Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base , also known as St. Thomas Seaplane Base, is located in the harbor by Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas,

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

. This private-use airport is owned by the Virgin Islands Port Authority. As per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

records, this seaplane base had 76,820 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

2004 and 71,555 enplanements in 2005.

Facilities

Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base covers an area of and has two seaplane landing areas: * Runway E/W: , surface:

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

* Runway N/S: , surface: water

Airlines and destinations

Historical air service

Historically, Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle operated scheduled passenger service during the 1980s from the Charlotte Amalie seaplane base with Grumman Mallard aircraft. These Grumman amphibious aircraft were powered either by piston engines or by turboprop engines via a powerplant conversion program. During the 1970s, Antilles Air Boats operated several different types of seaplanes in scheduled passenger service from the harbor as well including the Consolidated

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

(Super Catalina version),

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

Grumman Mallard The Grumman G-73 Mallard is a medium, twin-engined amphibious aircraft. Many have been modified by replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Wasp H radial engines with modern turboprop engines. Manufactured from 1946 to 1951, production ended when ...

Short Sandringham The Short S.25 Sandringham is a British civilian flying boat designed and originally produced by Short Brothers. They were produced as conversions of the prolific Short Sunderland, a military flying boat that was commonly used as a maritime pat ...

S-25 and Vought

Sikorsky VS-44 The Sikorsky VS-44 was a large four- engined flying boat built in the United States in the early 1940s by Sikorsky Aircraft. Based on the XPBS-1 patrol bomber, the VS-44 was designed primarily for the transatlantic passenger market, with a capaci ...

Renaming the seaplane terminal

The terminal was named the

Charles F. Blair, Jr. Charles F. Blair Jr. (July 19, 1909 – September 2, 1978) was an American aviation pioneer who helped work out the routes and navigation techniques necessary for long-distance flights. He served as a reserve officer, early in his career for th ...

http://www.viport.com/seaports/seaports.html Seaports & Marine Facilities terminal in honor of Charles F. Blair, Jr., an

aviation pioneer Aviation pioneers are people directly and indirectly responsible for the advancement of flight, including people who worked to achieve manned flight before the invention of aircraft, as well as others who achieved significant "firsts" in aviation a ...

and the founder of the seaplane airline, Antilles Air Boats.

References

External links

* * * {{authority control Airports in the United States Virgin Islands Seaplane bases in the United States Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands