A 52-year-old Italian tourist was hospitalized with severe injuries after a departing passenger plane’s jet blast reportedly knocked her to the ground at Skiathos Airport in Greece.
The airport is famous for giving tourists an unusually close view of aircraft taking off and landing, but that proximity comes with serious risks.
The latest accident has once again raised questions about why tourists continue to gather so close to the runway despite repeated warnings about jet blast.
Highlights
- A woman suffered severe head injuries after a plane’s powerful jet blast reportedly threw her to the ground at Skiathos Airport.
- The Greek airport is famous for its dangerously close plane-spotting views, drawing tourists to watch aircraft take off and land.
- Similar incidents at the same spot have repeatedly exposed the potentially devastating risks of plane spotting.
As one person reacted, “Don’t be stupid just for the social media attention. It’s like going up the crater of Etna and then wonder why you were injured by lava.”
A 52-year-old tourist suffered severe head injuries after jet blast threw her to the ground
The incident reportedly happened on Monday, August 10, when the Italian tourist was near the perimeter of Skiathos International Airport as a passenger aircraft prepared to take off.
According to local Greek media reports, the powerful airflow generated by the plane’s engines sent the woman crashing to the ground.
She reportedly fell heavily to the ground, suffering severe head injuries in the process.
Emergency responders initially took her to the Skiathos Health Centre, where she underwent an urgent CT scan.
Because her injuries were considered serious, she was later transferred by air to Volos General Hospital on the Greek mainland for further treatment.
The exact circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear, and authorities have reportedly launched an investigation.
Skiathos Airport has gained an unusual reputation among aviation enthusiasts because of how close the runway sits to public areas.
Skiathos Airport has become a bucket-list spot for extremely close-up plane views
The airport is located near the coastline, with a public road and areas around Xanemos Beach situated close to the runway threshold.
It has turned the location into a popular plane-spotting destination, with tourists regularly gathering to watch aircraft arrive and depart from only a short distance away.
Planes can appear to pass remarkably close to spectators during landing, while takeoffs provide an equally dramatic experience as aircraft engines roar to life just a short distance from the viewing areas.
The spectacle has also gained widespread social media attention, with tourists filming aircraft overhead and sharing the aesthetic footage online.
But the same proximity that makes Skiathos so popular is also what makes the location dangerous.
Standing behind an aircraft preparing for takeoff puts spectators directly in the path of the powerful air movement produced by its engines.
The latest injury is not the first time people near Skiathos Airport have been caught off guard by the force produced by departing aircraft.
Several previous incidents have highlighted just how dangerous jet blast at the airport can be
Several similar incidents over the years have demonstrated how quickly the seemingly thrilling plane-spotting experience can turn dangerous.
According to multiple reports, in July 2022, a 61-year-old British tourist suffered serious injuries while filming an aircraft taking off.
She was reportedly standing on a ledge near the airport when the force from the plane's engines knocked her off her perch.
Doctors at the local health center diagnosed her with serious head injuries, a fractured pelvis, and injuries to her right shoulder and left wrist.
Previously, in August 2018, a 12-year-old British boy was reportedly standing near the airport fence with his father when a TUI Airbus A320 took off.
The aircraft's engine blast sent the boy approximately 10 meters through the air, after which he landed on the sand.
According to the Greek Reporter, he was taken to a local medical center before being transferred to a hospital in Volos for treatment.
Warning signs haven’t stopped tourists from getting dangerously close to the runway
There were also reports in June 2018 of tourists being knocked backward by the blast from an Airbus A321 taking off from the airport.
The history of these accidents has repeatedly drawn attention to the risks of treating the area as a conventional tourist attraction.
Warning signs around the airport caution visitors about the dangers of aircraft blast, while measures have also been used to control movement around the perimeter during aircraft operations.
Yet the location continues to attract tourists looking for the perfect close-up photograph.
The problem is that a spectacular picture can make the distance between a spectator and a passenger plane look thrilling rather than hazardous.
What may appear to be harmless wind from a distance can become a powerful force when an aircraft is accelerating for takeoff.
“It is not lack of warning signs one can blame but reckless endangerment of oneself,” one user wrote online
