Airplane in the Rain: Photo of the Day

I will admit as a child to loving every disaster movie made during the mid to late 70s. Poseidon Adventure, King Kong, Towering Inferno and Earthquake. Above all else the series of movies that were about airplanes titled Airport. There was at least 5-6 of these made about every two years. There even was a spoof of these movies that was popular as well; the Airplane series of movies was equally popular maybe even more so.

The best of this series in my childhood memory was Airport ‘77 which had the plane crashing into the water and resting some 60 feet below the surface. I remember all of my friends discussing this for months after we were first able to watch this movie on TV. Some may not know, but there wasn’t any DVD’s or VCR’s back then. A first-run wasn’t seen until well after it exited the theater and “sold” to television for the “Movie of the Week”

Another memory etched in my mind of an earlier film, I remember the scene of Charlton Heston tight-roping across a line to get into the cockpit in Airport ’75. The first Airport I don’t remember being that riveting, with a bomb threat being used to captivate us. I believe the series ended with Airport ’79 crashing into the snow, the plane changed then and the series died. Substituting out the 747 for the then faster than sound Concorde STS. For a decade though the 747 was THE plane if you were a kid.

Even though in the movies the plane was destroyed it still didn’t matter. I still was infatuated with the 747 and it signified to my adolescent brain that an adventure was going to take place! 30+ years past that point I still can’t help but think when I see a 747, something big and adventurous was going to take place. I’m sure this might sound odd I still feel that way about the Titanic, another great submersible from years before.

Though I currently fly quite often and have been in many different aircraft I to this day have never been in a 747. That adventure has never happened for me. I’ve seen them on the runway, watched them take off, but have never been close to one.

While walking through the Detroit Metro Airport today parked patiently waiting for passengers to embark on that adventure that I have longed for was not one, but two 747s. Who knew that their safety net was in Detroit Metro

Like the excited kid that I still get on occasion I just had to stop and gape. Seeing the little bubble where the first class cabin is as well as the cockpit where the pilots fly, it was as beautiful up close as it was in the movies or on the runway. While standing there gaping at my good fortune, I almost forgot to flip out the camera and snap a few pictures. This one through the rain is my favorite.

Panasonic LX3