[Diver Dave]

Modesto is right under the westbound approach pattern for the San Francisco and Oakland airports. That's right about where planes level off at 10,000 feet before approaching SFO or OAK from the south part of the bay.

Yep. I'm about a mile + from the above location and we see the approaching aircraft all the time. Haven't had anything drop here beyond scrub jay's poop.

[Political Junkie Too]

If you look at flight trackers, www.fboweb.com will link to Google Earth. You can watch a flight in near-real-time on Google Earth from any vantage point. You can see exactly where the flight is (or was 5 minutes ago).

They also have an option for all inbound traffic to SFO. The traffic patterns become very apparent.

-PJ