Where's it Going? Where's It Comin' From?

It's fun to figure out, based on the airline and type of aircraft, where an aircraft might be going or where it might be coming from?

Every Tuesday, there's a robin's egg blue 747 that takes off from Dulles about 12:30 p.m. That's the Korean Airlines flight going directly to Seoul. Most likely, it is a direct flight, which means it is probably going over the North Pole or arctic region.

United Airlines does a number of flights out of Dulles that, after gaining a certain altitude, start banking to the east. Is it going to Amsterdam, Frankfurt or Paris?

Pretty much a given when I see an incoming Lufthansa flight, British Airways flight, or Saudi Arabian airlines flight...where they came from. But how long ago did they take off? That's the fun part, given time differences, headwind or tailwind, and type of aircraft it is.

Just another thing I love about big metal birds.

Thrills of Navigation

One of my favorite things about flying is visual navigation vs. navigation with the aid of air traffic control centers. Just about every trip I've taken in the air has provided me (if I'm in a window seat) the chance to try to identify my surroundings from the air, particularly if I can see natural and man-made landmarks.

Another thing I like is listening in on Channel 9 to see what the air traffic control centers are saying to my flight and other flights. From DC to Vancouver, for example, I could hear the talk with Indianapolis Center, Denver Center, and Salt Lake Center. Coming across the Atlantic from Europe, I could hear the chat between aircrafts as they reported wind conditions and where the smooth flying altitude was.

Another thing I like which is unique (I think) to United is the little television monitors that show either in the back of the seat or in a pop-up TV monitor which allows you to choose a map of the world, and it shows your progress from the beginning to the end of the trip. There's not only a flat projection of the world map, but also, airplane forward views as one approaches a continent, such as Asia or Europe.

Cool stuff...and why I love flying so much....

Independence Air Bites the Dust

Sad to see Independence Air go off the charts. I enjoyed seeing their pickup trucks, complete with whale tail airplane tails coming out of the truck beds, driving in close proximity to Dulles International Airport. I would have liked to have taken a few flights with them just to have done it and to have supported a new airline.

I also enjoyed their bumper stickers with oddball sayings on them.

Even though they were little metal birds, Independence's fast-moving commuter jets were inspirational in their own right. People running a business to beat the competition and bring prices down.