What it’s like to land on the world’s shortest commercial runway

(CNN) — Flying into Saba isn’t for the faint hearted. The vertiginous slopes and sea cliffs of this five-square-mile island in the Caribbean don’t leave much space to land a plane. But Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, clinging to Saba’s only bit of flat land, is proof that it can be done.

With a strip of asphalt just 1,300 feet long (about 400 meters), only 900 feet of which are “usable,” the runway is not much longer than an aircraft carrier.

Sheer drops into the sea at either end add an extra layer of excitement to the arrival on what is acknowledged as being the shortest commercial runway in the world.

The runway appears on one of Saba’s postage stamps, and the souvenir shop in the village of Windwardside sells T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “I survived the Saba landing!”

You could take the ferry to get here, but the flight often appears in lists of the “world’s scariest landings,” and that seems reason enough to give it a try.

But is it really as hair-raising as it’s made out to be?

An elite class of pilot

The 15-minute flights from Sint Maarten are on 19-seater de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, STOL (short takeoff and landing) utility aircraft designed to serve challenging airports and stop quickly, an advantage that becomes obvious once the wheels touch down on Saba.

It takes an elite group of specially trained pilots to fly into the island, with Sint Maarten-based Winair the only airline operating scheduled flights in and out.

Veteran aviator Captain Roger Hodge is Winair’s Twin Otter fleet instructor, and has trained every one of them. “Once a guy has been fully trained and we’re satisfied, we radio into operations that another Top Gun is born. That’s what we call them,” he says.

Before boarding, I ask him what to expect on the 15-minute flight. “May the Lord be with you,” he says solemnly, before laughing and telling me that I’m going to enjoy it, and to sit on the right to see the wings brush the mountainside on final approach. Already I feel my heart beating faster.

“Flying into Saba gets kind of hairy sometimes, but by knowing what to do, we make it look simple and calm,” says Hodge.

Those hairy situations involve the usual aviation emergency scenarios such as engine failure on approach, but there are other considerations due to the shortness of the runway and…