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The most depressing thing I have seen from a plane - the desert that used to be the Aral Sea.
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A number of years ago (mid 80's) I flew from Boston to Washington National (I no longer remember the airline or plane) but I was amused that I flew over an apartment building I used to live in in Quincy, the house I was currently living in in CT, and the house I grew up in in NJ. Interesting flight.
Cheers, Pogopossum |
I saw KIX at night while flying from NRT to BKK at 30,000+ ft.. :)
It's easily recognizable since it's an airport built on a man-made island. It also helped that the pilot pointed it out. :) http://images.google.com/imgres?q=ka...1t:429,r:1,s:0 |
Originally Posted by Cloudship
(Post 17652606)
I will start with this - while flying over the corner of Denver/Wyoming/Nebraska (flight 2279 MSP-SJC on the 18th of Dec.) I noticed a bunch of bright lights spaced rather interestingly. They were much brighter, and looked to be much bigger, than the standard building lights you normally see, but then again this was way out there. They kind of flickered - I would say they were some kind of fires, but I think we would have been too high to see anything like that. Any ideas?
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Well I don't have a photo but I do have a video...unfortunately it's about 8 minutes long and the part I'm wondering about the most is a bit after the 7 minute mark. I was flying on AA flight 264 from LAX to BOS and it was so cool to see all this stuff in western US...but I wasn't DEAD sure what any of it is. I studied google earth for a long time to try to get it right but I am aware that though I say what the locations are, I may not be 100% correct. Anyway, the one I am most interested in knowing is what I called the Glen Canyon or possibly Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, being such a crappy AA flight, they don't have any info about where you are at the moment so I had no idea.
SO here's the video...the sight is at 7:35 and the rest of the video is randomness from flying over Western US. Feel free to comment there (or here) and correct me on anything you see! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4-msADpy0k |
On a flight from JFK to ATL, passing by the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was able to see the cabin resort on Skyline Drive that I had spent a night at during a driving vacation.
On a night flight from JFK I saw a fireworks display from a town along the south shore of Long Island. Since I was above it and so far away, it was interesting, but not impressive. I always try for a window seat. I can only read or watch the inflight entertainment (if available) for so long. I wish they would allow GPS use. then I would be able to know for sure where I was when I saw something interesting. Regards, Mych |
On a flight YOW-YEG at night, the pilot pointed out the aurora borealis. It was pretty cool to see
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Originally Posted by djs
(Post 17656303)
On occasion, I can see the building where I live while approaching or taking off.
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Those lights actually were missle silos! Apparently there are a whole bunch of them up in that corner of the state. Kinda creepy now that I figured out what they are.
I love flying over the western states, there is so much interesting stuff to see. Yet, I have never been able to see the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, or Denver. Either wrong side of the plane or too cloudy. Did a lot of flying into Salt Lake this week, and with the really low cloud cover, watching the mountains rise out of the clouds like islands, with planes circling around like birds (or sharks), it was kinda spiritual. Reminded me why i love to fly. |
Space shuttle launch (from way far off). I always love seeing Greenland. Due to winds, my SFO-AMS flight diverted south enough that I didn't see it this trip.
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I flew over Three Mile Island and the pilot was kind enough to point it out. Those ubiquitous cooling towers which were plastered all over the news during the crisis were clearly visible from the air. I wish pilots would make more of an effort to advise pax of interesting sights. I remember them doing more of this when I was growing up but the practice seems to have waned.
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Originally Posted by chugger1
(Post 17672042)
I flew over Three Mile Island and the pilot was kind enough to point it out. Those ubiquitous cooling towers which were plastered all over the news during the crisis were clearly visible from the air. I wish pilots would make more of an effort to advise pax of interesting sights. I remember them doing more of this when I was growing up but the practice seems to have waned.
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Originally Posted by Cloudship
(Post 17652606)
As a window watcher on my flights, I see many interesting things below me. Some are easy to identify or find out what they are. Others, however, are not so easy.
This thread is for people who have seen interesting things but want to know what they are. Please give a description of what you have seen, where, with as much detail as possible, and perhaps a flight number and date. I will start with this - while flying over the corner of Denver/Wyoming/Nebraska (flight 2279 MSP-SJC on the 18th of Dec.) I noticed a bunch of bright lights spaced rather interestingly. They were much brighter, and looked to be much bigger, than the standard building lights you normally see, but then again this was way out there. They kind of flickered - I would say they were some kind of fires, but I think we would have been too high to see anything like that. Any ideas? Seriously, I don't know what they were, but am inclined to think that they were not fires. Light emitted by fire has very different appearance than electrically generated light due to their different spectra. Flickering and/or twinkling is caused by changes in refractive indext of the intervening medium, air in this case. |
Originally Posted by You want to go where?
(Post 17657517)
The most depressing thing I have seen from a plane - the desert that used to be the Aral Sea.
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I photographed a shadow of the airplane on a cloud below us and the shadow had a rainbow around it. Found out later it's called a glory and not that unusual. Wikipedia has an article about it.
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