Aviation
I live in a suburb of Phoenix, Az. and work for the local major airline which has its main hub here. We also operate an extensive night operation flying to almost every large city in the USA. This affords me the opportunity to star gaze at high altitudes while taking people to their destinations. The Earth rotates around 800 mph at the USA's latitude so during eastbound flights over the USA while cruising at 500 kts. I get to watch the night sky rise at around 1300 mph and the stars come up quickly. Westbound flights the stars slow to 300 mph (going with the rotation) so you can look at the same object longer. Since my co-pilot is a captive audience he gets to hear me ramble on about the night sky. I presently fly the Airbus fleet so I guess I really am a "Bus" driver. The 5th row down is picture of me when I flew Boeing aircraft. Here are a few examples of my airborne observatories.
A320 Cockpit, Tray out, Side Stick and Over Chicago enroute to JFK @ FL370
Morgan, Tracy and Ashely
A320 Cockpit, Overhead Panel and In Sequence for Take Off
Various Fuselage Shots
Older B737-200 cockpit and Fuselage
B737-300 cockpit
Weather views
Views from the Cockpit
1st image 9-10-01 (note Twin Towers still standing) in Newark and subsequent images
One year later on 9-21-02. Took this image descending into JFK
Route Map
