A lot of my flight journal pieces have been about flying specific goals and objectives but this one is a bit more of a free flowing one because I felt compelled to write about just how much fun it can be to just “mess around” with a couple of aircraft in MSFS with friends. In this journal we ventured from Saba to Saint Barthélemy Airport and then did a bunch of circuits landing and taking off and failing to land at this challenging airport.

Pure fun

We started out with a very limited goal of flying over from Saba Island (TNCS) to Saint Barthélemy Airport/Gustaf III (TFFJ). TFFJ is one of the hardest airports in the world to land at with the approach coming in over a ridge line and then down and into the airport itself. We decided to try it with the semi-recently updated SR22T. Not the easiest airplane to land here as it turns out!

We took off from Saba and then made the short trip over the water. This was a great opportunity for a bit of a photoshoot with the SR22T. Then it was time to try and land at this challenging airport.

My first approach was a total wash as I tried to come in at a low speed and ended up being far too low to make it work. I tried it again and again trying to get the right speed without stalling the SR22T which, with this new version, is fairly lively in the stall.

The other challenge was the turbulence which really rocks you around as you come over the ridge and down into the runway. It takes a lot of effort just to maintain some semblance of stability in this situation which just adds to the challenge.

In the end I got the SR22T down three times and only one of those was one that didn’t involve sliding off the end of the runway either into a fence and some bushes or into the water as you can see here. Even that third landing was probably not one that you could have done in real life with the gear probably shearing off.

Then I decided to see if I could do the landing at this airport in the PA38 from Just Flight. An airplane I’ve been meaning to get back to. As it turned out, I was only marginally better at landing that one at this airport than any of the others. Most of my landings these days in GA aircraft have been good but this is one challenging airport and these are two aircraft that are a bit more challenging to bring into a safe landing here.

Nothing complex

This was some of the most fun I’ve had in MSFS. Sometimes you don’t need complex flight plans and big journeys ahead… Just a fun (and challenging) place to land and some laughs while you learn and hone your technique. I had a blast landing and doing go-arounds here with my friend Jon who recorded some of the fun from his point of view and posted it over on his YouTube channel here. He also flew the SR22, to PA38 and also the PAC 750 which was far better suited to the short landings here. Give it a watch!