Maho Beach is a beach situated in St Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles, on the Dutch side of the island. The place is known worldwide because of Princess Juliana International Airport that is situated adjacent to the beach.

Maho Beach (Image credit: sunsetbeachbar).

Incoming air traffic have to touch down as close as possible to the beginning of runway 09 due to the short runway length of 2,180 metres/7,152 ft,^[1], resulting in very low altitude aircraft on their final approach over the beach.

The local government warns that approaching too close of departing aircraft can “result in seriousinjury and/or death.”

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An additional fence has been added recently behind the runway 09 to prevent irresponsible tourists from hanging on to the main fence surrounding the runway to be “blasted” by the aircraft engines flow.

The beach itself is white sand and has little to none vegetation because of the jet blast erosion. The Caravanserai Resort, the popular Sunset Beach Bar and other restaurants/night clubs such as Bamboo Bernies and Bliss are located nearby. Watching airplanes over the beach is such a popular activity that daily arrivals and departures airline timetables are displayed on a board in most of bars and restaurants.