KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747-400 from Amsterdam
 
I think these marvelous photographs by prominent Austrian photographer Josef Hoflehner and his son Jakob pretty much speak for themselves. They were taken at Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of St. Martin (it’s a little more than a hundred miles east of Puerto Rico)—the beach is right next to the short runway of the Princess Juliana International Airport. Since it’s on the southern, or Dutch, side of the island, it’s actually called Sint Maarten.

Josef and Jakob visited four times between 2009 and 2011, each time for about three weeks. Josef told Slate:
 

It’s an extraordinary place. There simply isn’t anything like this airport anywhere on the planet. With all the heightened security we have today, one can not get that close to a plane anywhere else without buying a ticket.

-snip-

On average, there were only five or six passengers jets coming in per day, and often there as an hour or more between the landings. It’s not like we were relaxing on the beach like other beachgoers. We had the cameras in our hands, standing on the beach, since you never know when exactly the plane is arriving. When we’d go to the restroom or go get something to drink, then the plane, which was usually late, would suddenly come in.

 
In 2012 Most Press put out a bound volume of the photographs under the title Jet Airliner: The Complete Works.
 

Corsair Boeing 747-400 from Paris
 

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 from Atlanta
 

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 from Miami
 

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747-400 from Amsterdam
 

Air France Airbus A340-300 from Paris
 

JetBlue Embraer 190 from San Juan
 

American Airlines Boeing 737-800 from Miami
 

US Airways Boeing 757-200 from Charlotte
 

Air France Airbus A340-300 from Paris
 

United Airlines Airbus A320 from Chicago
 

Air France Airbus A340-300 from Paris   
 

Spirit Airlines Airbus A319-100 from Fort Lauderdale
 

Corsair F-HSEX Boeing 747-400 from Paris
 

United Airlines Airbus A320-200 from Chicago
 

US Airways Boeing 757-200 from Charlotte
 

Continental Airlines Boeing 737-700 from Newark
 

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747-400 from Amsterdam
 

American Airlines Boeing 757-200 from Miami
 

Corsair Boeing 747-400 from Paris
 

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-200 departing to Atlanta
 

Copa Airlines Boeing 737-700 from Panama City
 

JetBlue Airbus A320 from New York
 

KLM Royal Dutch Boeing 747-400 from Amsterdam
 
via Flashbak
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Milwaukee resident messes with airline passengers by painting ‘Welcome to Cleveland’ on his roof