near misses...

TheShortOne

Well-Known Member
So, today John and I had to race my roommate's passport to her because she was flying home to Tiwan and forgot it...anyway, on the way leaving the airport an American Airlines DC9 flies over the street to land. John is driving, starts oogling the plane thinking (outloud) "i didn't know AA was still flying DC9's" and I look in front, and all the cars are stopped and we're still going full steam ahead. I yell, he hits the breaks, we come within a hair of rear ending the car in front of us. Now, my question to all you pilot types out there is, how many of you have almost wrecked a car/yourself because you were oogling a plane?? is this a regular occurance???
 
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Now, my question to all you pilot types out there is, how many of you have almost wrecked a car/yourself because you were oogling a plane?? is this a regular occurance???

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Happens all the time. My wife hates driving with me. You would think that I would get enough of airplanes at work.. Nope!
 
Well, I wasn't looking at a plane, but I was talking about one, last night when I rear ended two undercover cops.
 
Drove right into the median on I-5 while watching a crop duster, no damage to truck, but I did cause the death of some indigenous plant life. Wife went balsitic, now hits me everytime I look up while driving.
 
Happens all the time. Whether we're walking, driving, at the beach, wherever - if a plane flies overhead, I'm lookin. Drives my wife insane!! Never had any mishaps so far, however. Damn close a few times, though. Hey Kostcoguy- you really hit 2 cops? How'd that turn out??
 
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starts oogling the plane thinking (outloud) "i didn't know AA was still flying DC9's

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They don't...it had to have been an F100 or MD-80. Technically, I guess the MD-80 series is the DC-9-80, but is not popularly recognized as such. Case in point, my father has a DC-9 type rating, although he only flew the MD-88/90.
 
Happens to me all the time...used to be just with jets, but since I started flying myself I get almost more excited with GA aircraft.

Oh, and AA only flies the new and improved DC-9...the MD-80--and with like 400 or so in their fleet, I imagine he will be able to oogle them for many years to come. They are beautiful planes.
 
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anyway, on the way leaving the airport an American Airlines DC9 flies over the street to land.

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I don't think AA flys DC-9s. It would have to be a MD80
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Yeah either an MD-80 (DC-9 on steroids as we called them at CAL) or an F-100.

And skibum, my girlfriend would agree with you ... she gets really freaky about me driving her car anywhere near an airport because I'll start gawking. Happened this past weekend as a matter of fact, out at IAH.

FL270
 
I used to gawk at the planes all the time when I'd drive, but now that I have a car seat in the back, I tend to be a little more careful. I just can't risk getting in a wreck with the baby in the car just so I can stare at the planes.
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I don't know about wrecks, but I'm sure I've caused some near misses. This one time on I-5 some guy was watching me and ran off into the median.



(Hehe, okay, just joking. Twasn't I.)
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But I do see cars ogling all the time. I wouldn't be surprised if that does happen one day.
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ok after reading the fact that AA doesn't in fact fly DC9's he realizes that it is a F100 (tonight before reading this actually) and it looked like a DC9-30 (him talking not me)
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which is why he was confused and not paying attention and almost wrecking my car
 
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... which is why he was confused and not paying attention and almost wrecking my car

[/ QUOTE ]Funny, I was driving her car when I did this. Must be a trait of the highly intelligent pilot that we only gawk at airplanes when driving our girlfriends' cars!

FL270
 
Yes, almost did the rear ender myself. My girlfriend always says, " boy, you think youv'e never seen a plane before". EXACT words. I'm not sure, maybe I've never seen one, I better look, just to make sure!!
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I'm also famous for every bit of camcorder footage I shoot, if an aircraft is over head, the smart moneys on I'll zoom in on it. It's funny too when you watch the footage back, and here is someone goofing at the picnic, and then slowly the camera start's moving over and up and the next thing you know there's something with wings(or rotors) in it! It has now become a trademark. We need to have some fun.

Oh, I think I hear a twin eng...............
 
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My girlfriend always says, " boy, you think youv'e never seen a plane before".

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Funny, last night my freinds dad was driving us to his sons house for a sleepover, and we drove past the airport, and a US Airways 737 flew overhead on approach to KPIT....i called out "hey, look out your left window!", and my buddy goes "wow, i dont think we've ever seen one of those before..."

But, fortunatley i cant drive yet, so i can stare and gawk all i want!
 
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ok after reading the fact that AA doesn't in fact fly DC9's he realizes that it is a F100 (tonight before reading this actually) and it looked like a DC9-30 (him talking not me)
tongue.gif
which is why he was confused and not paying attention and almost wrecking my car

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It's really easy to tell the difference between a F-100 and a DC-9/MD-80. The Fokker has oval-shaped windows and the tail cone (when viewed from the side) is a sharp corner on the top and curves in on the bottom. A DC-9/MD-80 has more squared-off windows and the tail cone either comes to a point or it's flat on the end.
 
heh, actually the thing that really confused me was that it looked like a DC-9 but it was so short. It didn't even occur to me until later in the day that it was an F-100 and not like a DC-9-10. That's why I thought DC-9 instead of the MD series, 'cause it was so short.

We're taking my van to her family's Christmas today
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Cheers


John Herreshoff
 
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