Went to the airport dog park this evening to see the worlds largest airplane, the Antonov, take off. There were several hundred cars already parked on 28th Ave. I found a spot on a side street and brought the dogs into the park using the northern gate. Behind the MAC building were two Serious Photographers with tripods holding thousands of dollars of camera and lenses. They had staked out this spot with a view to the east, assuming a northerly takeoff. They have an inside track, I thought. They know which runway the Antonov is going to use. The rest of the crowd--several hundred people--were lined up at the runway fence on the south side of the property. That would be the obvious place for the best view of a plane taking off east or west. Theyd still see the plane departing to the north, but the two Serious Photographers had the better view. Meanwhile, Pippin was pawing at the ball in the Chuck-It. He wanted to keep playing fetch. I shrugged and continued on up the hill, throwing the ball until we joined the crowd. (Fun to run into Karen Breckner Thill and Rebecca Richardson and their dog Marco there.) After about 15 minutes, we saw the Antonov start rolling west. It picked up speed, becoming larger in our view. The engines roar crescendoed, and the nose of the aircraft came up off the ground. The plane pulled up sharply, affording us a splendid view of its bank of 32 wheels. The cockpit window seemed the size of a bath towel against that massive fuselage. Within seconds, the Antonov had flown off into the sunset. Walking back to the car, we passed the two Serious Photographers as they were packing up their gear. I looked behind me toward the runway--from this vantage point, the view was completely blocked by trees. The Serious Photographers probably didnt get a glimpse of the plane until it was far off and high in the distance. The men fell into step behind us, and sprinkled throughout their subdued conversation I could hear many shoulda coulda wouldas. I have been rewarded many times for bucking the conventional wisdom and striking out on my own. But sometimes, its better to be a lemming.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 03:09:24 +0000