AIRPLANE WATCHING

A few weeks ago, when our family from Germany was visiting, we took them to The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Not too far from the gates but just outside the complex, we noticed cars parked on the side of the road.  There had been a space made for them to park on each side.

There were several people watching planes landing on one of the runways at Dulles-Washington International Airport. We all fully intended to go back to see this for ourselves. Unfortunately, we ran out of time but...

last Sunday we decided to drive out there and see the planes land. We checked on their flight patterns and we were in luck.  

We both said this was a lot of fun and that we could see ourselves driving over here again.

Gregg has an app on his phone that tells where these planes come from, and where they are heading. He also looks at the app (flightradar24) as it shows all the planes and he could see what direction they were coming in. This one was an Air India flight, out of Vienna, Austria.

This is the information given on our phone for that particular plane.

(The app is free with ads. If you are a plane enthusiast and want to pay the $44 a year you get no advertisements, but we don't mind a few adverts.) 

When we are out sitting on the deck at home we see planes overhead, quite high up. Gregg gets his phone out and tells me which airline, where they are heading and where they flew out of. The novelty hasn't worn off yet. He tells me this app works no matter what part of the world you're in. Below is what you get on your screen.

We spent half an hour or so before the planes stopped coming. I think the wind changed direction and they were maybe landing on another airstrip in the opposite direction. 

Only a few other people were with us watching, a mother with her children and a couple.

We took a lot of airplane photos between us, and here are a few of them.

We had so much fun and I'm not really a plane enthusiast, but I certainly enjoyed these and seeing them land. I wonder what Amelia Earhart and all those other hardy adventurers who started out in the old biplanes on those first flights would think?

I found an old poem that I thought would fit, even though the young man who wrote it flew planes a little further along from the biplane days. It struck a chord. I seem to remember reading it when I was very young during my school days. Does anyone else remember it?

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings’

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlight silence. Hov’ring, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air…

Up, up the long wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew –

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

High Flight

By

~John Gillespie Magee, Jr.~

When I think of planes, I think of biplanes and that leads me to thinking about Amelia Earhart. I came up with this, with no particular reason other than I liked it and wanted to share.

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your week is going well.