Yes, a jet blast at Maho Beach killed a 57-year-old New Zealand tourist on July 12, 2017. She was clinging to the perimeter fence at Princess Juliana International Airport when the thrust from a departing Boeing 737 threw her backward into a concrete barrier or rocks.
Local authorities told ABC News this was the first jet-blast death in the airport’s roughly 50-year history. But “dozens” of non-fatal injuries had been reported before, and police keep no official count.
- Maho Beach is in Sint Maarten — and the approach path is the attraction
- Maho Beach planes landing: the spectacle still overrides the signs
- The injury trail is better documented than the reform trail
- After the death: a second fence and a missing no-change declaration
- Why Hartmann v. Princess Juliana still sets the legal floor
- What this means for you
- Key terms
Maho Beach sits in Sint Maarten, on the Dutch side of the island, directly beneath the final approach path at Princess Juliana International Airport. The runway fence stands just 50 to 60 meters from the sand. That proximity made this beach one of the most photographed plane-spotting spots on earth.
And it is still a place where people get hurt. What happened after the 2017 death is not a tidy story of barriers installed and rules enforced. It is a patchwork: a second fence, warning signs, an awareness campaign, and no formal record that anyone ever redesigned the risk.
The gap itself is the story.
Maho Beach is in Sint Maarten — and the approach path is the attraction
Maho Beach belongs to the Dutch side of St. Maarten/Sint Maarten, a Caribbean island split between French Saint-Martin and Dutch Sint Maarten. The airport’s runway threshold sits close enough that arriving jets pass low over the sand. On departure, engine thrust blasts across the fence line.
Permanent signs circle the perimeter and warn beachgoers to stay away from the fence whenever planes take off or land. Local authorities say tourists routinely ignore them. The thrill of standing close to a jet engine is, for many, the entire point.
Around 2012, the airport itself described the existing measures as “double fencing, warning signs, and brightly painted guardrails.” That was before the fatality — and before the current secondary fence.
Maho Beach planes landing: the spectacle still overrides the signs
Ask anyone at the Sunset Bar and they’ll tell you the same thing: people still grab the fence. Travel notes from 2025 and 2026 describe visitors packing the fence line for takeoffs, some reaching toward the engine blast despite the signs and a secondary barrier. People are still knocked backward by thrust, and security turns up only occasionally.
A 2026 traveler description notes a warning sign on the runway-side fence and a secondary fence behind it. Anyone clinging to the older fence would now be blown into barbed wire. That detail gets shared as a warning, but it also reads like a dare.
The official response has not been closure or a redesigned safe zone. Instead, in late 2025 the Prosecutor’s Office and Civil Aviation Authority launched the Openbaar Ministerie “Respect the Sky – Fly Safe, Stay Safe” campaign. Its stated aim is to preserve the Maho Beach experience while urging visitors to avoid dangerous behavior near aircraft.
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The injury trail is better documented than the reform trail
Before the fatality, Maho Beach had already produced serious non-fatal injuries. In 2012, a young woman was slammed against a concrete barrier by jet blast from an incoming JetBlue aircraft and badly hurt. ABC News coverage from the same period described a teenage girl with a deep head gash and another teen tourist who broke a leg after being lifted by the blast.
Police have no official number for injuries at Maho Beach. Specific cases exist. A formal tally does not.
On July 12, 2017, a 57-year-old New Zealand tourist was clinging to the perimeter fence when the thrust from a departing Boeing 737 threw her backward. Her head hit a concrete barrier or rocks. Rolando Brison, Sint Maarten’s director of tourism, confirmed it was the first jet-blast death in the airport’s roughly 50-year history.
After the death: a second fence and a missing no-change declaration
Travel Radar reported in 2022 that a second fence went up a few meters behind the original after the fatality. Locals said it does little to stop fence-riding. Accessible government and airport records do not document a jet-blast safety redesign after July 2017.
No public record establishes that daily police patrols resumed after Hurricane Irma and COVID-19. Sint Maarten’s official releases and the airport’s public statements, as far as they are accessible through 2026, never explicitly say that no jet-blast-related infrastructure changes came after the death. That missing no-change declaration is itself a documented gap.
Why Hartmann v. Princess Juliana still sets the legal floor
In 2000, KLM‘s jet thrust threw Swiss national Hartmann onto a concrete block, causing serious harm. Her lawsuit led to the Dutch Supreme Court’s 2004 “Jet Blast Decision.” The court said on-site warnings were not enough because they had not effectively changed how visitors behaved.
That ruling made actual deterrence the legal touchstone. It still applies to a beach where travelers ignore signs to get close to the engines. The signs exist. The behavior persists.
What this means for you
If you visit Maho Beach, assume the warning signs are not a safety system. They are part of the scenery. The physical barrier is stronger than it was in 2017, but people are still knocked backward by takeoff thrust, and security appears only occasionally.
Sint Maarten does carry criminal penalties for endangering air traffic. Intentionally causing danger, including throwing objects toward an aircraft, can lead to up to fifteen years imprisonment or a fine of about USD 55,555. Negligent conduct carries up to one year or about USD 13,873.
The risk profile has not been formally redesigned. A campaign called Respect the Sky is the current management tool, but it works only if visitors choose to obey.
Key terms
- Jet blast
- Jet blast is the high-velocity exhaust thrust produced by aircraft engines during takeoff or landing. At Maho Beach, departing aircraft direct this force across the fence line and onto the sand. The 2017 fatality occurred when a Boeing 737’s jet blast threw a tourist backward into a concrete barrier or rocks.
- Princess Juliana International Airport
- Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport serving Sint Maarten, with its runway threshold located close to Maho Beach. The airport’s runway fence stands just 50 to 60 meters from the sand, placing beachgoers directly beneath arriving and departing aircraft. The airport described its safety measures around 2012 as double fencing, warning signs, and brightly painted guardrails.
- Jet Blast Decision
- The Jet Blast Decision is the Dutch Supreme Court’s 2004 ruling in Hartmann v. Princess Juliana International Airport. The court held that on-site warnings were insufficient because they had not effectively changed visitor behavior. The ruling established actual deterrence as the legal standard that still applies to jet-blast injuries at Maho Beach.
- Respect the Sky
- Respect the Sky – Fly Safe, Stay Safe is a safety-awareness campaign launched by Sint Maarten’s Prosecutor’s Office and Civil Aviation Authority in late 2025. The campaign aims to preserve the Maho Beach experience while urging visitors to avoid dangerous behavior near aircraft. It represents the current management approach to jet-blast risk at the beach.
Questions? Answers.
How low do planes fly over Maho Beach?
The final approach brings aircraft low over the sand. Warning signs sit on the runway-side fence, and a secondary fence stands behind it. The airport has described the setup as double fencing, warning signs, and brightly painted guardrails.
Are non-fatal jet-blast injuries at Maho Beach officially counted?
No. Police in Sint Maarten have no official number of how many injuries have occurred at Maho Beach. Local authorities have described “dozens” of injuries over the years, but that figure is approximate and not formally tracked.
What legal consequences can follow from intentionally endangering aircraft near Princess Juliana Airport?
Under Sint Maarten’s Penal Code, intentionally causing danger to air traffic — including throwing objects toward an aircraft — can lead to up to fifteen years imprisonment or a fine up to XCG 100,000 (about USD 55,555).
Has Sint Maarten’s government or the airport explicitly confirmed that no infrastructure changes were made after 2017?
No. No publicly accessible Sint Maarten government or airport record explicitly states that no jet-blast-related infrastructure changes were made at Maho Beach after the 2017 fatality.
