under the approach line. At the end of 2004, the airport was even closed for about six weeks for this. The approach has remained spectacular all the same: from the crest it still looks as though the aircraft tip right over the cars onto the runway.

On landings on runway 28, by contrast, the aircraft come in over the sea and the beach. The approach is more open, but the obstacle now lies at the end of the strip. Takeoffs from 28 toward the hill are therefore generally not planned.

Wind and runway direction in use

St. Barth lies in the belt of the trade winds, which blow mainly from easterly directions. Because landings are into the wind, the approach over Col de la Tourmente to runway 10 is the normal case. Takeoffs are usually on 10 as well, that is, east over Saint-Jean beach and out to sea.

Situation	What you see at the col	How often	Recommendation
Trade wind from the east, operations on 10	Landings just over the roundabout, takeoffs in the distance over the bay	the normal case	Crest is the first choice
Gusty trade wind	bumpy approaches with visible corrections	frequent	set burst mode, take the shots on offer
Wind from the west, landings on 28	little at the roundabout, approaches come over the sea	rare	switch to Saint-Jean beach

Especially on gusty days, the approaches over the crest come alive: you see how the pilots work with aileron and power before the aircraft drops behind the slope. How such situations arise at an airport is described in the article on crosswind landings. How wind and runway selection relate in general is explained in the guide Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

What you will see at the col

If you were at Maho Beach on Sint Maarten beforehand, you have to rethink. Instead of widebody jets, turboprops and piston aircraft with mostly fewer than 20 seats dominate here. Type variety is not the strength of the spot, but the shots more than make up for it.

• DHC-6 Twin Otter: The classic among the Caribbean’s island hoppers. Rugged, short-takeoff capable and, with its high wing over the roundabout, a perfect subject. It is built by De Havilland Canada.
• Cessna 208 Caravan: Single-engine turboprop from Textron Aviation, flown at St. Barth mainly in the stretched Grand Caravan version.
• Pilatus PC-12: The Swiss single-engine turboprop from Pilatus shows up mainly in shuttle and charter service.
• Britten-Norman Islander: Small twin-engine high-wing with piston engines, at home on short island runways for decades. Next to the Twin Otter, the second typical “island aircraft” at the roundabout.
• Helicopters and private aircraft: From the island helicopter to the small aircraft of villa guests coming over from neighboring islands.

For operators, it is worth checking the current schedules, because the list keeps changing. The most recently published overviews list St Barth Commuter, Winair from Sint Maarten, Tradewind Aviation, St Barth Executive and Cape Air, among others, plus helicopter and charter operators as well as cargo flights. Air Antilles from Guadeloupe, which flew to St. Barth for a long time, has since ceased operations. Destinations are mainly Sint Maarten and Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Anguilla, Saba as well as San Juan and St. Thomas.

Light and photography

At Col de la Tourmente you shoot in two directions, and a different time window applies to each. If you catch the aircraft on approach heading west over the Gustavia side, the sun is behind you in the morning. If you look east down onto the runway and bay, the afternoon is better, when the sun is in the west. Around midday the sun in the tropics stands very high, the light is harsh and the undersides of the aircraft are in shadow. So plan your session for the edge hours and use a sun position calculator for it – how that works is covered in the article Planning the sun position at a photo spot.

For gear, you get by with little. The aircraft are so close that a standard zoom is enough for most shots. A slight wide-angle helps for the classic shot with roundabout, cars and aircraft in one frame. Only for takeoffs at the other end of the runway or details on the strip do you need a moderate telephoto. Which focal length suits what is explained in the guide on the lens for plane spotting.

More important than focal length is speed. Only a few seconds pass between appearing behind the slope and dropping to the threshold. Set burst mode and continuous autofocus and pick your subject beforehand. Because almost everything here has propellers, a compromise on shutter speed is worth it: too short, and the propellers freeze unnaturally; too long, and the aircraft gets blurry. How to find the right speed is covered in the article Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed.

A note on registrations: on the steep approaches you often see the aircraft from below at an angle. Make sure the registration on the fuselage stays legible, otherwise identifying it later gets difficult. Which prefixes you will meet in the Caribbean and how to interpret them is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

What a good day at the col looks like

Safety and consideration at the roundabout

Col de la Tourmente is not a designated spotter area but an ordinary road intersection on an island with narrow, often busy roads. Cars, scooters and pedestrians are out and about here, and many drivers themselves watch the aircraft as they pass. To keep the spot relaxed for everyone, a few clear rules apply.

The same applies at Saint-Jean beach: the beach is public but lies directly in the departure path. At the end of the runway there are signs warning of departing aircraft. Keep your distance from the fence and the end of the runway and follow the signs. Why it is smart to know a few basic rules under an approach or departure path is explained in the article Spotting under the approach path.

And one more word on history: on March 24, 2001, a Twin Otter of Air Caraïbes crashed on approach to runway 10 and hit a house. Twenty people died, including a resident on the ground. The accident is not forgotten on the island – one more reason to behave calmly and respectfully on the hill.

Getting to St. Barth and the col

St. Barth has no long-haul connections. Most travelers connect at Princess Juliana International Airport on Sint Maarten; the neighboring island is only about 35 kilometers away. Other important departure airports are San Juan in Puerto Rico and Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. Even the feeder flight is an experience for spotters: in the small aircraft you experience the steep approach over the col from the cabin – a good foretaste of the view from the ground.

Alternatively, ferries run from Sint Maarten and Saint-Martin to Gustavia. Departure ports, schedules and prices change, so check them directly with the operators before the trip.

On the island itself, a rental car or taxi gives you the most flexibility. The roads are narrow and often busy, and parking is scarce. The crest lies right on the road between Gustavia and Saint-Jean, and from the airport or the harbor you are there in a few minutes. If you are a good walker, you can also reach it on foot uphill from the terminal – in tropical heat, though, only with water and a hat.

Caribbean two-island tour and similar spots

St. Barth complements its big neighbor perfectly: at Maho Beach on Sint Maarten, jets from North America and Europe skim over the bathing beach, while on St. Barth it is Twin Otters and Islanders over the roundabout. With a short flight or the ferry, you get both worlds in one vacation. How to work a spotter detour into your trip is described in the article Plane spotting on vacation, and for the camera on the plane, the guide Camera gear in your carry-on helps.

If short runways and spectacular approaches appeal to you, these destinations are for you too:

• Skiathos: At the runway end of Skiathos Airport, leisure jets come in just over the road.
• Gibraltar: At Winston Churchill Avenue, a road crosses the runway.
• Madeira: From Pico do Facho above Machico you look at one of the most demanding runways in Europe.
• High mountains: Courchevel and the altiports of the Alps as well as Lukla in Nepal show what extremely short runways in the mountains look like.

You will find the overview of the airport with all spots, background and rules in the guide Plane spotting on St. Barth. The most spectacular places worldwide are collected in the article The world’s most spectacular airports, and if you want to fill your travel list, look at the Bucket list of spotting spots worldwide.

Conclusion

Col de la Tourmente is not a spot for collectors who want to tick off as many types and airlines as possible in a day. It is a spot for a single, unmistakable shot: a small propeller aircraft skimming just over a roundabout and then diving steeply onto one of the shortest scheduled-service runways in the Caribbean. For that you need no heavy telephoto, no fence and no admission – just easterly trade wind, the right light and respect for road traffic.

If you are in the Caribbean anyway, combine St. Barth with Sint Maarten and get two of the most famous approaches in the world in one trip. Plan for the edge hours, keep Saint-Jean beach ready as a second position, and you will come home with pictures every spotter recognizes at once.