Saturday, September 4, 2010

In Plane Sight (Update)

 Last week when I flew I entertained myself by looking out the window. When we left Durham we went up through some amazing clouds. We enjoyed flying into Chicago and seeing the skyline.

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Then we flew into the sunset for hours.  (Sorry, no good pic of that.)

Then I started noticing something odd in my pictures.  Can you see it here?

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I saw it again a few other times.  I am guessing it must be an air pattern?!?  Whatever it is, it was cool to see.[Thanks so my awesome brother Val, we have an answer.  This is a called a wingtip vortex, and is created as the wing generates lift.  Cool!]

I was having a nice little nap on the plane when there was an announcement on the intercom that we were flying over the Grand Canyon.  Of course I had to rouse myself and try to get a picture.  It was cool.  I wished the pilot would make a nice circle there so we could see it better, but no joy.

I won’t complain though.  Since the announcement went something like this:

“If you’re sitting on the right side of the airplane, you can look out of your window right now and see the Grand Canyon.  If you’re sitting on the left side of the airplane, you can look to your right and see people looking at the Grand Canyon!”

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The flight attendant was really a funny guy.  When he was going through all of the airplane safety information at some points he would throw in a “blah, blah, blah.”  Then when he was done he said, “Because that’s what you’re hearing anyway!

When he was giving the little spiel about what to do in case the cabin pressure decreased and emergency oxygen was needed, he said “if their is an emergency and you are traveling with a small child, please put on your own oxygen mask first before putting the mask on your child.  If you are traveling with more than one of your children, now is the time to decide once and for all which child is really your favorite”!! 

And that, dear reader, is the end of my from-the-air pictures!  I hope you have enjoyed this aerial tour of some parts of the United States!

3 comments:

  1. Ok I am so glad I am not the only one wondering and trying to take pictures of the circles and squares. I want to know what they are. I wonder each time I take a flight home!! You must have had the same flight attendant we had going to CA. He was so darn funny. I like those type. Much better then the grumpy ones.

    Nice pictures. Glad I am not the only one with a camera out on the plane. :)

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  2. The green circles / partial circles come from crop irrigation. They have giant rolling rigs that are anchored at the center.

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