St. Maarten's Airport:

[newsmike]

Everyday, every flight. Simply amazing.

 

[smashradio]

I'm a bit of a plane geek, and what fascinates me the most, is how stupid people are. 

 

[newsmike]

46 minutes ago, smashradio said:

I'm a bit of a plane geek, and what fascinates me the most, is how stupid people are. 

 

Yeah, gotta be really healthy to breathe that in. 

Edited June 3, 2023 by newsmike

[smashradio]

10 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Yeah, gotta be really healthy to breath that in. 

I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning. 

[newsmike]

That must be line smoking 300 cigarettes at once. 

[filipdevaere]

Is this the place where the angry and dissatisfied sellers take the plane to leave Fiverr?

[catwriter]

10 hours ago, smashradio said:

what fascinates me the most, is how stupid people are. 

Perhaps they just happen to enjoy the experience? The excitement? Whatever? People can be weird...

[smashradio]

4 hours ago, catwriter said:

Perhaps they just happen to enjoy the experience? The excitement? Whatever? People can be weird...

I'm sorry, but you lost me at "enjoy the experience". 🤣

I mentioned I'm a bit of a plane geek, so here goes my sciency reason for calling it stupid: 

The jet blast coming out of those engines is powerful enough to move a vehicle or even other aircraft, and in some cases, it has damaged buildings (!) and yes, people have died, including a tourist at... Guess where... Maho Beach in St. Maarten's. She was blown away by a jet blast from a departing aircraft and hit her head against some concrete.

Not a nice way to go.

Three people died back in 2008 when a Boeing 747 – the same type of aircraft in the Youtube video I attached – took off from Bogota in Colombia. The jet blast from a previous plane was enough to dislodge several concrete slabs from the runway, and they got ingested by the engine of a second plane. 

If you're not sent flying with the risk of death by concrete, you get to enjoy a nice, fresh blend of hydrocarbons and harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides, causing potential respiratory issues, eye irritation, headache, and nausea. 

Sources for further reading about this fun activity can be found at: 

Jet blast - Wikipedia

Jet Efflux Hazard | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

How Far Should You Taxi Behind A Jet? | Boldmethod

Jet fuel - Wikipedia

A review of aviation turbine fuel chemical composition-property relations - ScienceDirect

 

[leannelrivers]

15 hours ago, newsmike said:

Yeah, gotta be really healthy to breathe that in. 

On the estates where I grew up in the '80s and 90s, this would have been considered good clean fun. "Go and play with the cars on the motorway." Times have changed.