( CNN ) -- It 's at least as welcome as a warm face towel or the ping of the seatbelt sign going off : A beautiful view as you land . A panel of travel editors , seasoned pilots and other industry experts has drawn up a shortlist of the world 's most scenic airport approaches for users of the private-jet charter firm PrivateFly.com to vote on . Any type of landing was eligible , from the approach over rooftops used by private craft at Amsterdam Schiphol , to the ultra-low , beach-shaving descent on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten and the dip past Manhattan 's skyscraper cluster when approaching New York 's JFK . One entry that stands out for topicality on this year 's shortlist : Sochi International Airport . `` What a spectacular arrival for the 2014 Winter Olympics , '' recalls one fan on the site . `` You descend over the Black Sea , watching the city and Olympic Park unfold in front of you , with a beautiful mountain backdrop . '' What the shortlist ( a selection is shown in the gallery above ) reveals is the human ingenuity for building airports almost anywhere , on land or on sea . Or in the case of Barra Airport , in the Scottish Outer Hebrides , somewhere in between -- the beach runway is submerged at high tide . Voting in the PrivateFly.com poll closes at the end of March .
Poll shortlists most impressive helicopter landings . Views of cities , mountains and islands all figure . Vancouver -- the 2010 Olympics city -- is a topical example .