# Plane Landing Over Crowded Beach??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698 "2015-07-09T21:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/1 "2015-07-09T21:17:07Z")
I’m sure the SDopers have seen [photos like these](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=581&q=plane+landing+on+a+crowded+beach&oq=plane+landing+on+a+crowded+beach&gs_l=img.3...1120.6527.0.7761.32.16.0.16.16.1.182.1434.4j10.14.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..15.17.1287.zc0ah12TAIY#hl=en&tbm=isch&q=plane+landing+over+a+crowded+beachphotos) (esp. the photo at the uppermost left) on the Internet or posted to social media. My factual question to the StraightDope is how can this photo be possible, if undoctored? Can you imagine the wake off a commercial airliner coming in for a landing in such close proximity to a crowd…with loose sand blasting the sun worshippers? Could it be an illusion, such as a “lens effect” compressing depth of field such that the airplane only looks like it is so close to the people? Other ideas? What’s the SD? …or, is this photo, untouched, simply impossible and such photographers are gilding the lily, if claiming the picture is natural? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/2 "2015-07-09T21:21:43Z")
St. Maarten. It happens daily and is no big deal, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/3 "2015-07-09T21:21:59Z")
Yep - those are real. It’s Princess Juliana airport in St Martin > **[Princess Juliana International Airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Juliana_International_Airport)** > > Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the airport handled 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Winair and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustati Landing isn’t so bad, but when a 747 lines up for takeoff people will run up and grab the fence and hold on as long as they can while the plane revs up for take off. Many of them will let go and be thrown across the beach into the ocean. There are signs warning about the planes but it’s a popular thing for tourists to watch. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/4 "2015-07-09T21:25:28Z")
Googleage shows that most of those pictures are at Maho Beach, St Maarten. [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maho_Beach) on same states that the runways are short and run right up to the beach, so yeah, airplanes will land just over the beach. Seems nutty, but it’s a resort island. People come here to do crazy things, like playing in the jetblast. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/5 "2015-07-09T21:29:40Z")
Don’t forget the engines are at idle or close to it when landing. Take off is when they are at full power. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/6 "2015-07-09T21:31:53Z")
Here’s a youtube video of several landings and takeoffs: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lAu3D8c84w8/hqdefault.jpg "St. Maarten Airport - Landings and Takeoffs - 747 - SPOTTERS PARADISE") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAu3D8c84w8) ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/7 "2015-07-09T21:35:50Z")
It really is that close. There’s any number of good videos that demonstrate that it’s not a foreshortening effect. This is as good as any… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zD-3pU6nWGQ/hqdefault.jpg "CLOSE CALL at Maho Beach with live ATC. Princess Juliana, St Maarten (UnEdited)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD-3pU6nWGQ) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/8 "2015-07-09T21:52:34Z")
[Overhead view](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maho+Beach,+Sint+Maarten/@18.0395774,-63.1200016,19z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8c0e694563f2c6b1:0x31357e8077d825be) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/9 "2015-07-09T23:14:27Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > Landing isn’t so bad, but when a 747 lines up for takeoff people will run up and grab the fence and hold on as long as they can while the plane revs up for take off. Many of them will let go and be thrown across the beach into the ocean. There are signs warning about the planes but it’s a popular thing for tourists to watch. I’m tempted to go on vacation there just for this. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/10 "2015-07-10T00:22:32Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I’m sure the SDopers have seen [photos like these](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=581&q=plane+landing+on+a+crowded+beach&oq=plane+landing+on+a+crowded+beach&gs_l=img.3...1120.6527.0.7761.32.16.0.16.16.1.182.1434.4j10.14.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..15.17.1287.zc0ah12TAIY#hl=en&tbm=isch&q=plane+landing+over+a+crowded+beachphotos) (esp. the photo at the uppermost left) on the Internet or posted to social media. > > My factual question to the StraightDope is how can this photo be possible, if undoctored? Can you imagine the wake off a commercial airliner coming in for a landing in such close proximity to a crowd…with loose sand blasting the sun worshippers? Could it be an illusion, such as a “lens effect” compressing depth of field such that the airplane only looks like it is so close to the people? Other ideas? What’s the SD? …or, is this photo, untouched, simply impossible and such photographers are gilding the lily, if claiming the picture is natural? I used to live really close to an AF base in the 60s, and the planes would come in at just about the same level. The only thing that we noticed was the noise, not the wake, vibrations. etc… ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/11 "2015-07-10T01:28:38Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > St. Maarten. It happens daily and is no big deal, apparently. Yep. It’s real. Been there, did that. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m tempted to go on vacation there just for this. As do many others. It is a tourist attraction. There are other great reasons to go to St. Maarten too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/12 "2015-07-10T14:00:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m tempted to go on vacation there just for this. A friend and his wife did the “hang on to the fence in the jetwash” thing and regretted it. The engine wash, noise, and being thrown twenty feet into the sea aren’t so bad. It’s the tons of sand scouring all your skin off while you hang on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/13 "2015-07-10T16:05:06Z")
Yeah, but it’s a helluvan exfoliating mechanism for your skincare routine. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/14 "2015-07-10T16:05:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A friend and his wife did the “hang on to the fence in the jetwash” thing and regretted it. The engine wash, noise, and being thrown twenty feet into the sea aren’t so bad. It’s the tons of sand scouring all your skin off while you hang on. 😃 Oh, indeed. I haven’t been to St. Marteen, but he Phuket airport in Thailand is also very close to the beach, I stood on a dune about 100 meters behind an A320 or similar ready for take off and the feeling went from “this is so cool” to “this was a bad idea” very quickly, you literally get sandblasted. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-landing-over-crowded-beach/724698/15 "2015-07-10T17:03:52Z")
We’ve been vacationing in St Maarten each winter for a while now. We traditionally visit Maho Beach for drinks at Sunset Beach Bar (topless women drink free) on our last day. I’ve gotten knocked around by takeoffs a few times, but no serious injuries. Last year I was talking to a cop by Maho. I asked him if he would simulate cuffing me so that my gf could get some funny pictures. He was happy to play along. My gf stopped photographing when the cop began simulating fucking me from behind over the trunk of the police car. Man, that was weird.