Posted on 09/20/2014 3:25:22 PM PDT by rlmorel
Cruising at 37,00 feet eastbound, surfing the Internet, I paused for a second and looked out the window and saw another airliner flash by going 180 degrees in the opposite direction.
I readily admit I am no good at estimating relative distance in the air, I have never seen another plane pass this close...ever.
I could have read the tail number, it was that close, but I was so startled I didn't even register the kind of plane it was, though it was white with an engine under each wing.
Here is where it happened, at 1750 EST:
OMG, I'm swooning.................................................thunk!
Here is where it happened, at 1750 EST:
Where were you flying that they were on Eastern Standard Time?
Thanks...that is why I posted, to get an idea. As I said, I know a bit about aviation apart from being a passenger, and in all my years of being airborne since the mid-sixties, I have never seen an airliner on 180 course pass that close at that altitude, so I had no reference point.
Someone earlier in the thread called me a “drama queen”, and to someone who may have more in-depth knowledge (such as yourself) or to someone who has no knowledge, it might seem like excessive drama.
But I used to be a jet mechanic years ago, and as such, had access to publications that analyzed aircraft accidents long before the age of the Internet allowed us all to be experts on everything, so I knew a bit about how aviation accidents happen (usually not with a catastrophic component failure, but often with a train of avoidable events that culminate in a plane cratering into the ground)
A few seconds of thought after I saw the plane made me pause to consider that it was not an issue and to keep that in mind, but...I wanted to hear what more experienced people think.
No, I had already changed my watch to EST at that point.
Hehehe, didn’t notice that the first time!
No, I had already changed my watch to EST at that point.
Why? We are Daylight Time, not Standard Time.
If it was a 777, even with a thousand ft of vertical separation, it can look closer.
I’m pretty sure you found MH370.
Controller’s coffee break dude!
.
LOL...of course. You are correct. I always refer to it erroneously as EST, and I figure people will calculate in what they need to.
But you are correct.
Years ago, in podunkville, we heard a horrendous sound and looked out our second story window to see a huge passenger plane fly past so close we could see people inside. We watched the news that evening but it was never mentioned.
Ever fly in Russian passenger planes during the 70s? That’ll get your hair raised. They were nothing but WWII cargo planes with broken seats and a red carpet strip (minus the duct tape to hold it in place) down the aisle. Those rusted out tin cans flew low enough to navigate by street signs and would make 90 degree left or right turns and practically stop for red lights. Trees grew in the runways. Burned out skeletons of crashed planes were merely pushed off the edge of runways. 80 year old grandmas would climb on the wing to fuel it up and peek in to guestimate if there was enough to get you to your destination.
All is good if you live to tell about it.
Yikes, I actually jumped at that.
You saw traffic with a 1000' vertical separation.
Said the Gol Airlines pilots to the passengers (rather, north/south)...
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