Working on a Caribbean Island-Hoping tour and I picked the Cirrus SR22T as that is a plane I can imagine flying/owning in r/l someday. But realized one of my stops is the infamous TFFJ at St. Barts. Just curious if people have sim’d landing a Cirrus SR22T there?
Runway is listed as 2119’. SR22T POH indicates a rollout of about 1200 without accounting for any obstacles. TFFJ runway 28 has no significant obstacle to clear down on the beach and is 2.1% uphill, so theoretically feasible if you can get stable and set it down right on the numbers after the tight turn in the bay. Also presumes wind is calm or from the West.
But if the wind is blowing the other way (as it usually does), I think its a complete no-go. The grade down the hill in front of the runway is 17%. Pretty sure the Cirrus is too slippery to duck down over the hill and get down to the runway without being at 90+ kts at the bottom. Maybe some crazy side-slip STOL maneuver could work? Pretty sure the Cirrus is not rated for slips like that with full flaps. Even if you can drop it on the numbers and keep it slower than the short field landing speed of 79 kts, the roll-out ends up being too long - the POH says to add 27% for every 1% of slope. The runway is 2.1% down-slope, so add 57% or 684 ft. for 1900 ft total. Gives just over 200 ft of margin.
I’m not doing it, but wondering if anybody has tried / succeeded safely landing a Cirrus SR22T there in the sim?
Even though its kind of a cheat to switch planes partway through the tour, I plan to switch to a Cessna 206 for that leg of the trip (my other top contender for planes I am contemplating buying).