Flying to the World's Shortest Commercial Runway | Winair Twin Otter to Saba

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:01]Welcome to the world's shortest commercial  runway. We're flying to the island of Saba in the Caribbean today with Winair on the Twin Otter.  And this runway is just 401 m or 1300 ft long.

[00:00:16]We'll also be checking out the island itself and  then taking the flight back later in the day.

[00:00:32]Good morning from St. Maarten. This is  Princess Juliana International Airport.

[00:00:36]I'm Gabe from Flightradar24, your favorite  flight tracking platform. This is Sophia.

[00:00:40]We're together today to do some flying with  Winair over to the island of Saba. It's the world's shortest commercial runway and  we're going to land there on a Twin Otter, do some cruising around, see the island  a bit. It's actually also where you find the highest point in the entire Kingdom of the  Netherlands. I don't know if you ever knew that, but I learned that the other day. So, anyway,  let's get going. Twin Otter Winair. Really excited to check out their whole operation  and get to flying around the Caribbean today.

[00:01:14]Winair is celebrating its 65th anniversary  this year. It's a mainstay of St. Maarten aviation serving some of the amazing nearby  islands on these incredibly capable little twin otters and now also expanding its network in  the Caribbean using ATRs. Kevin, hello. Hi, I'm Gabe, nice to meet you. Nice  to meet you. Nice to meet you.

[00:01:36]This is one of its most special routes and  it's one aviation enthusiasts travel here just to fly on. Fun fact, Winair is short  for Windward Islands Airways International.

[00:01:55]These flights are fully VFR, meaning visual flight  rules. They need to see where they're going, basically. Also, Saba's runway needs to be dry  because they can't spare any stopping distance.

[00:02:05]Luckily, the rainstorms in the Caribbean tend to  be intense but quick and highly localized. The pilots have already made sure that the destination  weather is sunny and clear. Also worth noting that many of these twin otters are 40 to 50 plus years  old and they look amazing inside. You'd never know it. Plus, many have these upgraded Garmin  avionics, too. Saba is a captain's only landing.

[00:03:13]You'll notice the FO is working with a wheel up  top by the unique overhead twin otter throttles.

[00:03:18]That's actually to control the friction on those  thrust levers to make sure they move just as much as needed, but don't move in an unwanted way.  It's very unique. Also, a lot of you asked about this on Instagram. The fans above their  heads are what they have for air conditioning.

[00:03:39]Flight time today: 13 minutes.

[00:04:47]And there it is, Saba.

[00:05:14]Time to begin this magnificent approach.

[00:05:24]As you can see, there's not a lot of  flat land to put a runway on here.

[00:06:45]And as Twin Otters like to do, we  stop basically on a dime. Incredible.

[00:07:34]The shortest commercial runway in  the world. Pretty challenging. But what's the sort of weather minimum? We  have limitation for the winds. Um and uh of course if the oneway is wet  we are with a twin offer we cannot uh so that's part of the how restrictions. Do  you approach that landing in any particularly different way you know obviously it's shorter. It  all depends where the winds come from. Today we today the the winds as you can see through the  wind socks winds pretty much down the pipe. So that's uh can approach pretty much straight  ahead. But when we have a good strong winds uh and cross winds, of course, we're going to  apply the appropriate correction. Do you train for this in the simulator or? No, we do the training  uh right at the airport and on the real plane.

[00:08:31]Thank you so much.

[00:08:57]Good morning. 4 02 3 4 02. Good morning. Runway 12 in use.  Winds 1 120° 1 7 knots. Q& 7 area runway.

[00:09:25]That's our crew now headed back to St.  Maarten. These twin otter stay busy and crews can do up to 14 landings  per day operating these short hops.

[00:09:51]That was such a short and beautiful flight.  It's so cool always flying towards a rock in the middle of the sea. And this is a great example  of that. Giving a little bit Santa Helena vibes, but also very different. And that Twin Otter  actually feeling very fresh inside for 43 years old. And now they're going to take us around a bit  to see this island, which is really nice. We don't have to turn right back around. But we're going  to be flying back in the afternoon to St. Maarten.

[00:10:10]Another Twin Otter. Another very short field  takeoff experience. And uh we'll take you along.

[00:10:20]Hey. Hey. Hey.

[00:11:01]Saba is a tiny volcanic island of just 5 square  miles and politically speaking it's actually in the Netherlands. First settled by the Dutch in  the 1600s, Saba spent centuries isolated from the outside world. Nowadays, it's considered a  special Dutch municipality. Unlike St. Martin, which is linked to the Netherlands and is part of  the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but it's actually its own country. People on Saba are Dutch  citizens. Known as the unspoiled queen of the Caribbean, Saba has no big resorts. People come  here for world-class diving, rainforest hiking, and the chance to climb Mount Scenery, the highest  point in the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands.

[00:11:45]Thank you.

[00:12:11]All right, time to head back after the day on  Saba. Back to St. Maarten on the Twin Otter and we've got Sophia checking out the situation with  the airplanes. What's the deal, Sophia? Yeah, so our airplane has just left St. Maarten. It  kind of like while Air France was backtracking, they went onto the runway to take off and we have  a true grandpa aircraft today. Born May 1969, this Twin Otter is 56 years old. So, it's going  to be good fun. Lots of action at St Maarten too. Air France likes to backtrack and take  off toward the west to avoid that terrain, we assume. Yeah. and our little Twin Otter  popped in front of the Air France to take off and did it towards the west for that reason.  Try to catch that A330 757 combo action tomorrow.

[00:12:59]The dream. As you may see, I'm not in the  Caribbean anymore. Interrupting this video briefly to tell you about a very special event.  It's the ILA Berlin, which takes place at the Expo Center airport in Berlin in June, 11th  to 14th of June. It's an event that we really love and we wanted to tell you that we have trade  tickets with a 10% off discount. So, if you want to get in there on the trade days, those are the  first two days, 11th and 12th. 13th and 14th are for the public. All of it is amazing. We've got a  link below. We'll put it in the pin comment. More than 750 exhibitors from 37 countries. There'll  be an A350 in the flying display. There'll be an A380 on static display and much more. Special  drone area where you can see some new technology there. And we'll have our very own Sophia there  representing Flightradar. She'll have keychains and she's going to be posting on the Instagram  stories on the Saturday about a meetup. So stay tuned to our Instagram. If you can't find her,  she's probably somewhere around the Beluga. We'll put the link to the discount code and the website  for more information down in the top pin comment.

[00:14:52]And it's time to head back. With a short  runway, it's also important to take off before the road runs out. Luckily, the Twin  Otter is the perfect airplane for this.

[00:15:14]Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88. Where we're  going, we don't need roads.

[00:15:25]Navigation aid. Uh, good. Stand by instrument.  Instruments. Uh, good answer instrument radio is on for you and we have cabin station. Stay back. Good afternoon  again. Wind 442. We are right to taxi back to Chana 442 for copy.  Winds at 110 degrees 14 knots. Q&2 traffic inside 442 back clear.

[00:16:19]Uh before take off, taxi check  light on brakes check control three to back up.

[00:16:34]You have a number.

[00:16:38]Um we got before takeoff checklist.  Uh transponder set um for now.

[00:16:50]to say is no more weather fan is coming off  landing light. GPS assist check message are check consider cabin secure and clearance  launch required. Are you ready? Yep. I'm a go on the road. 442 on the ro. Roger.  442. Winds 11 degrees. 160 knots.

[00:17:24]Friction set. Firearm. 60 knots.  Come minute. Yep. They are rotating on the torque.

[00:17:54]My controls 3575 for climb power.

[00:18:15]close 20 80 on her speed of  approach. Turn speed on record.

[00:19:01]42 runway 1 Z clear take off  correction clear to land when 0 And that's all for today, folks. Thanks so much  for joining us on this amazing day out to Saba.

[00:20:21]And be sure to let us know if you've taken this  flight or if you've been thinking about it. I can highly recommend it. And thanks again to  Winair and Saba Tourism for putting together this super special trip for us. Catch you next  time with more action from around the Caribbean.