posted 04-22-2004 09:50 AM                       

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Spotting and Photography in St. Maarten is a breeze ...

Obviously the most popular place for spotting and aviation photography is at Maho Beach, especially the Sunset Bar located on the southern side of the beach. From here you'll get some fantastic views of the aircraft landing on runway 9. You can shoot from either side of Maho Beach and you can walk right up to the fence at the end of the runway, it's only about 5 foot high, and shoot from there as well. Some have even taken shots from the upper floors of the hotel on the northern side of the beach and gotten spectacular shots.

Beware though, the tendency will be to settle in at the Sunset Bar, enjoy some food and drink while waiting for the next arrival. And, I assure you, you will do some waiting. Before I continue let's talk about the traffic you can expect.

First let me tell you that I was there during the non-peak season so the traffic was a bit lighter than you can expect during the peak season. Saturdays and Sundays were the heaviest traffic days with additional flights that only fly on weekends. But Monday to Friday did offer some nice traffic for those with patience. The highlight of each day of course was the Air France A340, followed by the American 757s, of which there were about three each day. Then once weekly there was the KLM 747 (now an MD-11 twice weekly and 747 once weekly), the Air Holland 767 and the Corsair 747. Each came once a week during the non-peak season, but I've heard are more frequent during the peak season. On Saturdays and Sundays there was the Continental 737, a US Air 757 and a Westjet 737.

After the heavies come the smaller regional airlines. A few BWIA 737s and the Dutch Caribbean
MD-82. Of course you'll get your fill of the Caribbean Star, Caribbean Sun and Liat Dash 8s.


They're like weeds at Princess Juliana along with a myriad of private aircraft that come and go during the day. There is also some cargo traffic that you might catch. I was lucky to catch a DC-3, Amerijet 727 with winglets, and a Convair CV-440, but you never know when they operate.

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Welcome to our commercial aviation photography web site. Selecting a link on the bottom of this page will allow you to view hundreds of commercial aviation photos we've taken dating back to 1971. You can view the photos in thumbnail or large format and order prints if you like. You can also research many of the spotting locations we've taken pictures from at various airports and discover the
equipment we use. Enjoy!!

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