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Coolest thing you ever seen from a plane


Ice bowl 67

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You guys ever seen any Big cities from way high up in a plane or any sporting events going on while flying or Balloons flying in the air or any other weird objects? How bout big Thunderstorms, snowstorms or could you identify your own house while flying?

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Wild fires out west at night was freaky. Countless sharks swimming near shore on the west coast of Florida near countless swimmers was also cool, from far away. The college girl next to me going down to spend spring break with her grand parents paid particular note of this.

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Wild fires out west at night was freaky. Countless sharks swimming near shore on the west coast of Florida near countless swimmers was also cool, from far away. The college girl next to me going down to spend spring break with her grand parents paid particular note of this.

And the bolded part is what my brain immediately picked up

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Cool is the wrong word but in 1993 I was flying into NYC in the early evening and looking at the skyline something didn't look quite right but I couldn't put my finger on it. Flight path was up the East River so we got pretty close to lower Manhattan and I finally realized there were no lights on in the World Trade Center but all the surrounding buildings were lit up. When I deplaned I saw the reports on the airport terminal TVs that it was from what turned out to be the first attempt at bringing down the twin towers.


Looking out the window and seeing Mount rainier higher Than the plane on heading into Seattle

 

My father worked for American and got an amazing picture from the cockpit.

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I would have to go with the Grand Canyon.

Did the trip in on a helicopter a couple times, landing in a few spots for picnics. It's hard to grasp the vastness of it. You'll never forget that.

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Rainier and the Grand Canyon are both stunning.

Eastbound flights out of San Jose are sick - they do an ascending spiral before going east, you can a splendid view of the whole Bay and downtown San Francisco.

 

Coolest thing so far: Flying back to Denver last year, there were clouds from ~13,000' down. We were coming back from Seattle so the inbound route puts you right over Rocky Mtn NP area, just the tippy tops of the highest peaks were sticking out through the clouds. Sun was starting to set so it gave the peaks a nice glow, especially Longs. Just a really trippy view of one of my favorite areas.

Edited by TheElectricCompany
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When I was int he Air Force I worked in the C 141 flying squadrons for the first 5 years

 

Air refuelings are pretty cool.......and I even got to work the controls

 

We did relief drops in Moscow.....so we did short drops and takeoffs......watching people scrambling for the crates was like something out of a zombie movie

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Hard to beat flying right over Manhattan at night.

 

 

Although the coolest thing I ever flew over was the Verrazano-Narrows bridge 5 minutes before the start of the NYC marathon, at about 1200 feet in a Cessna.

Edited by KD in CA
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The coolest thing by far for me was coming in from over the Atlantic and seeing the morning sun rising over the mountains in Portugal. The orange light shone like beams through the peaks. It was indescribable, really.

 

Honorable mentions would be watching a sky-writer from far above, as well as flying high over a fireworks display.

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I may not be the one to answer this the same as most since I flew Navy attack and fighter airplanes, then 32 years in my airline career on the 727, 757, 767 and 777, but...

In the Navy, flying low level training missions at 100' and 420 knots all over the west coast and Philippines.

Seeing the carrier after a long mission with relatively low fuel.

Getting to 50,000' and seeing the curvature of the earth.

Blowing up a drone over the Pacific with a Sidewinder missile.

The joy of flying wing.

 

In the airlines, watching the sun come up over the European continent every trip east.

Flying down the length of Italy on the way into Rome.

Watching the Southern Cross rotate about the South Pole every night on the way to Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.

Watching the Space Shuttle fly just after launch.

Flying down the west side of the Andes, just over the Pacific and descending into Santiago, Chile.

The entire approach and landing into La Paz Bolivia at over 13000' airport altitude.

Seeing countless demonstrations of the northern lights while sitting in the darkened cockpit.

Flying over Northern Alaska and the North Pole on the way to Tokyo or Beijing.

 

Just knowing you'd have the best view in the world every night.

Edited by sherpa
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I may not be the one to answer this the same as most since I flew Navy attack and fighter airplanes, then 32 years in my airline career on the 727, 757, 767 and 777, but...

In the Navy, flying low level training missions at 100' and 420 knots all over the west coast and Philippines.

Seeing the carrier after a long mission with relatively low fuel.

Getting to 50,000' and seeing the curvature of the earth.

Blowing up a drone over the Pacific with a Sidewinder missile.

The joy of flying wing.

 

In the airlines, watching the sun come up over the European continent every trip east.

Flying down the length of Italy on the way into Rome.

Watching the Southern Cross rotate about the South Pole every night on the way to Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo.

Watching the Space Shuttle fly just after launch.

Flying down the west side of the Andes, just over the Pacific and descending into Santiago, Chile.

The entire approach and landing into La Paz Bolivia at over 13000' airport altitude.

Seeing countless demonstrations of the northern lights while sitting in the darkened cockpit.

Flying over Northern Alaska and the North Pole on the way to Tokyo or Beijing.

 

Just knowing you'd have the best view in the world every night.

 

Gentleman we have a winner.

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Not from the plane, but I was on a major Canadian highway moving slowly at rush hour and saw a very large craft leave the runway and try to stop along a large stretch where there was nothing but a chain fence between the highway and the plane. Fortunately it stopped in the fence and nobody was seriously hurt.

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Alaska when there's daylight is always impressive. One moment that sticks with me is flying over a stretch of the Pacific and just barely being able to make out a solitary container ship making its way across the ocean. Gave me a real appreciation for the scale of everything I was seeing.

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I forgot to mention the one thing I wish I could show everyone.

St Elmo's fire extending from the radome over the windscreen.

It is truly an unbelievable thing to watch.

I guess it would scare the heck out of people, but it is truly cool.

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