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Posts Tagged ‘contrails’

Pilot in massive Airbus A380 contacts man who photographed plane over Boston

by markadmin Posted: Sunday, 12/6/2015

It is said that inside every aviation enthusiast is a little child. If that’s true then it must also be true that this “child” writer feels how a kid must feel on Christmas morning. Shortly after 4pm yesterday, while I was browsing the internet, I noticed on the website planefinder.net that one of the largest planes in the world, the Airbus A380 passenger jet, was 7 miles high (38,000′) over the Portsmouth,NH area. The British Airways jet was traveling south and radar showed the trip was from London to Miami. This is a normal everyday occurence over Boston, as hundreds and hundreds of flights exit and enter the east coast in this fashion. The light was nice and the contrails that these planes produce were large and pluming. I setup a tripod in my driveway in Winthrop,MA. and used a Canon EOS 1DX and a Canon 800mm lens with a 1.4 extender. I waited and at 4:13pm the jet showed itself to be over the North Shore of Boston. I took a few photos and was going to pack up when I noticed a smaller passenger plane, a Southwest 737, from BWI-Portland,ME. heading toward the British Airways jet at 28,000′, or 10,000′ below it. They “crossed” over Franklin,MA., roughly 30 miles away from me. I posted the photos on twitter, with the flight numbers, BA209 and SWA3733. These photos got a good response but when I checked twitter a few minutes before bed last night, there was one twitter message that piqued my interest and gave me a big smile. One of the three crew members that was piloting the massive plane tweeted the following messages, below, after he landed in Miami. Also, please continue to scroll down to see my photos, below. If it is said that aviation brings the world together, and Twitter makes the world smaller, then it must also be said that good old-fashioned manners and friendliness make the world a better place. Peace out!

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Tags: 380, 737, A380, Airbus, airlines, airplane, aviation, Boeing, Boston, British Airways, contrails, Heathrow, high altitude, London, Miami, pilot, Southwest Air, Twitter
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They’re not supposed to fall from the sky

by markadmin Posted: Thursday, 7/17/2014

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.

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Tags: airlines, aviation, Boeing 777, Boston, contrails, crash, Malaysia, Mark Garfinkel, Massachusetts, Nahant
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Monday Night’s Almost-Full Moon Over Boston

by markadmin Posted: Wednesday, 10/12/2011

I photographed the magic hour of Monday night’s sunset. To the left of me was the moon and a departing Logan jetliner, and to the right of me was a high altitude transatlantic jet exiting the US east coast. The origin of that flight is unknown, but definitely not Logan.