When I was a child, maybe 9, my parents took my sister and me to Puerto Rico. I remember asking my parents what happens if the plane falls from the sky. The plane, in this case, was an Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-10-11. My dad said, and of course I’m paraphrasing, “they don’t fall from the sky!” We had an uneventful flight to most, but an amazing, creative experience for me, as this was my first flight. That flight got me hooked on planes. That’s right, from constructing model airplanes that next summer, to photographing a 747 flying “through” the moon last week, 40 years later, I had started and followed through with a love affair with all things aviation. When I am photographing these miracles of science at cruising altitude, that is 30-38,000 feet,  or 6 miles up, I always wonder where they are going and what they see looking down at my area as I look up at them. Yesterday, close to three hundred people were blown out of the sky by a missile. Three hundred passengers, including children, possibly on their first flight, ended up in a field, in a tangled mess in a region called Crimea. These planes, no matter what country of origin they have departed from, are secured tighter than a delivery to Fort Knox. The ground crews, security and all others involved in the safety of these planes, from what I have seen over the years, take it extremely seriously to secure the plane before, during, and after flight. That’s why it was so disappointing and sad that some shithead, with an agenda, shot down Malaysia Fl 17 yesterday. In words that might be used by a 9 year old, “what did they do to deserve this?”

A jetliner exits the East Coast of Massachusetts, over Nahant,MA. as the sun sets.