Heard of this once, saw a few pictures, never a video. The beach, covered with people, lies just adjacent to the beginning of the airport runway. Sometimes the exhaust from big jets' engines knocks folks from their feet, the planes are so close to them, passing over on landing. If a pilot were too low by 50 feet....... Frank "One of the world’s foremost spots for photographing aircraft is the Princess Juliana International Airport on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where incoming planes land so low to Maho Beach that beachgoers can almost touch them, or so it seems. "For Tennille and her husband, Myles, it was an experience checked off their bucket list. “I literally thought people were [expletive] crazy for doing this!” Tennille told GrindTV via Jukin Media. “I was beside myself, especially here, as it was a 747! The jet stream blows people away.” " Beachgoers wave at the approaching KLM 747 as it nears the landing strip in Saint Maarten. http://www.grindtv.com/random/klm-7...-blows-people-away-video/#7I80mbdHASDlcoGT.97
I've seen those videos before, Frank....cool! I love watching big planes landing and taking off and that was possible by Lambert Airport in St. Louis. They flew very low right over the highway and there was a pull off spot that cars could park for awhile and watch. They quit allowing that I think. Sometimes you could see the pilots face, that's how close they were.
That's a cool airport. What can I say? It's their call and if something happens, that's the time they will do something about it. There is an airport here in the province of Negros, city of Bacolod where there was the Sugarlandia hotel building of 6 stories, I think. It was constructed right beside the airport. There were times that the planes would be missing the hotel's rooftop by some feet. When a new mayor was elected, he held a conference with airport officials and it was decided that the hotel needed to trim it's height by at least 2 stories. It took time but the security measure was finally implemented. That was about 2 decades ago.
It would be fun to be that close to a big jet. Think of the noise though, it must truly be deafening. There is a park in Virginia, just across the river from DC. It is called Lady Bird Johnson Park. The most beautiful thing is to go there at night, and see all the monuments lit up, but you are also adjacent to Reagan formerly National airport..and you can also see planes take off and land. That is fun as well, however, it isn't like you can almost touch them. I think St. Maarten has something unique.
@Chrissy Page Incredible experience, Chrissy! We flew out of Lambert a few times while living in MO, our "stead" was about 150 miles from it, buried in Mark Twain N.F., though. My ex- and I watched the first Pan Am 747 land at Chicago O'Hare in 1970, via a little known road which got us up to a perimeter fence. It was a wonderful experience, though less harrowing than St. Maarten! Frank