kemmer

... by an airplane!

I really do hate my new commute. My company moved us west of the airport adding 5-7 miles to my commute for a total of 20-22 miles, depending on the route. I'm forced to ride on high speed roads with heavy semi truck usage for several miles no matter what route I choose.

The only cool part is the bike path that goes around the airport. It runs a 2 or 3 hundred feet from the end of the runways, but that's plenty close! I have been trying to time it so that the planes go over my head as I'm passing the runways, but it's hard to estimate their speed accurately so I usually miss them or have to go really slow and wait for them. Today I finally got it just right. I had underestimated the speed of the plane so I found myself in a mad sprint to get to the right spot. There I was at the end of the runway, pedaling like a madman when the plane screamed by over my head, a bit lower than usual. Had there been anyone around I might have looked pretty silly screaming wooooohoooo as I settled back on my seat, let go of the handle bars and coasted away from the end of the runway, exhausted from my sprint. Yay! It almost makes the ****ty part of the ride worth it!

chipcom 

You need to take a centerish altitude so the plane sees you and give the pilot an arm signal and steely-eyed stare so he knows your intentions and yields for you.

Ginny

Holy ***** that sounds fun.
Sorry about the semi-traffic.
Please be extra careful there, we don't want to read later. . .

vtjim

Did he give you 3 feet at least? (Between landing gear and your head, I mean.) If not, let me know and I'll have him tracked down and shot.

So how big are these planes? You know about wake turbulence, right?

huhenio

I ride by San Antonio airport, I wave to airplanes.

kemmer

Woah, I don't think it's THAT close. Those are the types of planes we're talking about but in reality it's more like 300 feet from the Tarmac, the planes touch down considerably farther away. Still, it is close enough that I feel them going by, it's quite a rush!

kemmer

Haha, I'm just waiting for HH to come in here and tell me what I was doing wrong.

vtjim

Obviously you failed to tune CTAF and state your intentions. Wait, what airport is this? Did you have a mode C transponder? (Sorry, this is all pilot geekery. I'll stop now.)

JR97

I suppose you're talking about Salt Lake International? Where does the bike path start and end? Sounds like a fun ride to take my kids on.

kokomo61

Gravelly Point on the Mt. Vernon Trail is always fun...... (and LOUD).

vtjim

Hey I was just thinking about Gravelly Point. I went there a a few times (on a bike) when I lived in Arlington. It was a fun place to plane-watch. I'm kind of amazed they haven't closed it off to lowly civilians, given how jumpy they are these days.

kemmer

Just follow North Temple west until it ends. There is a gate at the end of the road that takes you into airport property. there are signs that say "no stopping or standing" but I'm not sure how much they enforce that. I saw a guy changing a flat once and there were no guys with machine guns descending on him or anything.

Allen

Top Gear video of a 747 blasting cars off the tarmac

kemmer

Yep, it's very much like that but maybe even closer.

kemmer

Top gear ****ing rules. I'm more sure of it now than ever before.

Maybe the semi trucks are better than the 747s after all.

mirage1

Ooh, thank you for that! I used to teach aircraft maintenance and had a similar video with a 747 blowing a stepvan over, but this one is a little more fun. The aircraft I worked on "only" had about 44K lbs of thrust per engine, though.

I'll have to pass this on.

JumboRider

You need to watch Pushing Tin.

cgchambers

+ 1

I pass Gravelly Point everyday on my commute. It is cool to watch, but get's very loud after a while. It is crazy in the winter when it is dark in the mornings, the landing lights are BRIGHT in the morning, and the flashers at the end of the runway will leave you seeing spots for a while.