It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a plane! It's a plane!

  

Nice little article in The Leader this week about Teterboro Airport which is, like, right outside my window.

 I don't mind living near an airport or two. (I'm also in the flight path of Newark-Liberty.) Planes were always a passion of mind.

 Growing up in Rosedale, Queens (a couple of miles from MikeyMike) planes landing at Idlewild Airport (later JFK) were so low over our houses we could see the passengers waving to us!

 If you were talking on the phone to someone else who lived in town, you would often hear the plane twice. Once over the phone, as it passed over their house, and then again when it passed over your own.

 Of course, there are downsides to living so close to an airport but for the most part it has never really bothered me. Here in Wood-Ridge things aren't so bad. In Rosedale, things in the house would shake.

 Do you or have you ever lived near an airport? What was it like?

 In Rosedale, I recall one afternoon when were sitting in the driveway with members of my family. A plane passed over head and my mother screamed, "Did you see that woman on the plane wave to me?"

 And my Aunt Irene said, "I saw her earrings!"

(Poster by Mike Machat available at allposters.com.)

Comments

[terrip]

I grew up on the southwest side of Indianapolis where the airport is. Remember going out on the playground and seeing planes come in. Later you could always see a FedEx plane landing as we have a hub here.

When I moved back about a year ago we moved to the opposite side of town (about 30miles or 45 minutes as traffic goes) and I thought well at least we won't hear the planes. They literally moved our airport and opened the new one in November. The descent path comes straight over the northeast side of town and straight over where I live. Guess you never really get too far from them-it is whether you know they are there or not.

I have often dreamt about planes and awoke this morning from a dream about a plane that looked like nothing I've seen before but more stealth looking than cargo plane. Must have been the UFO posting of the last couple of days. I often dream of huge crashes...this time it was a near miss and the crew landed this interesting plane next to the building I was teaching a class in and they six or seven of them that were in the front window looking as they almost crashed and just landed hard - got out and smoked cigerettes. Do you guys have airplane dreams? Are they supposed to mean something special?

[lwt]

back in 1971-77 i worked in the ground show at old rhinebeck aerodrome. i would drive up friday night and camp out on the runway. of course the old and reproduction biplane and triplane sounded a lot different than commercial jets. but when you are on the runway itself, they seem as if they are about to land on the roof of the van. i am far enough away from newark that i am not in a flight pattern. one of my favorite things about driving south on the turnpike at dusk was watching the planes in their holding patterns. with the lights shining, it looked like a string of diamonds. as soon as one had passed overhear, another was taking its place. i had occasion to travel the pike just after 9/11. the planes were still grounded. it was eerie not seeing them.

[lwt]

biplanes, plural

[Nutley Nancy : )]

terri, your dream sounds very freudian (sexual) to me,
esp. with the cigarettes afterwards! :P

("interesting" new guy with erectile dysfunction perhaps?
six or seven new guys, hard landing?)

scratching my chin : )
tell me more.

dang i wish i had dreams like yours!!!

[Nutley Nancy : )]

terri check out this page. didn't you say you just accepted a new teaching position here somewhere?

...."In that sense it relates to your priorities and changes within them because often a wish to achieve something quickly means that you put less effort into something else. But planes can relate to more long term goals such as your ambitions and careers. Finally a plane may simply suggest that you are realising that things in general can happen very quickly."...
(see link)
http://www.geocities.com/hairybobby2000/dreamessayplane.html

[Maria]

Growing up in Hasbrouck Heights, and now living in Maywood, I'm so used to the planes I didn't even think I heard them anymore. But it was amazing how quiet it was after 9/11, and then how startling it was when they started flying again. And it was SO creepy driving on Route 46 after the plane overshot the runway and hit the building across the street. That really made it hit home how close those things really are. I still cringe when I have to drive that stretch of highway.

Strange but true story, though...my friend lives in Heights, one block west of Route 17. She got a brand-new arty-fartsy dishwasher a few years back, and it kept breaking for no apparant reason. After several service calls, they finally determined that signals from the airport were interfering with the electronic panel on the dishwasher. She had to trade it in for a different model with fewer electronic features. Makes you wonder...

[Lanie]

I went to college in Plattsburgh, 3 miles from the old Air Force Base. It is now closed, but back then, it was in use. We would be walking to class, chatting away, and a fighter plane would fly overhead, so loud that it would drown out everything else. We quickly got used to pausing our conversation rather than trying to yell over the noise!

[Al, Rutherford]

I grew up in South Hackensack, right in the landing path of Teterboro.
I was a child of 8 during the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1962, and at catechism class, Sister told us to pray to God that the Cubans and Russians didn't bomb us. So..... every time I heard a plane overhead (and in those days, there were no jets landing in Teterboro), I was terriried that it was a Cuban or Russian bomber. How nice of Sister to put those errifying ideas into our little heads !

[evelyn]

I spent much of my childhood in Rutherford, where Teterboro was the location for a class trip. At the time, there was one aluminum Quonset hut for a hanger, and the largest planes flying out of there might have two engines and hold six people. BUT there were rumors that the PA wanted to open it up to larger planes and especially jets, which got the neighbors up in arms. At the time, much of the area had fond memories of working at Bendix Aviation during WWII, so it really was the first time that many of them had a problem with the airport. I can remember back in the 1960's that we used to have to stop talking in school for a moment as those early Teterboro jets flew over. Now the jets are quieter and the noise less noticeable, unless something like 9/11 allows us to hear what the skies without aircraft really sound like. FWIW, Larry grew up in Rosedale, and lived in Laurelton when we were dating, and I remember just how loud and low those planes were. Not pleasant. I used to live under the flight path of Teterboro in Teaneck, while working off Huyler St. in South Hackensack (about two blocks from where the plane hit the warehouse)and I used to dread bad weather, waiting for something to happen when someone misjudged their altitude. UGH!

[terrip]

Thanks Nancy and guys...I did take a full time teaching job and kept the one online that pays almost as much part time so with two jobs almost full time I make almost a third of what I made in manufacturing sales....I'm afraid probably not more personal meaning...but nice thought!

[Tom McAdam]

I grew up across the street from my kindergarten teacher. Does this count?

[lwt]

only if her name was enola gay.