I just don't talk about cars and trucks within the All The Rods realm as planes will at times get equal billing. Having said that, I'm pretty stoked to see the new offering from Disney which is known as 'Planes' or as I've seen in a few locations 'Cars with wings'. I already know that the critics have savaged this new movie but that won't be enough to keep me away. From what I've read, the plot is fairly close to 'Cars 2' which came out in 2011. I'm not going to give too much away here. It appears that cars are part of this movie as well. For me, my interest mostly lies beyond the general story and more with the way that each plane is characterized.
I adored 'Cars' when it first came out back in 2006. I've even gone as far as buying the DVD and collecting quite a bit of the diecasts that were offered by various stores. Disney definitely made their money on me as I also collected Cars dishes and towels among other things. I don't think I'm going to go quite as nuts this go-round but we'll see.
My interest in planes came about in a strange way actually. Soon after I had become a car addict, I began a slow-growing passion for planes...
I had flown before but the last time I stepped foot on a plane was September 9, 2001. I had flown to Massachusetts (Boston's Logan airport to be exact) on September 7, 2001. I was up there visiting with friends. The weather was gorgeous that weekend and plenty of fun was had by all. I stepped onto the flight to head back home on Sunday, never imagining the hell that was to be unleashed on us in a couple of days.
September 11 was a day that sticks in many minds and it is still never far from mine. I was in the process of starting a job on the night shift at my company and my body was still on first shift hours as I awoke that morning. I signed onto the computer to start my day and came to realize that life would never be the same again as I read one horror story after another, regarding planes being flown deliberately into buildings as well as one into an empty field. I felt like I was in a bad dream, one which as much as I tried I could not awaken from. To make matters worse, a couple of the flights that had been flown into the Twin Towers had left from the same airport that mere days ago, I had also flown out of. Also the friends whom I had just visited lost friends of theirs on both of those flights. (Flight 11 & Flight 175.)
Like the rest of the country, I was glued to CNN for days, watching the aftermath of this disaster. At that time, I was a nervous flyer at best and knowing what I knew then, I became someone who was deathly afraid of flying. At that time, I was locked in my fear so deeply that any trips I would take thereafter would only be via car. I think the fact that planes had flown out of Logan to crash into the World Trade Centers really left quite an impression on me. I could not stop personalizing this and the nightmares were plentiful.
Right around this time, the National Geographic Channel on TV was airing a show called 'Seconds From Disaster' in which an accident, a bombing or some other tragedy was highlighted. Each episode would break down what happened, how it happened and the scientifics behind it. As 2002 rolled around, some plane crashes were also featured on this show such as Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 as well as many others. I began to absorb all I could, learning about why some planes crashed and the safety inventions that had been implemented to ensure that such accidents would never occur again. Around this time, the channel was running another program called 'Air Emergency', also known as 'Mayday' or 'Air Crash Investigation'.
As the years wore on, I began to find more of this sort of programming online especially on You Tube. I began to watch these shows with avid interest, gaining knowledge on what made these planes crash and how some folks managed to survive them. I think that the knowing how these accidents happened went a long way in lessening my fears. I began to learn new terminology as well. And as I have a mind for memorizing dates and other information, I could recite the history of a lot of these crashes. These programs would show the crashes, what led to these and even have interviews with some of the survivors. Along with all of this, I became interested in different types of jets and could tell the difference between a 747 and an L1011. I don't feel confident enough or know enough to build a plane from scratch but can appreciate the majesty that the Concorde or an Airbus A380 brings.
As my interest in planes picked up, I wandered around You Tube, watching documentaries on such things as The Concorde and the 747. (As an aside, the plane that I most wanted to travel on was the Concorde because for some time, their safety record was excellent. This was well before the crash in France in 2000.)
A couple of years ago, MacDill Air Force Base had their annual Air Fest. (This program was sadly ended due to government funding cuts.) I braved the rainy and windy weather in late March 2010 to attend this. The Blue Angels were supposed to be there but cancelled due to the weather. I took a lot of photos that day as a good portion of planes and jets were open to the public. I was able to climb onto the Coast Guard's C130 Hercules as well as the Stratofortress. At that time, I began to appreciate the beauty of these immense machines. My favorite part of the whole day was a demonstration using a C17. We were not allowed on it but instead the pilots took it up for a flyover. What a beautiful plane!
The plane in the photo above is a C17. This is the cargo jet that carries such things as tanks, trucks, ammo, tanks and at times soldiers. To see something this massive flying so gracefully is something that I love to witness.
Below are some of my photos from Air Fest 2010....
B52 in shot above. Also known as the Stratofortress
The above shots are of the C17 taken at Air Fest 2010.
The above photos are of another favorite, the Coast Guard's C130 Hercules. I loved seeing this amazing Rod of the Sky close up. The public was invited to tour this one as well. The local Coast Guard Air Station is located at the St. Pete Clearwater Airport and has the honor of being featured many times on the Weather Channel's 'Coast Guard Florida' program. There are about 4-5 C130s at this station at a given time. They are also out and about flying over. I see them often while I'm on break at my day job. You can always tell when they are near due to the steady and constant thrum of their four props beating against the sky. Like an old Volkswagon Beetle, they have their own distinct sound.
A good friend of mine uses a phrase that would be pertinent here, 'what used to curse has come to bless', meaning that something that once filled me with terror and fear has taken on a life of its own. I no longer fear flying as I once used to. I just haven't had an opportunity to fly anywhere lately. I no longer fear planes or jets and now find myself looking skyward on a daily basis. It doesn't hurt that my home is in the flight path for Tampa International Airport. I tend to see a lot of the gorgeous Southwest Airlines planes coming over.
Above is the gorgeous Southwest jet. Whenever one is flying over, it's hard to miss.
Another thing that I would love to explore is Plane Spotting. This is where people will gather at some of the larger airports with bigger planes and the airlines with more international flights. With more international jet traffic will come bigger and more unusual jets in an array of colors. I once read an article on CNN about this and it sounded like something really cool. The people who do this are normally found outside nearby the runways, where they gather to take a lot of photos of the planes they see. You can find tons of these videos on You Tube. There are also great websites dedicated to planespotting as well as airline information. My favorite site is NYCAviation.com. They also have a great Facebook page. If you're interested in aircraft in general, there are many blogs on Tumblr and dozens of Facebook pages dedicated to this.
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