Christmas Lights

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rt4388

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rt4388
Alright, I know its not even Thanksgiving yet, but the fact that it is officially November and that I'm practically Clark Griswold has me gearing up for Christmas.
How's flying at night during Christmas time? Can you see the extra lights at all? Does it make much of a difference at all? I can't think of anything much better than putting on some Christmas music and taking a few friends up for a night flight to see some Christmas lights. Thanks guys!
 
Just checked with my wife. We went looking at Christmas lights the year I got my license. She said it was okay, if you know where to go. Helps if the terrain is relatively flat; we were in WV, where the flat areas are pretty settled and surrounded by hills.

It was a better experience than trying to watch fireworks below us from the plane.
 
Just like fireworks....disappointing.
 
KC has a shopping district called the Country Club Plaza. It's lit tremendously during Christmas and a lot of people fly over. Then you realize the lights are set up to be seen best from the street level and not from above.
 
In my area we have a huge neighborhood with Christmas lights. They close blocks around it because it's kinda big. (It's called Chino lights) ..I have flown over it a bunch of times....its blocks n blocks of lights.....not impressive from the air....but hugely impressive walking around.
 
The moving light shows are usually set to music and without the music it really doesn't look good. The range of the "station" is so short that even if you knew the freqency you couldn't get it in your plane. As with most things now-a-days, Christmas lights are best seen on youtube.
 
rt4388 said:
Alright, I know its not even Thanksgiving yet, but the fact that it is officially November and that I'm practically Clark Griswold has me gearing up for Christmas.
How's flying at night during Christmas time? Can you see the extra lights at all? Does it make much of a difference at all? I can't think of anything much better than putting on some Christmas music and taking a few friends up for a night flight to see some Christmas lights. Thanks guys!
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You need to be at minimum altitude for the area (congestion), and then it's ok. In El Paso, they light the "star" on the mountain (year round now), but those lights are full size bulbs like what are in your lamps. THAT gets pax attention flying directly over it ... that star is visible for nearly 80 miles though in CAVU conditions.
 
Well, unlike most in this thread, I like seeing the Christmas lights (and the fireworks for that matter) from the air. But it's about expectations - I mean, if you're expecting to see this great towering display that arches above you, of course you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for a different perspective, a neat way to see the lights (or fireworks), it's perfect.

Some downtown areas (I remember Virginia Beach) light up the tall office buildings too, so that's neat to see.

Plus, you get to fly instead of get stuck in traffic, so it's infinitely better from that standpoint.
 
RussR said:
But it's about expectations - I mean, if you're expecting to see this great towering display that arches above you, of course you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for a different perspective, a neat way to see the lights (or fireworks), it's perfect.
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This. I've seen fireworks from 40,000'. Were they spectacular? No. But it was interesting to see. We were flying over a pretty sparsely populated part of the country, though (Oregon/Idaho/Utah) so there were not many other lights, just small-town fireworks.
 
We tried fireworks once but with 5 or 6 planes around each display with no common freq. We cut it real short. Not too bad a show if you get low and close. Christmas light might be safer.
 
I prefer the beauty of nature when I fly. I have no interest in man made light sources or other sights as a skyline tour of the city. But, to each their own. We are all wired differently.
 
Flying over a large city at night is most impressive, regardless of the holiday season.
 
Many years ago my now wife, asked if we could go up and look at Christmas lights from the air. I was excited she just wanted to go fly. She prefers flying at night as its usually very smooth. I was planning to pop the question and this gave me the perfect opportunity. In a friends huge back yard, I wrote the question out in christmas lights... We went for the flight, the lights were beautiful, and the finale was a huge win for me. She's still my favorite co-pilot.
 
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