Shadowy craft on a lush planet

Cast a giant shadow
Chicago, IL
May 2012
Thematic. Fly. Here. Thank you.

I have a habit of working in places that are beneath approach paths to major airports. In high school, I always made sure I got a seat by the window so I could see the jets taking off from and landing at Montreal's Dorval - now Pierre Trudeau - airport. I learned plane spotting at an early age, and relished those moments when the teacher would stop talking to allow the deafening roar of fully-throttled aircraft to fade into the distance.

I was reminded of that earlier this week as I sat at my desk and worked away on one of my newly assigned projects. We're located a few kilometres west of Toronto's Pearson airport. A clearly large plane flew overhead, and I could practically feel the thrum of its high bypass turbofans straining to pull the craft free of the earth. It was a cloudy day, so I couldn't really see much. But I smiled at the memory all the same. Planes rule.

This particular plane, the 777 that had carried me from Shanghai to the very middle of the American heartland, rules as well. I was kind of glad I got to shoot its shadow as we approached O'Hare, and I quietly hoped the folks on the ground down there were looking up thinking much the same thing.

Your turn: What do you think when you look up and see a plane?