WAY TOO LOW!
 

How insane would that have been to be standing by the fence. That must have been the biggest rush ever!!!!!
One of those photos you just stare at in amazement. Simply awesome!!

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

yeah that happens daily in St. Maartin

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Just right! What a rush!

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Search "St Maarten Landing" (or something similar) on YouTube and watch the real deal - if you think your pic is nutz wait til you see the videos :D

tks1

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

More pictures like this and many, many, many more , including Military, from all over the world can be seen at www.airliners.net.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

I have flown in and out of SXM many times and it is pretty fun. The takeoff (from a pilots point of view) is more fun because you take off towards a mountain which requires you to make a quick turn to the right immediately after takeoff. On the other hand, the folks on the ground enjoy take offs as well because they will hang onto the fence at the end of the runway and get blasted by the exhaust from the departing jet's engines. There is a YouTube video of some folks betting blasted with 747 jet wash as it takes off. It's pretty funny.

Beave

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

I love the looks of the airliners coming in to land and also taking off but is it just me or.....maybe there shouldn't be an airport right there? ehehehheh

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Talk about free entertainment![sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]
I could watch that 24/7/365 while sippin' my drinks!

SJ:D

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

SXM is an easy, safe airport to get into and out of. I found these pics online that give a good idea what it's like.

Beave

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Wow.

I thought that pic was photoshopped at first! That's gotta be something to experience.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

I just wish the water was greener! ehheheheh...

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Yeah, I know they come in low there, but this one is crazy.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

I have heard that they had to replace the fence at the approch end of the runway a couple of times, but no major problems happened.

Gene

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

SXM Easy ???

It's easy huh?

Have you ever landed a Jumbo jet there ??

Not as easy as U might think. While the Runway is 7500 foot terrain at the end is not fun on a Go Around.

Here is a Quote from a website on the TNCM field.

The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres/7,152 ft,[6] which is barely enough for heavy jets. Because of this, the planes approach the island flying extremely low, right over Maho Beach. Countless photos of large jets flying at 10--20 m/30-60 ft over relaxing tourists at the beach have been dismissed as photoshopped many times, but are nevertheless real. For this reason as well it has become a favourite for planespotters. Landings on runway 27 are prohibited for the large jet types because of the huge cliff behind it[7].

Ian

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Ian,

Easy? Yes it is. Actually, all of my landings and take offs have been in one of the four types of aircraft that are pictured above. Ever been there? The veggie sandwiches upstairs are to die for!

Beave [&:]

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Hey Beave, Did you ever here anything about the picture I posted? I thought I read somewhere the pilot was suspended for 30 days. What would have been the reason for the low pass.... maybe some are trying for the "lowest" pic award.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

that would be an amazing sight. I ll stay there all day

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Well the problem lies in the fact that no matter how big the jet is, it is still certified to land here, just like everywhere else and with the same technique. Nobody is supposed to land short or knock fences down or whatever. Any landing on a dry runway, as certified and flown by the numbers, is supposed to be able to cross the landing threshold at 50 feet, land about seven seconds later downfield while at Vref and come to a stop with max braking and spoilers - without the aid of reverse - then they have a pad on top of that by a fair margin built in as extra runway required for the natural unforseen variances in pilot teqnique, runway condition and aircraft. In reality they can use reverse thrust for more pad on top of what you get anyhow. It isn't any different than anywhere elese except that some guys psyche themselves out into thinking they can't do it based on what it looks like at the last minute, and they think a low approach will give them wiggle room. Or in this case what you see is the result of a downdraft or something else that wasn't planned for - don't know cause I wasn't there.

It is a self fulfilling prophecy though. Most times, empiracly speaking, when guys come in low they land longer than they planned and fast - and by the very virtue of the physics they take up more room then they really needed if they crossed the landing threshold on speed at 50 feet. By the way, the end of the chevron painted black top in the pic isn't the landing threshold. The landing threshold is well beyond that, so they were - WAY TOO LOW ;) That's why they probably got time off, if in fact that isn;t just a flight ops urban legend [:'(]

Cool pics though

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

IF, repeat IF, that KLM 744 really did go that low then the commander should have been sacked, period, because he showed crassly poor, dangerous, airmanship. I doubt if this really did happen after KLM's accident at Tenerife north with the PA 747.

Just look at that wheel clearance, distance from start of paved surface, and the displaced threshold markers. No, its surely Photoshop or similar. !

Never been to SXM but Salzburg is very similar with a huge granite mountain facing you on landing !

Regards,

David Gladwin.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Phil,

No, I never heard anything about that. It's interesting that even that the runway is 7500' long, guys duck low on the PAPI trying to land on brick one. Maybe if you took off at 900,000# (which you probably would not be doing at SXM) and had to make a quick return you would be in trouble but at normal landing weights you are good to go in pretty much any jet. There is no under or over run areas which lead to concern (which really should not be unless something goes wrong) but as it has been said "It's far better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it".

Beave

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Tell me on which airline pilots "duck low on the papis to land on brick one". I'll make sure I never fly with them, its a cowboy operation which may not undertand stable approaches ! ! !

Regards, David Gladwin.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

KLM for starters...

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

There are loads of videos of St Maarten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfQw...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwWGw...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzyds...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTLGsEErWJY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7s26...elated&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAPjO...elated&search=


And one from the cockpit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmDu...elated&search=
Plus a take-off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CylQK...elated&search=

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

Nope. Its a real photo, no doctoring of any kind. In fact it is one of the lowest landings caught on film at that airport.

RE: WAY TOO LOW!
 

I can´t believe they let people stand there. I live on a tiny island and Aeronautical authorities have a fit if you stand in that area of the airstrip and the biggest plane we get here is a Dash 7


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dELCFmFAacI

Pedro