# Mystery Airplanes in NYC from Google Earth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851 "2013-01-11T12:43:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/1 "2013-01-11T12:43:05Z")
This was linked through a current Yahoo story, but it’s fascinating. There have been captures of airplanes in weird places found by people browsing Google Earth. In some cases, it’s just a low-flying plane that the satellite picks up, which happens to fit into the scenery below without overlapping. The Brooklyn plane seems to be one of these. But the other two look to be real, since there is foliage and water waves over the plane. I’m particularly intrigued by that submerged plane. Unless it’s some sort of “double exposure”, that looks like a sunken plane off a New York beach [http://untappedcities.com/newyork/2010/07/23/somebodys-hiding-a-plane-in-bushwick/](http://untappedcities.com/newyork/2010/07/23/somebodys-hiding-a-plane-in-bushwick/) > **[More Mystery Airplanes on Google Maps: In a Yard, Under the Sea](https://www.gawker.com/5595143/more-mystery-airplanes-on-google-maps-in-a-yard-under-the-sea)** > > Following our earlier post about the enormous airplane in the middle of Brooklyn on Google Maps, readers sent in other airplane apparitions. One appears to be a real airplane, hidden in someone's yard. The other appears to be underwater. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/2 "2013-01-11T13:50:42Z")
The submerged one doesn’t show up in the current Google maps so might have been an artefact of some kind. The one in the foliage looks legitimate. The current photo shows the same aeroplane but with more foliage. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/3 "2013-01-11T13:55:26Z")
Is the “submerged airplane” not a reflection on the surface of the water? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/4 "2013-01-11T14:01:10Z")
I doubt it. Rough water doesn’t give a defined reflection like that. I think it is more likely a ghost image of the real aeroplane that might have been not far away in the original photo. Unfortunately the photo has been updated. I remember an old thread on this stuff a few years back and one “submerged” aeroplane was very clearly a ghost image. Edit: There is an airport not far away with runways lined up nicely with the aeroplane’s orientation. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/5 "2013-01-11T14:14:30Z")
If you have Google Earth, put the lat/long for the submerged aeroplane, click the historical imagery icon, and go back to a photo taken on the 21st of January 2005. There is a B747 in that exact position but it is obviously flying above the water. My guess is that it is some kind of merge between that image and a later one. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-airplanes-in-nyc-from-google-earth/646851/6 "2013-01-11T17:37:59Z")
I’ve seen other places where there is a “ghost” effect from overlapping photos; Google’s photo mosaic is not all lined up edge-to-edge. I would assume these are the same thing.