It's really time that people take responsibility for themselves. 

Crazy that whenever someone is irresponsible/being a dumb_ss, people are quick to blame others for their stupidity....

13 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

 That's is not a proper location for either the airport or the beach. I assume that the Dutch government wants to have it's cake (the airport) and eat it too (the beach). It's a question of safety. It's bad enough that Beacon Hill  Road is there also.

Completely disagree.    Although I have sympathy for the death of the person, people who go to St Maarten and particularly the beach are MORE than aware of the risks, make their own risk assessment and decide to take the risk.  The ultimate risk is, of course - death.  This has always been the case at St Maarten, so the nonsense of now calling the location of the airport and the beach 'improper' is ludicrous.    Statistically, considering the risks involved, I'd say it's extremely safe.  

St Maarten is a very anomalous airport and has always been that way.  As usual, the govt. are blamed everytime an idiot (while knowing the risks) happens to take the risk and be killed. With all due respect, the govt wanting to have its cake and eat it too - what on earth does that mean in this context?  Do we maybe need to relocate Skiathos too?

This sign isn't big enough obviously...

4 hours ago, Wobbie said:

It's really time that people take responsibility for themselves. 

Crazy that whenever someone is irresponsible/being a dumb_ss, people are quick to blame others for their stupidity....

Well said. Nowadays, the mother of ever-bigger-government supporters is always pregnant.

As Javiz  pointed out above, the blame is on the Dutch-side government, not the federal government  of the Netherlands. My apologies.

No, the blame is on the person that was stupid enough to ignore the warnings. There comes a point in time where we as adults need to take responsibility for our own actions. And standing directly behind a commercial jet applying full thrust is one of those actions. Not only was there warning signs, but common sense also tells us not to do something as dumb as that.

 

Harsh on the victim? Maybe. But it's truthful. RIP to her, but it's her own fault. I feel sorry for her family and friends.

8 hours ago, Javiz said:

 

Like Alan's suggestion it probabely has all to do with local Big Kahonas who see this ridiculous situation as a free tourist attraction. 

Im sure you are right, that beach is my reason for wanting to visit st maarten vs some of the other islands.  And personally I dont see anything wrong with that, its fun, its a one of a kind attraction.  If you use common sense theres nothing wrong with it.

The first time an aircraft lands short and drags a main landing gear truck through a crowd of tourists on the beach in what should be an off-limits clearway, the mea culpa and blame will flow like lava to the sea.  Allowing people that close to the threshold where landing aircraft pass directly overhead only 50 ft up on a good approach is patently unsafe, jet blast issues aside.  Clearly, safety is not a priority for the officials running the place...not that opportunities for liquored-up tourists to eliminate themselves from the gene pool are all that limited anywhere.

Regards

As human beings, if we were to be totally protected from anything risky then we wouldn't bother getting out of bed lest we stub our little toe. The world shouldn't have an infinite supply of metaphorical cotton wool and bubble wrap.

St. Maarten's on my bucket list to get a Darwin award for standing under an approaching airliner :) (just my luck to be under the one dragging it's main bogie through the fence!), but not for expecting to be able to hang on to a fence whilst being blasted by a hot wind powerful enough to flip over large vehicles.

Each to their own. Most of us like to take risks, or rather risks that we perceive as enjoyable. Running into a burning building to save a person or animal is a risk, but in no way enjoyable, for example. However, in the same way that we are all different individuals, so are the types of risks many and varied, that we humans want to take.

 

@Jan - thanks for pointing out the distinction between local and Federal Netherlands government.  Explains why, when I decide to bail, the top of my list is Curaçao - would rather be under your federal umbrella.

Question for the advocates of risk-taking - is it unfair that other airports build the perimeter so far from the runways?  Why not argue that they all ought to move the fences right up against the blast shield?  Better still, get rid of the fences altogether!  Just put up warning signs and let people wander around the airport grounds.  A handy way to reduce the surplus population!

Um, firefighting, not quite equivalent to self-destructive tourist stupidity.  Social good, and like that.

I am against the entire concept of when someone dies we have to regulate and bubble wrap everything. She was a Kiwi, and lived a Kiwi's life, they jump off cliffs into oceans, bungie jump over big canyons, jump out of airplanes, jump over waterfalls, pretty much anything insane they do it, and yes they die doing it all the time. 

She wanted to experience jet blast and died doing it? Sounds to me like another thrill seeking kiwi died doing something outrages, happens all the time. We don't change policy in New Zealand when someone dies doing something outrages, the next person is free to experience the thrill right after if they want to.

 

I think the huge warning signs on both sides cover any liability claims (i.e., being blown off the fence and into a cement wall; rocks, sand, and other objects being blown into ones body or knocking out one or both eyes, etc.).  I believe, if the airport and/or authorities did not put up the sign, they would be liable, much like a school zone or speed limit warnings.  They cannot have law enforcement authorities there all of the time to enforce any rules on signs.  So, think the best solution would be to raise the blast shield or place a blast shield near the runway.  It could be raised by the control tower during takeoffs and lowered for landings much like some barriers built to thwart terrorist attacks on buildings or entries into sensitive areas (i.e., a steel barrier would pop up).  My two-cents.  Still, unbelievable more people have not died.  I'm sure there must have been many serious injuries over the years.

Best regards,

Jim

Its unfortunate that it had to happen this way but I think more people will think twice about hanging on that fence during a takeoff after this incident.......for a little while anyway.

 

Ted

How many people drown on the island every year? Are we going to stop people from swimming just because someone might drown?

Let them hold onto that fence if they want to, the fact that someone died makes it even more of a thrill for the thrill seeker 

7 hours ago, Matthew Kane said:

I am against the entire concept of when someone dies we have to regulate and bubble wrap everything. She was a Kiwi, and lived a Kiwi's life, they jump off cliffs into oceans, bungie jump over big canyons, jump out of airplanes, jump over waterfalls, pretty much anything insane they do it, and yes they die doing it all the time. 

She wanted to experience jet blast and died doing it? Sounds to me like another thrill seeking kiwi died doing something outrages, happens all the time. We don't change policy in New Zealand when someone dies doing something outrages, the next person is free to experience the thrill right after if they want to.

 

Completely agree with Matthew here.There's only so much you can/should do to protect people from themselves. People make bad decisions every day - bad investment decisions, bad life decisions, bad extreme activity decisions.  Some of those bad investment/life decisions have ruined people for life.  ###### happens.  It's the law of the randomness of life.  How is that less tragic than this incident?  One death at St Maarten and suddenly the entire world's newspapers are filled with over sensationalized claptrap about how unsafe it all is.  What absolute bollocks.  Life is unsafe by nature.

 But I'm a fellow antipodean. Maybe we see things the same way.