International, Media

World’s Most Dangerous Airport

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Although it may look Photoshopped, it’s not. It’s a landing at runway 10 at Princess Juliana International Airport, St. Maarten, in the Netherlands Antilles. The runway is short, 7546 feet, and large, heavy aircraft need every inch, and so touch down as soon as possible. This makes for some hair raising plane spotting for those on the beach.

Here is a video of a 747 landing:

Here is a video of a landing of a 747 as seen from the cockpit. Notice how the plane has to turn around at the end of the runway and taxi back up the runway to reach the turnoff.

You can see other amazing pictures, like this one, here.

It has been designated the World’s Most Dangerous Airport.

H/T: WEIT.

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42 thoughts on “World’s Most Dangerous Airport”

  1. Pingback: Friday Five December 16 « Thoughts on Business and Faith

  2. Jacksonville FL. metro airport, its not the approach or the surroundings that add drama, its the frequent touch-and-goes of the NAS F/A-18s occuring between landings and take-offs…

  3. That photo reminds me of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York for if you are on the Grand Central Parkway leaving LaGuardia or heading to JFK airport and you are not familiar with the area you get that sensation of the planes coming over the Highway.I’m quite sure Mike S. knows what I’m talking about.

  6. Blouise,

    I have to agree that there is nothing comparable to a balloon ride. I’ve only done it once, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

  7. OS,

    I am sorry. I did not know.

    As for her, my prayer is that the glide slope never waver, the ball stay centered and there be no turbulence on her flight to forever….

    Amen

    May the road rise up to meet you.
    May the wind always be at your back.
    May the sun shine warm upon your face,
    and rains fall soft upon your fields.
    And until you(*) meet again,
    May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

    (*slightly altered)

  8. Thank you for that Bud. I agree completely. We lost her in September after a severe fall, breaking several ribs. After 55 years, the rest of us go on alone. As for her, my prayer is that the glide slope never waver, the ball stay centered and there be no turbulence on her flight to forever….

  9. OS,

    YIKES!!!

    I am glad that she exercised her authority and put
    the guy in his place…

    More women ought to do that more often..

  10. Bud, one of the doctors once asked how I dealt with her. That was after the doctor who was Chief of Staff at the hospital where she was a head nurse had said something inappropriate to some of the nurses on her floor. She grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around, grabbed him by the shirt collar and seat of the pants and frog marched him to the elevator. Told him to get the hell off her floor until he learned to talk right to the nurses.

    I told the guy, “Every night when I go to bed, I remind myself that I am married to a woman who is descended from the guy who cut off the head of the King of Scotland……in a church.” She was a MacBeth. Tall, willowy, beautiful and tough as nails. The blood is strong.

  11. “Patient run over by Cessna 337.”

    LOL

    but, if she can shove a 337 around I’d be very very careful
    about what you say to her…

  12. Bud, we were getting the Skymaster out of the hangar one day. I was pulling the right side, and she was on the left. She planted her feet, grabbed the left wing strut and pulled as hard as she could. The plane rolled more easily than she had anticipated and the main gear wheel on her side ran over her foot. She was in a lot of pain, so I ran and got the car, driving on the ramp up to where she was sitting on the ground, alternately crying and swearing.

    I took her to the emergency room where a good friend, also a pilot, was the doctor on duty. Fortunately nothing was broken, but she had an impressive bruise. When I got the discharge sheet, I saw he had written as the reason for the ER visit, “Patient run over by Cessna 337.”

  15. OS,

    Let me guess, after the Duchess she said
    that she would like a DUKE????

    And that’s where you put your foot down!!!
    LOL

  16. Bud, I once wrote a magazine article reviewing the Cardinal. One of my final comments was that the big door was so wide, and the plane sits so low to the ground, that a lady wearing a skirt can get in and out and remain a lady, even on a windy day.

    My wife liked the Cardinal doors better than the Skymaster, which has a smaller door and is a lot higher off the ground. We went to look at a Beechcraft Duchess, but she vetoed the Duchess after having to climb up on the wing and then step down into the cabin.

  17. Blouise, this account is not going to help one bit, but in that story I mentioned my first flight instructor a very long time ago. He had been a P-51 fighter pilot. He lost a leg after being shot down over the French Alps. He was not injured when he was shot down and bailed out, but his parachute did not open. He said it “streamered” which means it failed to open and was more or less a long ribbon trailing behind him as a streamer. He landed on a very steep mountainside in deep snow and went tumbling down the mountain. He would have just gone “splat” if he had hit a flat area, but hitting on a near vertical mountainside got him slowed down. He lost his leg from hitting rocks and trees on his way down the hillside. He said the Germans took good care of him medically after their surgeons amputated his mangled leg. While in the hospital Hermann Goering himself came to shake his hand. He said Goering congratulated him on his survival and hoped that some of his good luck would rub off. It is a funny thing. Fighter pilots tend to value chivalry and of course Goering was an ace fighter pilot in WW-I. If you are an airman, there is a strange kind of fellowship even among enemies.

    However, the good luck obviously did not rub off.

  20. Is their a history of accidents and or incidents there? I have several acquaintances who live there and they have never mentioned any problems. MD

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