PhilDernerJr
12-20-2007, 11:39 AM
Whenever I see or am near a plane, my mind constantly struggles to comprehend its true size.
When we spot, we usually see the planes from a fair distance with the sky as a backdrop. It's difficult to gauge or understand how big it may be up there with nothing to compare it to.
When on the ramp, it is also difficult to get a feel for how tall or long a plane might be when you're next to a giant terminal or on an open ramp or airfield.
Unfortunately, the only times you can ever get a good grasp of its size for comparison is when a plane is somewhere that it shouldn't be.
http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ua826/photo.shtml
Seen here, the tail of this United DC-8 pretty much takes up the whole street intersection. If upright, its height would match the four-floor apartment building behind it.
And that's just a DC-8, which isn't that big of a plane compared to several others. I stood next to the A380, and you look up at the tail and though I was told it's 79 feet high, I can't imagine a building that tall in my head next to it being the same measurement. No way. Not possible. My mind struggles again.
This honestly has a LOT to do with my fascination of aviation. That humans made something this large that can fly and go so fast all over the world.
When we spot, we usually see the planes from a fair distance with the sky as a backdrop. It's difficult to gauge or understand how big it may be up there with nothing to compare it to.
When on the ramp, it is also difficult to get a feel for how tall or long a plane might be when you're next to a giant terminal or on an open ramp or airfield.
Unfortunately, the only times you can ever get a good grasp of its size for comparison is when a plane is somewhere that it shouldn't be.
http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ua826/photo.shtml
Seen here, the tail of this United DC-8 pretty much takes up the whole street intersection. If upright, its height would match the four-floor apartment building behind it.
And that's just a DC-8, which isn't that big of a plane compared to several others. I stood next to the A380, and you look up at the tail and though I was told it's 79 feet high, I can't imagine a building that tall in my head next to it being the same measurement. No way. Not possible. My mind struggles again.
This honestly has a LOT to do with my fascination of aviation. That humans made something this large that can fly and go so fast all over the world.