St. Maarten airport jet blast. Be warned - this has a bad outcome

Very sad for the young lady's family and friends but pretty much inevitable that someone would end up dead from this "sport".
 
The posted video is actually of a non-fatal accident at the same beach from back in 2012.
The casualty in the latest case was a 57-yr old Australian woman; there does not appear to be any video of that fatality.

The runway area is covered in warning signs:
JetBlast.jpg
so I doubt any life/holiday insurance or other compensation will be forthcoming.
 
I suspect because if bits of blast screen break off and hit people, then the airport would be liable.
With a 747 kicking out 250,000lbf+ of thrust at full power, that's a realistic possibility.
Also, a plane on a bad approach vector will go through a chain link fence; hitting a massive blast screen would be very bad.
 
This has been "a thing" at this airport for decades. The warning signs are many and clear.
Every person who goes to experience this willingly risks their life.
 
I can see another spot closing down...

Sad event indeed, I feel sorry for her family, but once again we have Darwin's prize winner...

Edit:
If I ever go there myself, that will be first thing on my 'to do' list :D
 
Tori_T said:
The posted video is actually of a non-fatal accident at the same beach from back in 2012.
The casualty in the latest case was a 57-yr old Australian woman; there does not appear to be any video of that fatality.

The runway area is covered in warning signs:
View attachment 106426
so I doubt any life/holiday insurance or other compensation will be forthcoming.
Click to expand...


OK on that. I came across the video on Pprune. The video in the link is actually 2012. I should have looked more closely :(
 
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Quite a few sites have been linking that video with the story.
I assume because it's the closest to what actually happened.
 
Thanks for the clip @Tori_T .

It's a song of very distant future, but who knows, maybe one day...

BTW, I wasn't following aviation news for a while now, anybody knows what implications this accident might have?
 
There are some other similar locations.... I was at skiathos (JSI) last year for example. Condolences to the lady's family :(
 
Why are planes allowed to be so close to the fence and to the beach that is clearly frequently heaving with people? Either shut the beach or move the fence. It just seems like such a stupid and obvious danger. May as well just have lions and a 3 foot fence and act surprised when they eat passers by.

It also seems monumentally idiotic to have planes taking off and landing right over beaches where there are always people with few clothes on and where they at risk of being shot blasted smooth by passing planes.
 
I saw that about a week ago.
If you are that stupid to do that then you accept the end result.
Sad but we live in the you tube world and think we all get away with it.
she didn't.
 
srichards said:
Why are planes allowed to be so close to the fence and to the beach that is clearly frequently heaving with people? Either shut the beach or move the fence. It just seems like such a stupid and obvious danger. May as well just have lions and a 3 foot fence and act surprised when they eat passers by.

It also seems monumentally idiotic to have planes taking off and landing right over beaches where there are always people with few clothes on and where they at risk of being shot blasted smooth by passing planes.
Click to expand...

Well, it's bloody airport after all.

Warning signs are plastered all over the place, if that's not enough, then that's not airport's problem, is it? As a side note, this particular spot on Maho Beach is what brings a lot of people there.
 
Sand is being kicked up on the beach well behind the visible concrete wall. That's not sensible. Idiots choosing to put their face against the fence are asking for trouble but those only the beach minding their own business really shouldn't have to run out of the way to avoid being sand blasted.
 
srichards said:
Why are planes allowed to be so close to the fence and to the beach that is clearly frequently heaving with people? Either shut the beach or move the fence. It just seems like such a stupid and obvious danger. May as well just have lions and a 3 foot fence and act surprised when they eat passers by.

It also seems monumentally idiotic to have planes taking off and landing right over beaches where there are always people with few clothes on and where they at risk of being shot blasted smooth by passing planes.
Click to expand...

The beach has been closed officially for a while.
There's no legislating for dim people.
 
Exactly like you say - idiots.

Those who don't want to get sandblasted have a choice - nobody forces them to be there, they always can move few meters (?) to one side and enjoy intact skin and blue seas :)
 
Major said:
Sounds like something I'd do too, but I hate selfies ;)
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I think because it happens when all the students come here, so signs in Chinese,and Asian our going to be put up. The last time I saw, it was about 20 odd students sitting with their legs over the 500ft drop and meaning forward, sad thing is they don`t listen when you tell them they will die.
 
srichards said:
It also seems monumentally idiotic to have planes taking off and landing right over beaches where there are always people with few clothes on and where they at risk of being shot blasted smooth by passing planes.
Click to expand...

But without the planes they probably wouldn't be there ;)
 
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