Everyone and their grandmothers seem to be writing about Beef Island and the possibility of bringing in big jet aircraft. So here’s my bit.
Has anyone looked at the approach to the main runway? I don’t think it’s very good for a big jet. Such jets make long, flat approaches; they don’t dive over palm trees and make steep turns at the last minute.
I used to fly a biggish twin-engine aircraft into Beef Island. Sometimes I would come in “on the north side, through the gap:” flying across Josiahs Bay to Fat Hogs Bay, before hanging a left onto the runway. It is quite safe. American Eagle planes do this. A big jet won’t be able to do this.
Instead, a big jet will have to fly past Road Town, and, as it approaches Fat Hogs Bay and East End, it will have to start getting down low — not quite dragging its wheels through the trees in people’s backyards, but getting down there.
I’ve heard JetBlue’s name being tossed around. Okay! Why not bring some of their people over to have a look, pointing out that the flights would have to be made not just during the day, but at night, sometimes in light rain and blustering crosswinds. I think they will suck their thumbs and go away.
The other problem with a big jet is the engine blast as it opens up for takeoff. Something like a railway crossing will have to be set up on the road at the end of the runway, with gates, lights and bells controlled by the control tower.
I brought this up with someone who said, “No problem: We’ll dig a road tunnel at the end of the runway.” A tunnel below sea level, with its water pumps and so on, would be a big project unto itself.