The Famous St. Martin Airplane Landing (VIDEO)
Have you ever heard of the famous airplane landing in St. Martin? Maybe some of you have seen that famous photo of the KLM airplane above Maho Beach and thought to yourself how crazy it may seem. Well let me assure you, it’s pretty crazy and badass!
The St. Martin infamous airplane landing has been a bucket list item of mine for a while and I’m sure others too. I never really knew when I was going to actually make this happen, but I knew it was something I had to see and do. Oddly enough, I actually got to see the famous plane landing on my recent trip to Anguilla. My plane landed at St. Martin and then I took a ferry to Anguilla because it’s much cheaper to fly into St. Martin and then go to Anguilla. (For more on that read: How To Get To Anguilla – The Caribbean)
For those of you who don’t know St. Martin has one of the coolest and craziest airplane landing in the world. Since St. Martin isn’t a big island at all, the airport’s landing strip is right off the beach. Many visitors actually come to St. Martin especially to get a front row seat on Maho Beach to enjoy a tan and hang out at the beach while planes land literally above their heads. As a side note, St. Martin is definitely a party island, even at Maho Beach you can find a pretty good amount of bars right on the beach (for all you party animals out there).
On the left you have a photo from google maps of Maho Beach, it’s a pretty tiny beach and on your right, you can see just how thin and small the landing strip actually is. Whoever thought of creating Maho Beach was a pure genius, clearly.
It’s pretty crazy just how close you can actually get to the fence of the airport! It’s literally less than 10 feet away from the beach.
Many travelers say that when they have visited the beach during a big plane landing, that they can actually feel the heat from the engines! Some have even said they have burnt their hair! lol so be careful!
I had no idea just how many planes actually land a day at the famous St. Martin, Princess Juliana International Airport. It turns out, a lot! In the hour that I spent there, I got to see 12 planes land above my head. Most were small planes or private jets and some were much bigger, but it honestly amazed me just how many planes actually land on such a small island in just an hour. I also had no idea just how packed and crazy this little beach can get. Even on an overcast day, this beach is PACKED!
So what better way of explaining just how badass this experience really is than by showing you actual footage! So here is my video experience of the entire thing.
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