I was in my back yard yesterday, walking my new puppy and minding my own business, as a Lear Jet (looking aircraft) flew over my neighborhood, at what I guesstimate to be a magnetic heading of 030, at 7,500 feet, accellerating. Judging by his outbound trajectory, I'd say he'd just taken off from Love Field (not hardly) or Addison Airfield (most likely). So, I watched him as he passed over; low enough and slow enough for me to see the windows on the plane, I'm a wing-nut, so I continued to watch.

After about 15 seconds, as he began to disappear into the haze, I saw (what I thought was the lear jet) make an abrupt climbing move, followed by a pretty sharp right bank. I thought to myself, "I wonder what made him make such an aggressive maneuver?"

As he got closer, I could see that the jet that made the aggressive climb and back, was not the learjet, but a Boeing 737 that on approach... The jet I saw make this maneuver must've been on an inbound heading of 210 or 212.

I could tell you the name of the carrier, but I won't for fear of being sued; but- I can tell you this; from where I was standing, if either of those pilots had been "lunching", I would have had front-row seats to a mid-air collision, of which some of it, probably would have come to rest in my back yard, maybe a little over or under...

I didn't know a plane that big, could move like that... As he banked towards the northwest, I could hear the roar of the engines (usually, the engines are quiet as they coast over heading towards the three nearby airports).

It's a story about what might have happened, and I'm glad to say it didn't... It's one of those things you had to see...

I guess the ATC's must not have noticed the low flying outbound lear jet.

 

[QUOTE=Bighersh]I didn't know a plane that big, could move like that... [QUOTE]


Hell yeah....if you ever get a chance to watch some of the test flight videos of those things....you would be extremely impressed as to what all they could do.....you would swear that they were stunt plans.....

 

Mighta been a near-miss. They're pretty rare. The Lear could have been flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) which is not uncommon. VFR is see and avoid. Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) could have told the 737 to do this because of the Lear. It's called a TCAS resolution and software tells the aircraft what to do. Sometimes drastic things. Both of those 2 aircraft are TCAS equiped. The Lear could have been a military or civilian test flight for maintainence purposes. Depending on DFW airspace configuration the Lear might have not had to talk to ATC or it mighta been a near-miss.

 

Yeah, as we flew outta Reagan International in DC on New years Day, I saw, heard, and felt more planes fly over us, and under us, than I ever have anywhere else...

5 mile-barrier my ****! I was on a jet that looked similiar to a 737, until I got closer to it; it was an Embraer jet. even 1 hour into the flight, I saw another jet go under us, no more than 1,000 feet below us. It's a nice lil jet though, plenty o' leg room. We were headed to DFW at 33,000 feet. That's the second highest I've ever been over land.

We went to 41,000 feet in a Lockheed L1011 inbound to DFW in 1989. The pilot was trying to smooth out what was a severely bumpy ride from Detroit to I'd say St. Louis. It didn't work. He told us we had to ride it out because the service ceiling was 43,000 feet, and whomever he'd asked would not allow him to go above 41,000.

All of my Pacific and Atlantic crossings have been at, or above 37,000 feet though.

 

Seeing aircraft at high or low altitude is not uncommon. They are only separated by a 1000' vertically and 5 miles at high altitude at the same altitude. So if you are at 37,000 you can see someone go by right next to you at 36 or 38,000'. 3 football fields with a closure rate of 900 mph. Low altitude is 3 miles and 500' or 1000' vertically unless the pilots see one another and it is just see and avoid. At rush hours there are 60 airborne airline aircraft within 25 miles of NYC and that rate can last for several hours several times per day.