We were enjoying the planes on Maho and watched Air France take off over the beach instead of towards the mountains. It took off then made a sharp right turn and instead of accelerating and climbing into the sky it flew along the coastline and was very low. We joked that it was doing a tour of the French side beaches before returning to France because it was so low. About 30 minutes later it surprised us by landing again in the dark. At least we think it is the same plane because I don’t see any other Air France A330’s scheduled from CDG. If it had a mechanical glad it’s on the ground but I’m only guessing as to why the plane appears to be back. Very curious.

Looking at flightaware.com it looks like it was two flights. AFR499 was the departure and AFR498B was the arrival.

We were watching the strange take off, but didn't
hear it return!!
Going outside to check --- it's here!!

Never saw two???

yesterday's jet had issues I believe so he left today then today's came in. Pretty sure that's it. Not same plane.

Air France takes off over the ocean almost daily in March. All depends on the winds.

It's still here this morning.

Different planes