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St Maarten
Airport & Maho Beach |
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Maho Beach is world
famous and with good
reason! Nowhere else can
you get as close to
aircraft landing on
their final approach;
not just small aircraft
but 747 jumbos arriving
on international routes.
In fact, 'plane
spotters' are drawn to
Sint Maarten just for
the thrill of being so
close. |
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The runway at Princess
Juliana Airport is
directly behind Maho
Beach. The top of the
beach is separated from
the runway tarmac by a
narrow road; in fact the
distance from the sand
to the tarmac runway is
20 feet and aircraft are
passing over the beach
at an altitude of
between 30 and 60 feet
on their final approach;
occasionally even lower. |
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American
Airlines 757 on it's final
approach! |
Maho Beach warning sign! |
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For the ultimate thrill
the jet blast from
landing aircraft can
knock you off your feet
and create artificial
waves in Maho Bay. The
St Maarten
authorities have
recently erected
signs to warn beach
goers of the dangers of
the jet blast. |
Landing a Jumbo Jet on
such a short runway and
only feet above crowds
of plane spotters and
sun worshipers must be
every pilots nightmare.
No other similar thrill
is available to
passengers either as
they can see the faces
of people on the beach
just before touchdown
and the brakes go on
hard to bring the
aircraft to a stop
before the lagoon at the
other end of the runway!
St Maarten reminds us of
the old city airport in
Hong Kong where you used
to be able to see the
faces of old women
hanging out their
washing on the balconies
of apartment buildings
at the end of the
wingtips, just before
the severe braking to
avoid plunging into
harbour at the end of
the runway. |
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Travel, holiday, vacation and photograph
guide to Sint Maarten and the Caribbean. All text and images are Copyright
Paradise Islands
org 2009
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