Viewpoint: Daredevil Pilots Have No Place In Business Aviation

St. Maarten, we have a problem.

The end of the runway at Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM) is too close to the beach and while this makes for some beautiful photography, it is a recipe for disaster.  If in the future we have an aircraft crash, injuries, or loss of life, I think a sane accident investigator will come up with four guilty parties.

Daredevil Pilots.  You might argue that the 50-ft. Threshold Crossing Height (TCH) is regulatory only for those who certify your aircraft and that you are the ultimate authority when it comes to operating your aircraft.  If you are the pilot of the Gulfstream G550 in the accompanying photo, you might be tempted to say a 2-ft. TCH is adequate and provides for an earlier touchdown and therefore saves your brakes.  If you are in that camp, I’ll grant you some leeway if you can correctly answer the following question: “If you do not flare from a 3° glide path, how far behind your aimpoint will your wheels touch?”  If you are flying a G550 and answered anything less than 300 ft., you failed.  I recommend you study the article “Staying on Glidepath: The Dangers of the Duck-Under” in the May 2019 issue of Business & Commercial Aviation magazine.

Friends of Daredevil Pilots.  If a friend of yours shares a photo of their moment of glory just barely scraping by the fence at St. Maarten, you will be doing them and others a favor if you refrain from pressing the “Like” button.  A well timed “thumbs down” may be just what it takes to wake them up.

The Airport.  The beach at the end of the runway must certainly be a Mecca for thrill seekers and probably has a measurable impact on tourism numbers.  I would have thought the 2017 death of a New Zealand tourist at the end of the runway would have been a wakeup call.  The fact there have been no aircraft lost while landing--so far--will be of little consolation to any lives lost in the future.

Photographers.  I imagine most snapshot takers on Maho Beach are unaware of the dangers involved with such low flying aircraft and many of the photos posted on social media come from the “isn’t that neat!” crowd.  There are also professional photographers who are available to capture these moments with an eye toward selling the photos to the pilots wanting a “look at me!” moment.  These photographers may not realize that by glamorizing this kind of reckless behavior, they are encouraging more of the same.

I’ve flown into St. Maarten but do not see my aircraft on these websites, probably because it was 50 ft. over the threshold and nowhere near the beach or the fence.  (We landed in the touchdown zone and came to a stop well within our Aircraft Flight Manual’s performance numbers.)

In my opinion, photographers who publicize these stunts, these daredevil pilots, their friends, and the airport are all complicit in recklessness worthy of a 14 CFR 91.13 violation.  If future lives are lost, they will be complicit of a great deal more.