SXM 03/24/2011 - Part 2 - Image Heavy

[gonzalu]

...continued from Part 1

When I first arrived at Maho Beach, I was soo excited it took me a few minutes to just get over the giggles as you are seeing yourself finally there. I had salivated for months at the idea of visiting the greatest place for aviation spotters or lovers of all kinds. Even people who are totally oblivious to the addiction (like my wife) could not help but be totally impressed by the proximity and openness of this place. On Tuesday when the KLM 747 came in, she had gone up to our room to take a break and she was in the balcony when she landed.

She actually called me saying it was the most exciting thing she ever saw... I am still getting over that hahaha. She typically tells me I am nuts for loving planes like I do.

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http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6076/1232251620_LNHHm-L.jpg

Picking a place to stand, given a lack of experience, and also given that any place you stand will likely give you as much excitement and as much of a great shot as another, can be daunting. I found myself walking back and forth left to center to right and back trying to pick a good spot for each approach.

For the dailies like American and Air France and Jet Blue etc., you can simply pick a different spot each day.

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6118/1232251716_WwayD-XL.jpg

talk about surprises... there was a Regatta at St Barts and a group of Warbirds showed up for the week to perform during the event. You can only imagine the face I made when I heard them call in on the radio as a formation of vintage war planes requesting a formation flyover with a break LOL. I could not believe it ...

Never saw these guys in the states. Nice looking planes...

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6220/1232251764_5VFdv-L.jpg

nice and low for the crowd!!

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6325/1232251858_aReYB-L.jpg

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6466/1232251850_jvnuw-L.jpg

Cactus 757 was always a crowd favorite

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6479/1232251895_FstuK-L.jpg

... I got the whole wingtip but, the image was not level :-( there goes the wingtip :mad:

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6516/1232252011_gLKVY-L.jpg

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6542/1232251993_C7p3F-L.jpg

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6565/1232252082_tXqgC-L.jpg

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6640/1232252089_4hkxq-L.jpg

The clouds are CRUEL in St Martin. It can be perfectly sunny for a half hour and when your desired plane comes in to land, a strategically placed cloud will cover the sun... never failed :-(

Nice looking bizjet

http://pictures.mannyphoto.com/Airplanes/Spotting/SXM-03242011/D3G6658/1232252077_jWSau-L.jpg

[RomNYC]

That AA is S.H.A.R.P! Wow!

What was the Heineken Regatta, btw?

[gonzalu]

Thanks Rom... and thanks for the tip on the Regatta...

Here are some photos (http://www.bucketregattas.com/stbarths/photos.html) of the event and some pics of the birds in the action

[Zee71]

The vintage birds are a sweet catch! You definitely picked a great time to be down there. The US Airways and Delta (less wing tip) look awesome.

[LIMatt]

The Heineken Regatta was earlier in the month. SXM was insanely crowded that week as it always is.

The St. Barth's Regatta is a different story. Apparently those planes were part of the festivities over there.

[heeshung]

Warbirds at SXM! Lucky catch!

[Cary]

Great pics, Manny...brings back good memories. A friend of mine actually just sent over this video of the warbirds:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlTbys9nqQ&feature=player_embedded

[gonzalu]

Sweet Jesus!! I was supposed to have been in St. Barts one of those days but my wife would not allow me to leave her behind at St Martin alone :-( I would have killed to get pics of them doing those low passes... wow! Thanks Cary!

[Cary]

Sweet Jesus!! I was supposed to have been in St. Barts one of those days but my wife would not allow me to leave her behind at St Martin alone :-( I would have killed to get pics of them doing those low passes... wow! Thanks Cary!

If it makes you feel any better, it looks like clouds blocked the sun for most of those passes :cool: But yeah, getting to shoot that would be great. That had to be difficult for them to make the dive over the hill at those speeds, and then quickly level off.

[gonzalu]

You bet is tough... During most airshows, if you ever watch the likes of Mike Goulian and Sean Tucker do a dive to the deck and pull out and level about 10 feet off the ground, you're impressed... now think about these being SUPER HIGHLY MODIFIED airplanes designed for just such acrobatics and the men behind the stick are doing this day in and day out and even compete in extreme flying... now, you see these guys in likely unmodified WWII birds and designs and doing almost as well, you MUST be impressed :-)