Do you ever look down at the ground and think...

cowman

cowman

Final Approach
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
5,281
Location
Danger Zone
Display Name
Display name:
Cowman
These thoughts occurred to me while doing some sightseeing around the county today.

Whenever I'm outside and I hear an airplane engine I look. I think most people do... maybe not most but at least a lot. Maybe I watch it for a while- as long as I can. Wonder what he's doing, where he's going, etc...

Well here I am buzzing around and now I'm him. I'm going nowhere at all and suddenly I realize I'm making this really loud noise that people can hear for miles. I'm up there where they can all see me.... wondering what I'm doing...

...and I'm just up there because I thought it would be fun to take pictures of my house. Then go to all my friend's houses and take pictures of their place so I can send a bunch of creepy "I'm watching you" text messages. That.... was the entire mission today. My wife got a pic too... you can even tell it's an airplane. :goofy:
 
I was outside picking up the newspaper this morning when I heard and then saw a bizjet a couple of miles north of my house. He was headed for KADS.

Even though I didn't have my glasses on I could tell from the vertical stabilizer and the nose it was a Citation X.

I kinda laughed at myself, thinking "What an airhead". I could indentify the aircraft, fuzzy view notwithstanding.

I've been watching 'em since I was a little kid.
 
I pretty much always stop and look. Frustrates me if I hear aircraft and can't spot them. I'm amazed at the amount of people that doesn't even give it a glance. I've spent many hours at ballfields noticing people that never look up. Confusing to me since it's been a reflex of mine for as long as I can remember.

I am proud to say that you can tell which child on the softball field is mine. Both of the girls seems to have the inherited the same reflex. I've watched one stand on the mound looking up and delaying the game for a minute before resuming pitching. Lol
 
near the end of my check ride the DPE said "Those poor people down there don't get to fly today" I just had fun for the rest of the check ride
 
yep, I'm always lookin. if I'm down I'm always looking up and if I'm up I always look down and think 'heh, now someone else is lookin up".
 
Riding my bike you would see the shadows of planes and birds crossing. A little startling and a little cool. One day I looked down and saw the shadow of the plane I was flying. That was even cooler
 
I used to always just look up and see an airplane in think it was amazing watching this machine soar through the air. Now I look up and think to myself I bet there's a couple of dudes in there shoulder to shoulder sweating their butts off
 
One kind of strange thing is that it is so densely populated here on more than one occasion I've looked up and said well there goes Paul
 
I've worked at an airfield for years. You would think people get jaded, but every time we hear a turbojet, everyone runs outside to look at what makes the big noise.
 
I've always looked, but I have noticed it get worse here lately. I was coaching my son's baseball team this fall, and was doing the post-practice wrap-up talk. I was in the middle of a sentence when I caught sight of two T-6s flying in loose formation in the distance. Without thinking, I just stopped talking to watch. The guy assisting me jumped in and said "You'll have to forgive Coach, he's a pilot, so flying planes to him are like squirrels for a dog." I'm still catching crap for that ...
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I used to always just look up and see an airplane in think it was amazing watching this machine soar through the air. Now I look up and think to myself I bet there's a couple of dudes in there shoulder to shoulder sweating their butts off
Click to expand...


:rofl::goofy:
 
Greenhead said:
I pretty much always stop and look. Frustrates me if I hear aircraft and can't spot them. I'm amazed at the amount of people that doesn't even give it a glance. I've spent many hours at ballfields noticing people that never look up. Confusing to me since it's been a reflex of mine for as long as I can remember.

I am proud to say that you can tell which child on the softball field is mine. Both of the girls seems to have the inherited the same reflex. I've watched one stand on the mound looking up and delaying the game for a minute before resuming pitching. Lol
Click to expand...

I think I once read that you can always tell a pilot on the ground, because he looks at every aircraft that passes overhead.
 
alfadog said:
I think I once read that you can always tell a pilot on the ground, because he looks at every aircraft that passes overhead.
Click to expand...

Well, if we aren't looking up at airplanes we're looking up to try to figure out what the weather is going to do. :rolleyes:
 
I look down at the open country and think about what a privilege it is to travel like this, comparing it to the early settlers who spent months and suffered unbelievable hardship and danger covering the distance I cover in a few hours. I especially think of that when I'm cramped into an airliner seat, drinking lousy coffee and eating toy food, listening to people complain about the flight being an hour late...
 
As the old saying goes, I hope you're not thinking "I wish I was down there" :D
 
I look down at all those toy cars stuck in traffic jams and say to myself "FREEDOM!"
 
I like to look down,and think,how lucky to be in the air looking down.
 
I flew over my brother's house a couple weeks ago and his wife instantly knew it was me. They probably see 20+ primarily white Cessnas like mine fly over every day so I guess when one is flying substantially lower and circling over their plot a few times, it must not be that hard to tell. Even still, it felt strangely heroic being identified from the ground.
 
I started flying 6 years ago. Before that I didn't really pay attention to planes in the air unless they were real low.
 
I sometimes look down and pick a spot on the window or window frame and watch how fast it zips across those sections and center-pivots and cities and highways on the ground and try to get a sense of speed. Clouds give a sense of speed when you top out, but since clouds are of unknown or irregular size they don't always convey a true sense of speed.

I do this on airliners too. 500+ knots across the ground is insane.
 
I go to a Walmart that is on the approach path of kchd 22l and 22r. Every time an airplane is overhead maybe 500ft I'm in the parking lot staring at the airplane. I look around and notice people not looking up like me. I think what is the hell wrong with these people.
 
evapilotaz said:
I go to a Walmart that is on the approach path of kchd 22l and 22r. Every time an airplane is overhead maybe 500ft I'm in the parking lot staring at the airplane. I look around and notice people not looking up like me. I think what is the hell wrong with these people.
Click to expand...

Same here except it's the golf course. A few people look up because the planes demand to be noticed at 200 agl. But I look up 100% of the time.

I have been known to grab my lunch and go eat in my car at the airport from time to time. Once while at KADS I did this and got to see FiFi make a test flight.
 
Pilots and weathermen (I'm guessing) are the only folks who can be talking to each other and mid-sentence turn their backs and gaze into the sky, probably keep talking too. No one thinks its rude or strange either.
 
iflyvfr said:
Pilots and weathermen (I'm guessing) are the only folks who can be talking to each other and mid-sentence turn their backs and gaze into the sky, probably keep talking too. No one thinks its rude or strange either.
Click to expand...

Yep. They both look up simultaneously, never missing a word.
 
cowman said:
These thoughts occurred to me while doing some sightseeing around the county today.

Whenever I'm outside and I hear an airplane engine I look. I think most people do... maybe not most but at least a lot. Maybe I watch it for a while- as long as I can. Wonder what he's doing, where he's going, etc...
Click to expand...

I have a decent pair of Nikon binoculars sitting next to the door to the terrace. Whenever I hear a plane I run out to see if I know them. We're off the beaten path enough that about 5% of the time I do...
 
rwellner98 said:
I have a decent pair of Nikon binoculars sitting next to the door to the terrace. Whenever I hear a plane I run out to see if I know them. We're off the beaten path enough that about 5% of the time I do...
Click to expand...

We actually keep a set of binoculars in the plane... :lol:
 
Like you I always look up and I always wonder what the environment is like in the cockpit and wonder where they are going.
 
MAKG1 said:
I've worked at an airfield for years. You would think people get jaded, but every time we hear a turbojet, everyone runs outside to look at what makes the big noise.
Click to expand...

Haha...yesterday a turbojet twin flew over my house. I was busy doing something so I suppressed the urge to bust out the door to look.

It sounded like an early Lear.
 
I ALWAYS look down... And ask..."I wonder what the poor folk are doing";)
 
I too look down thinking that it could be me stuck down there in the 10-mile long traffic congestion.
And I also feel the freedom others mentioned. Great feeling.
 
yetti said:
Riding my bike you would see the shadows of planes and birds crossing. A little startling and a little cool. One day I looked down and saw the shadow of the plane I was flying. That was even cooler
Click to expand...

Reminds me of fond moments in my prior career as a EMS pilot flying under NVG's and seeing the shadow of my helicopter over the desert under a full moon.......
 
A few times I've had people ask if I flew the 10 into XYZ and when I said yes send me the pictures. Usually don't notice spectators until we go into a civilian field where KC-10s aren't use to going and do touch and goes for an hour. Then everyone parks by the fence and whips out cameras. I remember being that guy down there at the fence.
 
I have flown along wondering who is looking up at me..... like you say it is usually when I am just boring holes at sunset or something else innocuous.
 
When I was 17 I was the grill guy at outback steakhouse in Addison Texas.
I would leave for work an hour early and park Near the north end of KADS and watch the planes land.

Probably my 10th hour post ppl, I flew to Addison.
As I'm on short final, I look over and see a handful of people watching planes land.

That was pretty cool.
Then I got the bill for landing there :(
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top