Hi All,
I was just browsing airports on Google Earth (like you do), and found three LH 747’s departing Frankfurt. The Rulers tool shows the aircraft are equally spaced pretty much exactly 546 metres apart. Also, measuring the wingspans of the aircraft they come out at 77 metres (rear), 82 metres (centre), and 87 metres (front), indicating the difference in altitude.
Here you see the three aircraft with their three distinct shadows.
A little closer…
I thought at first maybe it was a sequence of photographs overlayed, but the road traffic movements show that not to be the case.
Could anyone explain how departures so close together are timed, and what the vertical separation of these aircraft would be? How much time would there be between the aircraft leaving the runway? I knew movements were close sometimes, but I’ve never seen anything quite this close before, so any explanation of how what I’m seeing in these photos works would be much appreciated!
Paul.
P.S. I’ve seen images from Google Earth posted on the internet before, so I’m hoping there arn’t any Copyright issues. Mods, please let me know if there are.
By: markwinterb - 13th November 2006 at 22:42
on the same subject….take a look at AMS/EHAM – and aircraft are visible for abt 15km on approach to the polderbaan – on google earth
By: Gunner06 - 13th November 2006 at 14:14
Hi guys, Long time reader, First time poster!
Another piece of interesting info. If you look carefully at the shadows at the airport you’ll see that the sun seems to be somewhere in the west.
As for the shadows coming from the visible Aircraft the sun obviously looks like it’s somewhere in the east!
So there has to be a shot of the aircraft missing from the sequence and also the shadow of the first aircraft should be in front of it but looks like it’s no where to be seen!
🙂
By: PMN - 11th November 2006 at 18:46
Relative to the movement of the 747 and satellite the traffic on the road is at a standstill. Each frame of the 747 shows traffic not seen in the previous frame as the aircrafts 200-300 mph speed left them in its dust.
Very true… That makes sense!
Paul
By: Whiskey Delta - 11th November 2006 at 17:58
Hmm… Interesting. Surely if it’s the same aircraft just taken in different frames and overlayed, the moving traffic below should appear in a similar way?
Relative to the movement of the 747 and satellite the traffic on the road is at a standstill. Each frame of the 747 shows traffic not seen in the previous frame as the aircrafts 200-300 mph speed left them in its dust.
By: PMN - 11th November 2006 at 15:02
Hmm… Interesting. Surely if it’s the same aircraft just taken in different frames and overlayed, the moving traffic below should appear in a similar way? Ah well… I did think they seemed ridiculously close, but then again it’s obvious they’re at different altitudes. Anyway… If the explanation is they’re the same aircraft I’m happy!
Paul
By: Oasis747 - 11th November 2006 at 09:03
i think its the same aircraft.
It is indeed. It was on a.net a while back. If you look closly at the first pic you have showed us it shows 3 planes and 4 shadows. :rolleyes:
By: adamdowley - 11th November 2006 at 02:05
i think its the same aircraft. the satellite (or whatever it was) that took the images takes one image, has moved a set, uniform distance, and taken another shot of the next piece of land in sequence. each image has captured the same aircraft – and each 747 is slightly larger than the previous becuase the aircraft is climbing.
they certainly can’t be different aircraft, taking off one after the other, because the distance between them is just ridiculously close, unless the delay between each photo is longer than just a few seconds – i.e. a few minutes and the photo taker has moved slightly less. separation between large, departing aircraft has got to be atleast a couple of miles and the separation between each view of the 747 definately doesnt look like a couple of miles.
a similar view was once possible on google earth at LHR – an Air France Airbus was visible a number of times at different moments in its landing roll along the runway – the aircraft/satelite that took the images has just moved/changed what it was looking at and taken an image at every x second interval.
thats how i see it anyway. 🙂
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November 11, 2006 at 12:09 am