Woman Injured by Jet Blast at Maho Beach, St. Maarten [VIDEO]-UPDATE
The warning sign at Maho Beach is pretty clear...
UPDATE – April 10, 2012:
The St Maarten Island Time reported that the girl in the video was taken to the hospital right after the incident with a deep cut to her forehead. We do not know her name or current condition.
A young woman suffered an unknown head injury when she was blown in to the air by the jetblast of an airliner taking off from the famed Princess Juliana Airport on the island of St. Maarten.
Princess Juliana is famous for tourists getting ‘up close and personal’ with jetliners that land right over Maho Beach, where the sand is literally yards away from the beginning of the runway.
Some thrill seekers also grab the fence that separates the beach from the runway and hold on while jets hit the thrust and takeoff. The resulting ‘jetblast’ can literally blow you off your feet if you’re not strong enough to hold on.
In the video below, you’ll see that a young woman attempts to ‘ride the jetblast’, as it’s sometimes referred to, and she is literally blown in to a curb head first by a JetBlue A320.
The video is dated April 4th, but we cannot confirm. We also do not know the woman’s condition, but if anyone has any information on her condition, please comment below…
VIDEO:
Image: Flickr [puroticorico]
*Sigh* Why must people forget to put their brain on…..?? We obviously hope she’s ok.
Category: Airnation
Comments (20)
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Video: Airplane's Jetblast Blows Woman Headfirst into Curb | NewsFeed | TIME.com | April 9, 2012
- St. Maarten Airport Looking to Stop Thrill-Seekers at Maho Beach | April 13, 2012
- KLM 747 In-Cabin Takeoff at St. Maarten [VIDEO] | April 16, 2012
She actually died from head trauma.
Hi Allen,
Is there any way to verify this? We haven’t found anything.
That’s b.s. and you know it.
That’s shocking. She should have not gone that close in first place. And the mistake she made was letting herself go while the blast intensified. She should have held onto the fence.
I guess some people think a jumbo jetliner puts out a nice, gentle breeze. I’m sure this girl now knows otherwise…
To me it seems she got scared and was hesitating if she should follow the guy and let the fence go, or should keep hanging on. She decided to let the fence go in the worst moment. I was looking for articles in hope to learn about her condition, this is the first article that actually seems to care and asks that very question. I hope Allen is wrong.
Icegrapefruit,
First off…that’s the best internet handle ever! :)
Exactly what I thought, she hesitated and that’s what made her lose her balance once the pilot really leaned on the thrusters.
It’s been next to impossible to get any info on her but I’m sure it will get out sooner or later. I’ve heard that she’s ok but we can’t confirm that…it’s just hearsay.
I too expect to read something about her, sooner or later. :) I was wondering how the airport and the city lets that beach be there at all, authorities typically hate playgrounds like that, but some people say that no tourist would go to St. Maarten if not for the planes, and they know it. Geez, I would go, too, did I have the money.
Icegrapefruit, fist off, no one put the beach there. 2nd, tourist dont come to st maarten just because of the planes. You need to do a little research before you utter nonesense. Why you think people go to the island Anguilla near by? They dont have airports like that.
I read in the ST martin newspaper online that the airport authorities are going to deal with the situation that exists there, and also the young woman did not die she had injuries but nothing life threatening
Taking out the concrete retainer she hit her head on would seem to me to be the obvious choice.
That’s a good idea although I think they want to separate the cars from the beach.
They could also “give citations” to people who want to hang on the fence with proceeds going to a medical fund.
It takes severe injury or death to wake up numbskull authorities..
Now they are awake…so..the beach will be patrolled or restricted..
Have operated out of this airport many times…This aircraft began it’s take-off run much closer to the fence than is usual, and..it is a requirement to use maximum take-off thrust because of the 1300′ ridge just beyond the end of the runway.
Heaven knows how many hats we blew off..or worse… with our B767!
It’s a really short takeoff, right Martin? Would you say it’s unsafe…too short?
St. Maarten is not too short. The restriction is a required right turn after lift-off to avoid the mountain. The higher the better in case an engine quits.
As with most islands in the Caribbean, the authorities leave people to govern themselves accordingly using common sense. I like it that way. Then stupid tourists do stupid things and everyone calls for a nanny state. That sucks.
That girl running towards her has a nice ass…..