Tourist, 52, suffers traumatic head injury after being blasted off her feet by jet engine at famous plane-spotting beach

A TOURIST has been left with severe injuries after she was thrown to the ground by a powerful jet engine blast at a famous plane-spotting beach. The woman, 52, was standing behind a passenger plane as it prepared to take off when the aircraft’s roaring engines knocked her to the ground. Wizzair Airbus conducting low landing at Skiathos Airport over tourists. Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Wizzair Airbus zooming low over plane-spotters at Skiathos airport, Greece.Credit: Refer to Source The Italian tourist is believed to have hit her head as she crashed to the ground close to Skiathos International Airport in Greece. Responding immediately, medics rushed the woman to the Skiathos Health centre to undergo a CT scan to diagnose her injuries. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Due to the severity of her injuries, she was then airlifted to Volos General Hospital shortly after 6pm local time to undergo further treatment. Local authorities have launched an investigation to find out why the woman was so close to the plane as it departed. Tourists watching a TUI Boeing airplane taxiing on the runway at Skiathos airport. Credit: Alamy Warning sign near Skiathos International Airport. Credit: Alamy Skiathos airport has been a hotspot every summer for tourists and locals watching planes soar at close range. Pilots here are required to make low landings, where the aircraft flies close to the ground or over obstacles, offering a thrilling spectacle for plane-spotters. Earlier this year, a report ranked the Skiathos Alexandros Papadiamantis Airport as the worst airport in the world due to its location. Some of the airports have runways stretching across the edge of a cliff or just a few steps away from a beach. Other spots are positioned next to city streets. Most read in The Sun Aircraft landing at Skiathos airport, Greece. Credit: Alamy Plane landing over spectators near Skiathos Airport, Greece. Credit: Alamy Todd Smith, co-founder of Safe Landing and former Thomas Cook pilot who has flown into Skiathos multiple times, told The Sun: “It’s certainly a tricky landing.” “We have to land quite hard and we have to use a lot of braking which wears the brakes out and uncomfortable for passengers.” “When we take off, we have to use a very high thrust setting because we have to use enough power due to the shortness of the runway.” “We don’t often take off with full power but Skiathos is an airport that is likely for us to opt for this.” Jet blasts are high-speed, intense streams of air that blast out of a plane’s engine, giving it the thrust it needs to take off. Finlay Asher, aerospace engineer at Safe Landing, told The Sun: “The air from the [jet engine] is moving very quickly and is enough to blow over large objects; certainly people can be thrown tens of metres if they get too close.” “That’s why you have clearance zones around engines at airports and they shouldn’t be ignited unless the aircraft is clear of people/objects.” Maho beach, situated on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, is another famous spot where sun-seekers are offered an engineering thrill. YouTube videos show people standing on a beach that abuts Princess Juliana International airport. As the plane prepares take-off, the jet blasts can be seen blowing tourists into the sea and whipping up a sandstorm. In 2017, a 57-year-old woman died after she was knocked over by the jet blast and hit her head at this beach. Local officials said that she was standing near the fence of the airport during its take off. Comment now