Sunday, October 22, 2023

Short Final to 22 Left


After we picked up Liz at JFK we drove home north on the Cross Island Parkway headed up to the Long Island Expressway.  This aircraft is on final approach to runway 22 left and is low because it is only 2 miles from landing.  There is a really cool thing that happens in some kinds of weather.  When the wind is from the south, JFK is landing aircraft on this runway and the thing is that the final approach path is right above the Cross Island Parkway for about 2 miles.  What is really cool is when the cloud ceiling is really low, you are driving north on the parkway, and suddenly a aircraft on final approach which is descending to land suddenly comes out of the clouds just above the parkway.  That is awesome! And as you can see it is impressive even on a clear day!

 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I would be a little nervous if I looked up and saw this above my car! Betsey

Anonymous said...

A little too close for comfort for me. Scary!
Joan

Anonymous said...

Interesting information about the flight pattern and the weather. It would be a little nerve wracking to look up and see the plane so close especially if you didn't know it was supposed to be there. Trace

Ken Spencer said...

If you think that THIS was low, I will tell you about an even COOLER place to be, that I found right after I arrived on Long Island. There is a road that goes by the approach end of a different runway, Runway 13 left, one of the longer runways at JFK. At the time, it was not a really main road and there was dirt and beat up grass on either side of it. So if I was early to the airport for an assignment or to pick someone up, I would drive the road, and when I got to the end of the runway I would pull over on the dirt and get our of the car and when the planes came over they were less than 200 feet above me! Man oh man, do you think that was a thrill, or what! It was awesome. The road is still there but they have added curbs to the road and there is no way to pull over, and of course 9/11 happened so any parked car where it shouldn't be would be spotted by police and that would be a deal!