They have changed the flight paths again.
To the west lies
Heathrow Airport.
When we got here, the mighty transcontinental planes were taking off over God knows where, someplace far away.
Now that has changed: well into the night and early in the morning, the grind and whoosh of double sets of turbo-fan engines passes over and passes over.
I hear a plane going over now, a low sound like someone pushing a stone casket across a wooden floor with a whine over the top of it, like Chewbacca's grandson whining for more ice cream.
This morning a British Airways 747 went over, low, banking sharply as it passed over the roof and ascended.
The
Boeing 747 is one of the humankind's greatest achievements.
3 Comments:
When I was a wee lad, if there was a huge rainstorm the big intercontinental jets (usually 747s) would be put in a circling pattern around Kennedy airport and would fly very low right over my house, which was about 25 miles away. As they were not taking off the noise was not so terrible but you could hear them - very loud, very close. Occasionally, a plane could be glimpsed through a break in the clouds - not more than 2000 feet or so directly overhead. Thrilling.
Very thrilling.
And there one goes now, as I write this.
Sometimes, back in the 70s, we ("we" meaning my mom & my siblings) would drive to JFK airport to pick up my dad, who would be flying in from a business trip overseas. And the greatest thrill there would be both to see the 747 up close as it taxied up to the gate (it has a great hump, you know) AND to possibly catch a glimpse of the SST (super sonic transport) -- otherwise known as the Concorde -- with its needle nose and overall futuristic aura, parked on the tarmac.
Loved to see the SST.
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