Port of Spain to Martinique

Departing Piarco airport in Port of Spain, Trinidad for Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport in Martinique, Fort-de-France, French West Indies. I couldn't resist making this short hop to Martinique. I feel like I've seen references to this beautiful location everywhere I look.  Here are some things to do in Martinique.

Taxiing out to the runway with a B-747 behind me. Having a big monster like that back there, always seems to increase the intensity of the situation. Notwithstanding how big and heavy they are, with the associated certainty of squashing me if they fail to stop, there's also my sense of personal responsibility, not wanting to hold up a scheduled airliner full of people, or even a cargo flight. Fortunately, my pre-takeoff checklist is already done, so I'll be rolling onto the runway 10 for takeoff, without delay.

Heading away from Piarco airport, with my 747 friend still on the ground, just turning onto the runway, after receiving their takeoff clearance. Not much risk of them overtaking me, as they're cleared to fly runway heading of  100 degrees, and I'm already making a significant left turn toward the northwest, to intercept my planned northerly course.

Climbing out over the pretty green hills to the north of Piarco airport.

Continuing the climb, toward the line of Lesser Antilles islands (map) that define the boundary between the southern Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. I'll be passing some very familiar island names - Tobago to the right, then Grenada to the left, directly over St Vincent and the Grenadines, then St Lucia on the right - before flying the RNAV-10 approach into Martinique. At this low altitude, and climbing at full power, the engine is burning 139 gallons (834 pounds) per hour. At this burn rate and groundspeed, the dashed and solid green circles on the moving map display are showing that I would be eating into reserve fuel before I arrived at Martinique. Of course, as I climb, the fuel burn will reduce, and the groundspeed will increase, and the fuel range prediction will become far more favorable, especially considering this very short hop is well within the range of this little jet. 

Leaving the island of Trinidad behind. As I'm climbing toward my planned cruising altitude of 31,000 feet, and rapidly making my way towards Martinique on this short flight, I realize that a lower cruising altitude makes much more sense. So I settle on 21,000 feet, since I'm almost there anyway, which gives me about 15 minutes at altitude, before I need to start heading back down.

Already descending through 15,000 feet, on my way toward the initial approach fix, for the RNAV-10 approach to Martinique. I see there's a broken cloud layer beneath me, so I'm watching the air temperature, to be prepared for the possibility of icing, when passing through the clouds. But the temperature has been rising as I descend, and it's already up to -5C, so I'm not expecting any issues there. With the dry adiabatic lapse rate at 2C per thousand feet, and the moist lapse rate varying around 1.5C, I'd expect the air to warm up somewhere around 15-20C, by the time I get down to 5,000 feet.

Taking a quick look to the right at the lush green island of St Lucia, as I continue my descent.

Descending through 4,800 feet, and into the clouds. As expected, the temperature is up to a balmy +19C, so icing isn't an issue. The RNAV approach on the moving map display looks a little bit complicated, but that's only because the missed approach brings me in a circle, back to a holding pattern through a waypoint I'm about to cross on my way inbound. No big deal.

Descending through 2,000, while breaking out of the clouds, and turning toward the the runway 10 final approach course.

Established on the final approach course, with the runway 10 PAPI lights barely visible ahead and slightly left of my heading, as I'm crabbing to the right into an 11 KT crosswind. The map terrain hazard display is showing me that I've got hills on both sides of my flight path on final approach, and also on both sides, if I need to fly the missed approach. Y'all be careful out there! Funny to say, but as long as I fly the published path, it will guide me between the hills, and back over the ocean on the other side of the island.

On the ground at Martinique. Not much to see out the windscreen. Sorry I forgot to capture an aerial view of my parking spot on the ramp. At this point, I'm ready to shutdown and take on fuel, after planning my next flight - to Antigua.