The View From Above

Last week's trip to Chicago wasn't the first time I'd taken a plane ride, nor was it the first time I'd taken my camera on a trip. But it was the first time I'd combined the two. So while I did take photos of the snow machine in Denver and the equipment I was trained on in Chicago, I took photos inside a plane for the first time.

The return flight from Denver to Salt Lake afforded me a luxury I'd never experienced before - since the flight was "created" just for those of us stranded in Denver due to the weather, there were only 35 people on the plane, a Boeing 757. With so few people, there was plenty of room to stretch out, and we all took advantage of that.

When I checked in that morning, I'd requested a window seat, though it didn't much matter, since I had a whole row to myself!

During taxiing in Denver and through the de-icing operation, the Captain said he'd keep his chatter to a minimum, said he figured we all would just want to sleep. And we did. So it figures that just as I was floating into peaceful slumber, the plane had just banked right to fly up the Salt Lake Valley and on came the pilot to announce our descent. The loudspeaker? About four inches from my right ear. Emphasis on the loud.

That's about the time I realized I hadn't taken any airborne photos. So here are the best ones. Sorry about the haloes around some of the images, it couldn't be helped what with the several layers of non-optical-quality glass between me and the ether.

Next flight will have more photos, though with my luck I'll only fly at night.