Airplanes

Airplanes, not a subject I write about much :-)  Unless it has to do with making a visit to the big airport to watch the planes come and go....something we really need to do soon.  But today I am not talking about that sort of adventure. 

We live close by to a county airport.  This means we are used to seeing lots of small planes come and go.  On the weekend, if we are heading toward the airport we can sometimes catch sight of people parachuting!  Very cool.  And, not sure if they take off at the airport or not, but we see lots of hot air balloons as well. 

Jeremiah and I have had plenty of conversations about the military type aircrafts that have passed by this way.  A few months ago we saw some carrier jets.  They are HUGE, and they fly so slowly.  Everytime I see one I am watching and waiting for it to fall from the sky as it doesn't seem possible for something so big to be able to fly through the sky!  We've seen our share of helicopters as well.  The kids all go running outside when you hear a whole slew of them coming.  Always impressive, if not a wee bit scary.

So aircraft passing our house is nothing new.  But I had two separate experiences the past couple of days that were a wee bit out of the norm.

The first one was a few days ago, I was out milking the goats.  I brought the boys out with me so they could get some play time in.  I could hear a small plane approaching.  I was filling a watering bucket, so I was out from under the tree cover.  As the  plane was getting closer I thought, "Wow, that must be one low flying plane." So I called to the boys to come and see.  And as it came over the tree line (our house is surrounded by trees on all sides, with only so many feet cleared around our actual house.  I knew right away that this plane was flying much lower than any other plane I've seen since we've lived here, 6 years.  I could clearly see this plane had a blue stripe, and from the sound of it there was something not right with it's right engine. It was making a noise I didn't think a plane should be making!  I immediately thought..."Um, if I didn't know any better I would say this plane was going to crash."  I wasn't worried it was going to crash next door or anything like that, but for a while I kept my ears opened.

Fast forward to that same evening, I went online to check the weather (storms were rolling in).  Off to the side, where they have small thumbnails and a tag line of recent stories, imagine my surprise when I saw a tiny picture of a downed plane, with a tag of "Small plane crashes in a field".  Yup, you got it, it was the SAME plane that had flown over head that morning.  It crashed in the next county over, about 10 to 15 minutes after I had last seen it.  Thankfully, no one was injured.  But, wow, that was amazing!

And then today.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Now, there have been plenty of aircraft that get our attention first by their loud approach, BUT THIS thing beat all!!!  Again, I was out milking goats. I could hear a plane coming, and coming FAST and LOUD.  I have NEVER heard anything like this.  I RAN out from under the milking shelter, but I was still under trees.  Now, granted, with my heart issue still in the midst of getting control of ( if I don't stay on top of the magnesium I will get a racing heart, though nothing as bad as in the past) it doesn't take a lot to push it over the edge into fast beating.  But I swear my heart stopped with fear as this plane approached. At first I was worried that it was going to literally crash into my house.  That is how loud it was!  But as it passed over our house, there was a loud screeching. And then just a lot of loud noise after it passed.  I couldn't actually see the plane, BUT I was thinking, "That thing had to be skimming the tops of our trees!"  I was shaking for a few minutes afterwards (though, again, easy to do with my heart issue).

As soon as I got in the house that was the first thing all the kids were raving about...Mom, oh my goodness, did you hear that plane?  Jonah said, "Mommy, that plane was right over our trees."  I didn't really believe he could see it, though he said it was white, green and blue (I think).  Seriously, as fast as that plane was going, I don't see how you could see any colors at all!!  But then Saoirse came out of her room to tell me her experience.  She heard the plane coming and was freaked out (all the kids were freaked out, like I said it was LOUD), she ran to her window and told me, "I only saw a small part of the plane, I think it was the wing, but mom it flew right over the tops of our trees!"  So, I guess I wasn't so wrong with my thoughts, that this thing was brushing the tops of our trees.  Though, I find it hard to believe any plane is allowed to fly so low!!!!  When I was outside I had waited to hear an explosion after the plane passed, but nothing happened.

I am assuming it was military in nature?  I have no idea, as I didn't get a glimpse of the plane, but I am guessing they are the only ones with planes that go THAT fast.  Note to the military: Please fly somewhere else :-)  Or at least fly higher than our trees!