An acrobatic couple are getting a lot of flack for performing a one-handed headstand inches away from a cargo plane on a beach infamous for low-flying jets.
Performers Oleg Kolisnichenko, 36, and Yuliia Nos, 25, appear to be just feet away from the aircraft in the crazy snap on Maho Beach, on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin.
The pair have performed together for years and wanted to take a special souvenir snap! Well, not everyone was feeling their decision.
“We absolutely love acrobatics and we like to have fun with it outside of work,” said daredevil Nos, from Kiev, Ukraine.
The beach really is dangerous yet exciting at the same time. A lot of people were taking pictures with a plane above their heads but we had some idea to make something cool,” she said.
“After a few tries, we managed to perform it as the plane arrived, but we didn’t expect it to be so big and so close to us.
“It didn’t touch my feet but I felt so much air from the plane and I lost my balance. It was so much fun and exciting but it was only after I realized how dangerous it was.”
Once the photo was uploaded to social media, people had a lot of negative things to say about the souvenir photo.
One Instagram user wrote: “Extremely stupid. When the plane hits her foot she will actually never walk again. What a stupid move.”
“Do not ever do that again,” said another. “Please. Not only risking your life but also hundreds of others.”
Another simply quipped, “Stupidity at its finest.”
Last year a woman from New Zealand died on the same beach after a low flying aircraft backfired. The woman suffered serious head injuries from the jet blast.
Every year people flock to Maho Beach to watch planes fly in and out of Princess Juliana International Airport. The airport is ridiculously close to the beach and planes are usually just feet from the ground as they approach the runway.
