Airports Like No Other – Princess Juliana International Airport

By Dale Coleman – Gallery page https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/5766234Photo https://cdn.jetphotos.com/full/2/73734_1152452771.jpg, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29328474

With the beginning of summer, people are swarming into the beaches looking for a warm sun bath. Intense sunlight kissing earth revitalizes your weary body like no other. With that said, have you ever known a place where your sunbath is accompanied by a hot stream of the jet blast from a jumbo jet? If you have not, here is the place! It is the iconic Maho beach perched at the Princess Juliana International Airport. The proximity of the airport’s runway threshold to the Maho beach inherits stupendous experiences for the travelers on the beach and passengers onboard the airliners. 

Princess Juliana airport is located in Sint Maarten, a Caribbean island located towards the northern part of the sea. The country has two parts: the French part and the Dutch part. The airport and the Maho beach are towards the western side of the Dutch part. Princess Juliana of Orange of the Netherlands officially opened the airport in 1944 and renewed to cater as an international airport in 1964. From the airport, a 15 km drive will take you to Philipsburg, the capital of St. Maarten. 

The airport handles nearly 1.8 million passengers annually that supports tourism, the main source of income of the country. 

Now, the Interesting Part! 

One end of the airport’s single runway stretches all the way up to Maho beach leaving only a narrow margin separated by the airport’s perimeter fence. During the takeoffs, jet blast moves across the beach giving wings to all objects, including humans. A get blast from a commercial aircraft is so powerful, hot, and undeniably fun! 

Plane spotters have made this spot a fountain for stacking up their portfolio with some immaculate captures of low flying jets with their landing gears hanging down meters above the crowd. In 2019, St. Maarten recorded a footfall of 2 million tourists whose prime intention was a jet blast bath. 

Here is a piece of Advice!

That is true we love the strong breeze of turbine exhale and that is why St. Maarten has topped your bucket list. However, being exposed to a jet blast can cause devastating outcomes as what happened with 57-years old woman who died from a head injury. She was standing against the fence waiting for a jet blast and it pushed her back strenuously and collided with her on a concrete, damaging her head seriously. 

Following this accident, airport authorities imposed few restrictions to mitigate risks from the jet blast and expected to move the fence towards the beach allowing more distance for the blast to travel and dampen. 

Ravens freak0624, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Whatever the situation is, personal safety is paramount. It is always advisable to take calculated risks when you are enjoying Maho beach. All the instructions and notices are there for your safety, do follow them and return with only awesome captures and sweet memories.  

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