# what sort of interesting things do pilots see out of their windows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814 "2009-01-24T18:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/41 "2009-01-26T16:21:18Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > Don’t have to be a pilot to see it, but I saw a farmer who had arranged rocks in one of his fields into the word… > > “FUCK”. A quarter mile across. Is [URL= “[Google Maps](http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&t=k&ll=53.538699,-1.346649&spn=0.001042,0.001837&t=k)”]this it? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/42 "2009-01-26T18:17:37Z")
I’ve got a few pictures that I’ll try to post later. For now, [this website](http://forums.jetcareers.com/pictures-road/) usually has interesting stuff in their pics-from-the-road section. Enjoy ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/43 "2009-01-26T19:12:27Z")
I used to fly in my brother’s Grumman American Tiger (light single with great visibility) in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (clouds, basically) and one of the coolest things is the sense of speed when entering a lumpy undercast from above. When you’re in cruise there’s not much sensation of speed, more of a a map-scroll feeling as the ground or undercast rolls by underneath you. But when you descend there is suddenly a great feeling of, “Hey! We really ARE going 120 mph!” You’re suddenly flying through great pillars of clouds interspersed with gaping white canyons all streaking by you. Lovely. The other really thrilling thing to see from the front is breaking out from an overcast on an instrument approach at near minimums. You’ve been flying along for a while with the feeling that your windscreen has maybe been painted with light gray paint and suddenly, BOINK, there’s this runway just ahead of you, lights on, and you’re lined up for landing, dead on center. That’s a magical moment. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/44 "2009-01-27T09:01:25Z")
No point in talking about those kinds of things as pilots are all tired of the reactions and generally are to smart to do something that might jeopardize their livelihood. Besides, unknown, unidentified and extraterrestrial are all different things… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/45 "2009-01-27T16:48:49Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > I am not a pilot, I’m a passenger. I’ve always meant to ask a pilot this, but never really had the opportunity. Once in the early 90’s I was flying East from California over the Rockies and was looking out the window when suddenly a leer jet type plane went zooming by going the other direction. Close enough that I could read the number on the tail. It was slightly lower than us, like 100 feet, but still close. I’ve always wondered, did I witness a near miss, or is that not uncommon? I once saw another airliner, going in the reciprocal direction to mine, zoom past my left side window. Yes it can be hard to judge distances up there, but it certainly looked much closer than the 5 mile limit-in other words it’s likely both you and I had just witnessed an air traffic control “deal”. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/46 "2009-01-27T22:35:31Z")
Back when you could still legally fly down in the Grand Canyon. [This was a fun day.](http://www1.webng.com/dragon43/gtdcn2a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814/47 "2009-01-30T17:03:31Z")
You could always have a trawl through the photo search engine at [airliners.net](http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=&airlinesearch=&countrysearch=&specialsearch=window_view&daterange=&keywords=&range=&sort_order=&page_limit=15&thumbnails=&calccount=1374551&truecount=false&engine_version=6.0) - the air-to-air and ‘window view’ categories have some corkers. The ‘most popular’ section is also good for some really nice views like [this]([http://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Express-(SkyWest/Canadair-CL-600-2B19-Regional/1035200/L/)](http://www.airliners.net/photo/United-Express-(SkyWest/Canadair-CL-600-2B19-Regional/1035200/L/)) or [this](http://www.airliners.net/photo/Continental-Airlines/Boeing-777-224-ER/0413204/L/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-interesting-things-do-pilots-see-out-of-their-windows/482814.md?page=2)