Nov 2, 2009
21,000 feet and I am cruising the eastern edge of the Empire somewhere between Bradley and Portland. Traffic is heavy as BVATC is celebrating their 3rd anniversary tonight. In fact, there are probably more sim aircraft in the skies right now than there are in this airspace in real life. The FSX Blue Angels did a tight 4 man diamond flyover of Boston in their sim f-18 aircraft to kick off the event with smoke on and everything. My 7 year old co-pilot was super impressed. "You mean there are real people flying those jets?" Yep. There were.
After the flyover though com was a mess. Imagine 60 or so aircraft all trying to get clearance at the same time. The poor clearance delivery agent was overwhelmed and there were so many radio signals stepping on each other that he eventually gave up and started handing out clearance via instant message. It worked. We were 45 minutes late for departure for our first leg from BOS to BDL, but we all got out. Now at 21,000 feet on the second leg everything is calm and smooth.
It's a full moon out too, and at 21,000 feet you get a perspective on how a full moon really happens that you don't get at ground level. At ground level you don't see the sun and the moon at the same time. At ground level your angle relative to the two doesn't work... you're too low and the sun is below the horizon before the moon rises. At 21,000 feet though you have a different angle and the curvature of the earth isn't in the way anymore. You can clearly see both the sun setting and the moon rising and it becomes obvious that a full moon is caused by the sun shining straight and directly onto it. It only lasts for a few minutes though and soon the sun has dropped below the horizon in a brief but beautiful display of color.
This leg of the trip is nice and calm, but I can already hear Portland approach squaking about incoming traffic. He has 6 heavy aircraft all arriving at the same time of which we are one, and he's busily clearing all the lighter general aviation aircraft out of the way. Just a few more moments to enjoy the view at 21,000 before I tag the seatbelt ON alert and call Portland to check in. "United 35 good evening, sir. Cross ENE at 5000" is all he says.
After the flyover though com was a mess. Imagine 60 or so aircraft all trying to get clearance at the same time. The poor clearance delivery agent was overwhelmed and there were so many radio signals stepping on each other that he eventually gave up and started handing out clearance via instant message. It worked. We were 45 minutes late for departure for our first leg from BOS to BDL, but we all got out. Now at 21,000 feet on the second leg everything is calm and smooth.
It's a full moon out too, and at 21,000 feet you get a perspective on how a full moon really happens that you don't get at ground level. At ground level you don't see the sun and the moon at the same time. At ground level your angle relative to the two doesn't work... you're too low and the sun is below the horizon before the moon rises. At 21,000 feet though you have a different angle and the curvature of the earth isn't in the way anymore. You can clearly see both the sun setting and the moon rising and it becomes obvious that a full moon is caused by the sun shining straight and directly onto it. It only lasts for a few minutes though and soon the sun has dropped below the horizon in a brief but beautiful display of color.
This leg of the trip is nice and calm, but I can already hear Portland approach squaking about incoming traffic. He has 6 heavy aircraft all arriving at the same time of which we are one, and he's busily clearing all the lighter general aviation aircraft out of the way. Just a few more moments to enjoy the view at 21,000 before I tag the seatbelt ON alert and call Portland to check in. "United 35 good evening, sir. Cross ENE at 5000" is all he says.
It's pretty clear he has his hands full.
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