This was taken by my wife last week in St. Maarten. There is a great little bar right on the beach at the end of the runway that's a great place to see the planes landing. Jeff.

great picture! I am heading there in july myself. Thanks for the info. Did you find any good smoke shops?

keith

There is a shop that sells its own bran called the cigar factory at the dock where the cruise ships come in
I picked up a couple there that were not half bad

Also head to orient beach ... no planes but the views are much more spectacular

And corona is sold by the bucket so you can use it to throw up in when your done LOL

That has to be annoying when the planes fly over like that. I cant imagine that being a popular part of the beach

Just got back from St. Maarten 3 months ago. Dawn Beach is beautiful! It is definately a great place to relax. Cigar shops are all over. Just keep your eyes open and you can surely not miss.
What beach is this? I didnt know that planes flew that low near any beach on the island! That must be a unique experience for sure!

I just recently got back myself... was there over the holidays.

I dig that sunset bar... right there man!

YEAH BABY!

PT 🙂

American Airlines flys a 757 in there regularily. It's really cool when the other airlines fly their 747's in. They literally are at treetop level over the beach and people that are crazy enough to stand under them be strewn about by the jet blast. It's even worse when they take off from the beach side of the runway and blow people 30 feet into the water. Always good for a few laughs.

St Maarten and the old Kai Tek airport in Hong Kong are great for airplane lovers.

Here's a link to some great videos of aircraft at these airports.

http://www.simradar.com/Feature/Misc_Videos/Misc_Real_Footage/index.html 

Oh, by the way......the beach is great too!

Looks like the plane is going to land ON the beach.

Lost my top at Dawn beach...we keep going back to look for it!


:)

Marla

It's probably "Wake Turbulence" that causes those "Jet Blasts" upon landing, Adroomi. The engines are likely at idle at that point.

That's just the wake (like a boat) that the wings create when low, slow and dirty (flaps and slats).

When landing a light aircraft after an airliner, ATC will warn "Caution, Wake Turbulence." If there's a light, quartering tailwind, it'll blow the wake down the runway centerline and flip ya' right quick. Not something to fool around with.

Aerodynamics lesson for the day.

Cool shot, BTW!

I was on my way to being drunk two nights ago when I opened this picture... I looked at it for a second, laughed a little, than got off the internet. You can imagine my surprise when I opened this picture and found out that what I saw two nights ago is the same as what I see now.

shocked me, I had to sit down for a second.

Country

Vfr, there is a La Casa Del Habano on front street (where the cruise ships come in) Prices are a bit high because of the cruise passengers. There is also a LCDH in Marigot, The French capital as well as a Davidoff store. The prices at LCDH were also a bit high, they also use the Euro so the exchange rate leaves a bit to be desired. I did not manage to get to the Davidoff store, it appears the siesta was actually invented by the French. The stores are open from about 8:00 am till noon and then again from about 2:30-7:00 or 8:00. A lot of the also sell Cuban? cigars right next to the fake Oakleys, Fake watches and fake Gucci handbags. The wife of the couple that we were with could not understand why I would'nt buy thier cigars. The best buy on the island was Liquor, a liter of Absolut for under $6.00. If you drink bring extra luggage. Jeff.

Oops seems like I must be on my way to bieng drunk as well. That should read a lot of the other shops also sell... Jeff..

Jimmys the beach is at Maho bay. Just to help anyone who may be heading that way in the near future, we were there from 1-29 till 2-5, KLM is currently flying a 747 in but not everyday, and Air France is flying a airbus A-340 widebody in daily. These are really incredible coming in low over the beach like this. They are scheduled to arrive at 3:00 and 3:10 in the afternoon. The sunset beach bar has a chalkboard where they post arriving flight info and also has outdoor speakers that are on the control towers channel so you can hear the tower and pilots. Jeff.