Tourist films plane’s descent just metres above packed Caribbean beach

By Rose Troup Buchanan From The Independent

Paul Luning recorded the footage on Saint Martin island – known for it’s airports close proximity to the beach

A plane spotter has recorded extraordinary footage of a low-flying aeroplane’s descent just metres above tourists on a packed Caribbean beach.

Paul Luning visited the Caribbean island of Saint Martin in February. While there he visited Maho Beach, made famous for its close proximity to Princess Juliana International Airport.

In the slow-motion footage captured by Mr Luning, a large aircraft can be seen serenely gliding in to land, seemingly grazing the heads of holiday-makers on the beach.

He later posted the video on Instagram, where it has been liked almost 3,000 times.

Writing on the photograph-sharing site, Mr Luning, who claims that visiting Maho Beach has always been on his “bucket list”, commenting: “It’s as crazy as it looks – planes landing just feet from a public beach.”

Known to plane spotters the world over, planes arriving at the airport are forced into an unusually low descent due to the short length of runway, approximately 2,300 metres, available.

Although the video shows the sunnier side of daily life at the airport, there is a small danger of people being blown into the water from outgoing aircrafts’ jet blasts.

For more on this story and video go to: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/tourist-films-planes-descent-just-metres-above-packed-caribean-beach-10088082.html