Here is a video of a 747 landing in St. Maarten. This must be one of the scarier places to land. It has a short runway and there is a beach right infront of the beginning of the runway.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marta,

Marta,

Actually, we never found it that scary - or no more so than landing at San Francisco, and we landed at the old Princess Juliana airport at least ten times. We haven't been to the new airport yet, though. It opened several months ago and is much bigger, with longer runways which aren't right on the beach.

This one did come in very low, however, right over a famous beach bar. What's much scarier, though quite safe, is landing at nearby Saba. Check it out, and you'll see why. It looks like you're heading straight for the mountain top until the Vietnam-era aircraft suddenly plunges right down onto the runway. We flew from SXM there and back once. Quite an experience!

Ann

Good point Ann. I can see how from the 747 it wouldn't be too different from SF. It's just the people on the beach that have the scary view. Here's the Saba Landing Ann links to:

The landing that I found the scariest was in Tegucigalpa Honduras. It is set in a bowl of mountains and has a short runway. Plus I know of at least plane wreck involving the landing/take off. I'm going to change this thread title to Airport Landings.

Incidentally, since it's now not obvious with the change in the name of this thread, the video Marta first posted is of a landing at (the old) airport in St. Maarten, N.A.

Actually, people were constantly being cautioned not to stand on that strip of sand between the water and the airport fence, but it was one of those supposedly adventurous things that younger people, especially, liked to do. More than a few folks had been injured over the years by a strong downdraft from a plane coming in for a landing.

Ann

Crikey, I'm enjoying this thread! We played the first one a few times today during rainy lunch time, on the big Smartboard screen.

I remember landing at Mackay airport in north Queensland when I was a teenager, and we had to go round again while they shooed the kangaroos off the landing strip.