St. Maarten Airport Beachgoer Dies From Jet Blast

[Hikergirl]

You are going to strangle those pearls. Quite the overreaction here.

Sorry to disappoint I don't own any pearls. Like I said up a post I don't really care if people do stupid things like this and kill themselves. Its the modern form of Darwinism.

 

[sam_gordon]

You either know there is a difference between regulated an unregulated activities and you are arguing for the sake of arguing, or you really don't understand the difference. Either way, its not really worth my time to argue or educate you.

I think every person who did or plans to do this activity is stupid. I don't think it should be illegal to do it, I think if people want to do it and risk their safety and their life its totally up to them.

Pardon me for taking offense at you calling me stupid.

 

[NFLDERS]

First, I disagree. I think he was referring to death/injury from people at the beach/hanging on to the fence.
Second, because of this accident (according to the article), officials are debating making it illegal to stand by the fence. I don't think that's needed. If someone dies in a scuba diving accident will they outlaw scuba diving? What if someone dies while paragliding? Outlaw that? Sometimes accidents happen.

Well, I have to question that scuba diving, paragliding, and most adventurous activities are not quite the same as hanging onto a fence, at a beach, while large planes fly over you. Maybe, it's me but, meh... Stupid is as stupid does comes to my mind.

 

[Liberty Belle]

What a stupid thing to die over. I feel for the woman's family, especially if they tried to convince her not to do it.

But really- why the hell do people think the signs are there?

 

[nkereina]

I agree with @sam_gordon that tons of people do this same thing every day and have for a long time, and this is the first death. This was somewhat of a freak incident though, because the way I understand it is the jet blast threw her back into a concrete barrier where she hit her head, which caused the death. It wasn't as if the jet blast itself stopped her breathing. It's all just very unfortunate.

I agree with other posters though too who don't see the appeal. I mentioned up-thread that I witnessed this a few times in April. Not only were bodies on the beach falling over, but everyone was covered in sand and lost their stuff like towels, beach blankets, hats, etc. It's much more fun to watch the planes land than to experience the jet blast, IMO.

 

[robinb]

Unless it's posted elsewhere, I haven't heard any friends or family members of this girl are claiming anyone is responsible other than the girl.

The "girl" was 57 years old.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Wow. I had never heard about this place. It's unbelievable to me that they would have an active runway so close to a public beach. It would freak me out just being on the beach with planes flying over so low!

There is a live webcam you can watch, I enjoy watching it that way.

 

[RedAngie]

OMG, these photos are INCREDIBLE!

Many photos of the planes landing there are a bit exaggerated due to the camera angle. Planes land low, but not THAT low. They're not 10 feet above your head.

It's quite thrilling to watch.....from a distance of about 100 feet or so.

 

[usnuzuloose]

This was a horrible disaster there...

 

[VandVsmama]

A local law is unnecessary. But if the locals on the island want to set up such a law, that is definitely up to them. The island has very large signs with very clear statements warning you that death is possible if you choose to do something really stupid like stand there in the jet blast pathway. I'm really sorry to hear of this tragedy. However, the tourist should have heeded the warning signs.

The island of Maui in Hawaii has a similar danger. Every year, people die at the Nakalele blowhole. There are signs posted there warning people to stay away from the blowhole. But people ignore the warning signs all the time. You can see all sorts of videos on YouTube showing idiot tourists putting themselves in harm's way. There is not much you can really do to prevent someone from doing something really stupid if they really really want to do it.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

This was a horrible disaster there...

Awful tragedy indeed.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Sigh. What about bungee jumpers? I wouldn't do it, but I'm not going to call them stupid. Same with sky divers (I might do that). How many rock climbing deaths have there been? I think there's always a couple a year in my state and we don't have high mountains. I guess those people are stupid?

But I think it was mentioned earlier about the payoff. Does the payoff justify the risk? For me, it doesn't. So I hang on a fence wall and get some jet stream blown into my face, okay, cool???? I could maybe understand hanging back on the beach directly in the line and getting blown into the water, that seems okay and lower risk, but even so.

And by the way, I have skydived, and it's awesome!

 

[kdonnel]

I took my family to Maho beach specifically to get blasted by the planes.

We had a great time but we made sure to stand just to the side and to stay on the beach side so that if we did fall it was not into the wall between the lanes in the center of the road.

Here is my video:

 

[JaxDad]

I hate to admit it, but I would probably be dumb enough to try it. I would have to watch others do it first and closely check out the fence, but yeah, I'd probably do it...

 

[Micca]

Didn't know this was even a thing. I hate sand, I'd never do it. The poor family having to explain how mom/sister/aunt/wife was killed on vacation.

 

[Imzadi]

She made the decision to do it. There are signs posting warning you could die. People die doing stupid things all the time. She took a risk. It didn't work out for her.

I know it was her fault for ignoring the warnings, but I can help but still be sad for her and her family.

While I feel sorry for her family. I don't feel sorry for her. This was a prime example of the Darwin Award in action.

 

[Imzadi]

It's actually really cool. This has been one of my bucket list items and I'm glad I got to do it.

A handful of my pics:

I don't see any photos, either when I use Firefox or Microsoft Edge. Did you link to these the same way from your Google Photos as you said you did in the other thread about Photobucket?

 

[DaisyJ]

I don't see any photos either when I use Firefox or Microsoft Edge. Did you link to these the same way from your Google Photos as you said you did in the other thread about Photobucket?

I don't see any photos, either.

 

[robinb]

I don't see any photos, either.

I see them on my PC.

 

[DaisyJ]

I see them on my PC.

I don't.