Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The night time is the right time

I have many interests.  One of my earliest and most enduring is aviation.  I love all things airplane.  As a kid my uncle would tell me stories about his time flying B-17's in WWII. 


I later joined the Confederate Air Force (vintage warbird restoration group) and got "up close and personal" with the machines and people I'd read about throughout my formative years.

Later I trained and became a docent at a local aviation museum, my "specialty" becoming commercial airline history.  I still read Air Transport World online.  While most people want to live far away from airports, I actually like living close enough where I can see the big beautiful birds coming and going.

Where I live now is not too close, and not too far away, but juuuuust right.  I spend hours on my north-facing terrace watching the airliners approaching DFW Int'l from the north and east.  Some of the aircraft types are distinctive enough to identify at a distance:  Boeing 747, Airbus A340.  Some require some study:  Boeing 777 vs Airbus A330.  Some are simply too small and too far away for me to make out the differences:  Boeing 737 vs Airbus A320.


Last night about 9 pm I went out for a breath of fresh air and saw planes stretched out for 30 miles to the northeast, headed to DFW to my southwest.  With 5 miles separation, I could see 6 planes lined up to land at any give time.  That tiny speck in the sky in the photo above is #3 to land, probably on Rnwy 17C.

With real-time internet info available today I could actually look up each aircraft type, airline, flight number, city of origination, etc, but sometimes it's just best to not know.  A little mystery is still fun.

And besides, that would be almost like work.  For me, work ceases at 6 pm.  Evening time is MY time.  :)

S

14 comments:

  1. Still, it is fun to tune in to the local ATC and get another dimension to what you are seeing.

    If you have the time, I am sure you would enjoy an audio tape which is online somewhere, perhaps on youtube, which you could find by searching something like "a really bad day at JFK ground". I feel bad for the poor guy, but cannot deny it makes hysterical listening.

    f

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    1. I have an airband radio, and listen in on occassion. But I still enjoy just lazily watching.

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  2. When I was a young teen, my Mom did volunteer work at Idlewilde airport meeting foreign students coming to the country. I would spend my time on the observation deck, watching the TWA Connies and Pan Am Clippers coming in from Europe, and learning to tell a DC-4 from a DC-6 by the shape of their windows.

    f

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    1. Fin....I can remember my 8th birthday. My parents asked where I wanted to have my birthday party, and I said over lunch at the Dobbs House restaurant, on the observation deck of Dallas old Love Field. Once it gets in your blood, it just doesn't go away, does it? :)

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  3. Look at that picture of you on the bak of the tow car! That's awesome!

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  4. Man you are really enjoying that terrace aren't you.

    I don't see you visiting this site, I think you may like the Old AFSarge @http://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/

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    1. It's not just the terrace, Joe, but the weather has been so cool and dry in the evenings I love to be outside.

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  5. My dad had an airband radio and he would spend hours listening to the planes come and go at the San Jose International airport. As a kid I was dragged along many times to airports and I always wondered when or if a time would come when I'd actually get to board an airplane and travel to somewhere exotic. I'm in the process of achieving that goal.

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  6. Is that really you on the front (back?) of that golf cart thingie?

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    1. No Betina, I actually wasn't in that picture, but that is the group I worked with...marshallers. We handled all airshow ground ops. As soon as planes land air traffic control hands them off to us. Oh, and that is a "tug".

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