The True SIZE of an Airliner

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.