Yes, it also is one of the steepest approaches in the US as there is a 7 story parking structure planes must land over. Better yet, there used to be a bar named The Windsock that was at the beginning of the runway. You could go outside and sit on the patio and watch the planes land and take-off. You were literally on the runway (about 10 feet up). They shot the scene in the movie Top Gun where Tom Cruise is drinking ice water at the bar after Goose dies. They had little plaques on the bar where Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis (sp?) sat. Pretty funny. But, there are thrust deflectors that redirect the thrust from the jet engines up into the air. Still very, very loud. And I blieve SM's theory of lift is correct. I have stood directly under some large jets landing in SD (at the tip of the runway) and did not fly away went they passed overhead. <edit>FYI, looks like it is real. http://www.anniebees.com/Photos/SpottingSaintMaarten.htm</edit>
Crazy! It's a great view from the cockpit with all the boobs lying around. I guess for those ppl on the beaches they should be afraid more of the plane than the sharks p/s flying so low over the beaches, stupid, crazy and fatal. They should either move the blonds, the plane route or the mayor of that city!
Thanks for the cool shots and vids people! Clarity... the wings on an airplane create lift by the angle at which they fly through the air and the speed. When the right match is achieved, they create a high pressure and a low pressure, one above and one below each wing. The first things they taught me in flight school were emergency's and the one I hated the most was "stalling the wings", full throttle stalls. Holy crap, talk about being scared the first time we did it... the instructor actually yelled loudly at me (for the first and last time) "MY CONTROLS". We were heading down in a spiral within a second or two after we stalled the wings. The procedure is to lift the nose of the plane, point it towards the heavens more and more (while at full throttle) until the plane no longer has lift under its wings and you drop, to the left in a spiral towards the ground. Suck-o-la! Anyways, almost had to change my underwear after the first time, but it is easily controlled once you learn what to expect and how to react. Thanks again for all the links. I'm sending a link to this thread to a few buddy's of mine! This forum rocks!!!
FYI: Those pictures are real - I've never been there, but St. Maarten is well known in the aviation community for these pictures. Most of these appear to be shot with a pretty decent telephoto, so that tends to compress things, but yea, the runway is truly right there. Would be wild to see a Airbus A380 land there - that's the double decker from Airbus that recently entered flight testing.