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Those long-distance flights to Asia out of JFK typically fly right over my house in Southern Connecticut. I have an app called Flight Tracker which will identify planes coming overhead and tell me where they are coming from, where they are going and even show current altitude, airspeed and other info. It's pretty amazing that kind of information is available through a phone app. Typically they are just getting to 20,000 feet when they come over my house and they will have 12 or more hours of flight time to go. The path takes them over Canada, Alaska and then down the Aleutians towards Asia.

However, the long distance flights that impress me most are the Air Force bombers that can take off at a base in Nebraska, cross the Atlantic, drop their bombs and then fly all the way back home without having to stop. This was going on during the Gulf wars. I'm pretty sure they are re-fueled mid-air but that's still impressive.

Imagine being a pilot on one of those planes and after landing, stopping for a steak dinner on the way home. Must be kind of surreal sitting there at an Outback in the middle of America, having just dropped a bunch of bombs over Iraq or Afghanistan. All in a days work.