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A few moments ago, I was sitting here at my desk, typing away at my workstation when I heard a noisy jet across the road. That's not unusual, really. Being close to a runway at a busy airport, one gets used to hearing the planes taking off and landing in the background. Sometimes, like just now, some are somewhat louder than others. Many of the loud ones tend to be from foreign airlines and sometimes they're even older model planes. While it's by no means like trainspotting, I tend to look just in case it's some obscure airline from some far off land.
This time it wasn't. It was big United plane. Nothing particularly special. I watched it lumber along the runway and take off to the north. As I was turning back to the workstation a *very* loud jet engine sound filled the office. I turned back just in time to see another United plane, a 777, fly over. It was only a few hundred feet up at best and flew over the building next door, banking into what looked to be a fairly sharp right turn. That's not a normal path for the planes to take at all. As it went past I could see what was presumably a door on one of the landing gear wells closing up. Actually, it looked larger than one of those, but the angle and proximity may have messed with the perspective.
I turned on the aviation band radio, but of course, both planes were out of sight by then. I did hear the controller hand off plane #1 to Potomac departure and shortly thereafter another plane was given clearance to land. After a few minutes, a United 777 landed over there with the same (and rather common) paint scheme as the one that flew over.
Now the second plane *could* have taken off from the cross runway, but looking over there, the planes on that runway are taking off to the northwest, not the southeast. To me, it really looks like plane #2 was coming in to land just as plane #1 was taking off and ended up aborting the landing. Both the one that took off and the one that was given permission to land shortly after it had flight numbers that began with 9.
Oh, and shortly after all this, there was a different controller handling the traffic on the runway.
Sometimes working next to an airport is interesting.
This time it wasn't. It was big United plane. Nothing particularly special. I watched it lumber along the runway and take off to the north. As I was turning back to the workstation a *very* loud jet engine sound filled the office. I turned back just in time to see another United plane, a 777, fly over. It was only a few hundred feet up at best and flew over the building next door, banking into what looked to be a fairly sharp right turn. That's not a normal path for the planes to take at all. As it went past I could see what was presumably a door on one of the landing gear wells closing up. Actually, it looked larger than one of those, but the angle and proximity may have messed with the perspective.
I turned on the aviation band radio, but of course, both planes were out of sight by then. I did hear the controller hand off plane #1 to Potomac departure and shortly thereafter another plane was given clearance to land. After a few minutes, a United 777 landed over there with the same (and rather common) paint scheme as the one that flew over.
Now the second plane *could* have taken off from the cross runway, but looking over there, the planes on that runway are taking off to the northwest, not the southeast. To me, it really looks like plane #2 was coming in to land just as plane #1 was taking off and ended up aborting the landing. Both the one that took off and the one that was given permission to land shortly after it had flight numbers that began with 9.
Oh, and shortly after all this, there was a different controller handling the traffic on the runway.
Sometimes working next to an airport is interesting.