take off over subset beach

I think the plane ws American. It took off towards the water not the usual direction

Westjet did as well

just saw 3 more small planes do the same. I looked at the island cam it was covered with large raindrops so maybe there's a storm so planes are heading to the brighter side over water?

Hi RonDon - I'm no expert on the subject but I believe it has to do with the wind out of the West and not the normal out off the East. Planes like to take off into the wind.

Probably...and we noticed that most of the late afternoon/early evening departures go towards Sunset .....AF and KLM especially

...and...less incoming traffic also

Planes taking off in that direction today are mainly a result of the Winds coming in the opposite direction today. That is also the reason for the sargasm / seaweed on Maho and Mullet Beach. However it is not unusual for American Airlines, Delta, KLM or Air France to take off towards the water most days.

Drphilsxm

Noticed that this year there are a lot more planes departing over the water than in other years.

Smaller aircraft were also landing from the lagoon side. Not the bigger ones. We came late on Westjet and were behind two American and one Delta flight. Total gridlock at immigration.

"Smaller aircraft were also landing from the lagoon side. Not the bigger ones."
Bigger ones can't land from lagoon side. Mountain too high to allow an approach from that direction.

Air France #538 just landed at around 7:50pm and was scheduled to land at 1:55pm but was diverted to Guadeloupe. Must be a weather related issue for all this strange activity today.

We are going to see a lot more of the bigger carriers take off over the beach because the newer planes don't have the same amount of thrust as did the older planes. This was cut down for fuel efficiency according to my aviation friends.

AFAIK 28 departures from SXM are requested:

1) for a more direct route; the standard departure from 10 is a right turn to 180 degrees (i.e. south) then climb then a turn towards the first segment of the routing. If your destination is CDG (for example) that is the opposite direction so a right turn from a 28 departure is preferred. Air France usually leaves late pm when winds have typically dropped enough that any tailwind component is acceptable plus there is less traffic so easier to sequence a "wrong way" departure.
2) If the winds are, unusually, out of the west then more a/c will request a 28 departure because the tailwind for a 10 takeoff becomes a problem.
Edited to add: winds this pm reported as 14005KT i.e. small tailwind for 28 but still have just seen an A319 & B737 use 28 to depart.


Dave.