MSA lights at night from a plane(7127,757,747,777,A380,etc..)

[NcSc74]

I have spent about 10 years criss-crossing the globe by air and most of it was by night. I always loved to guess where we were by looking at the city lights below from the plane. It is kinda easy to pick out mid west or plain state cities because of the grid patterns but it gets a little more difficult once you pass Kentucky. Louisville and Memphis are pretty hard to distinguish from the air at night. So what NC metro sticks out in your mind at night from the air. I will say RDU because of course it is the airport I use to transit from Vegas to home. What always gives me a sinking feeling in the stomach is looking at all the traffic on 440/40 knowing that is the way home. Car headlights/brakelights can be seen for miles.

[Eastwestrob]

I have spent about 10 years criss-crossing the globe by air and most of it was by night. I always loved to guess where we were by looking at the city lights below from the plane. It is kinda easy to pick out mid west or plain state cities because of the grid patterns but it gets a little more difficult once you pass Kentucky. Louisville and Memphis are pretty hard to distinguish from the air at night. So what NC metro sticks out in your mind at night from the air. I will say RDU because of course it is the airport I use to transit from Vegas to home. What always gives me a sinking feeling in the stomach is looking at all the traffic on 440/40 knowing that is the way home. Car headlights/brakelights can be seen for miles.

I fly every week From Richmond to the west coast and Denver and always fly U S Airways through Charlotte. I know all the cities and towns from the air at night between these points. You can even see Raleigh and Durham 90 miles away from this flight path. Maybe I will take some photos on my next flight and show the larger cities. But someone must help me with posting pictures. Does anybody have Pictures of the RDU area to compare to Charlotte. Its hard to grasp just how large Raleigh and Durham are at night from 90 miles away in the air. And Charlotte really does show its true sprawl better at night. I also fly to Denver every other week and I would compare the Night lights of Denver and Charlotte to be about the same.

[NCMike1981]

Last time I flew out of RDU, it was actually daytime but on the flight back I noticed that you could see both downtown Raleigh and Durham at the same time. They looked tiny from that height above lol.

[Eastwestrob]

Last time I flew out of RDU, it was actually daytime but on the flight back I noticed that you could see both downtown Raleigh and Durham at the same time. They looked tiny from that height above lol.

Last year I flew from Richmond to Boston @ 25 times and the most incredible site is flying @ 30,000 feet and looking out the left side window and seeing Manhatten. The big apple looks small but then again from that height you realize just how big it really is

[JDC]

I've flown to and fro the Triangle from Boston and I've always enjoyed looking down at the coastlines at night. At one point, as we were approaching Logan Airport, I could actually make out the parking lots at my alma mater. Wild stuff, those new fangled airplanes are.

[Eastwestrob]

I've flown to and fro the Triangle from Boston and I've always enjoyed looking down at the coastlines at night. At one point, as we were approaching Logan Airport, I could actually make out the parking lots at my alma mater. Wild stuff, those new fangled airplanes are.

I always liked flying way out over the water and right over the Lighthouse before coming into Logan

[NcSc74]

Most times when you fly of RDU heading west the pilot points that we will be flying just south of Greensboro and Winston Salem before taking a northern turn going over western Virginia then over Kentucky. I remember seeing Greensboro at night and it was impressive. It is a spread out city especially in the air. I have only seen Charlotte once on the way to ATL. IMO it is kinda hard to tell the difference between Charlotte and Greensboro at night from about 20,000 feet. However Uptown does stand out but other than that they both are pretty spread out.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Most times when you fly of RDU heading west the pilot points that we will be flying just south of Greensboro and Winston Salem before taking a northern turn going over western Virginia then over Kentucky. I remember seeing Greensboro at night and it was impressive. It is a spread out city especially in the air. I have only seen Charlotte once on the way to ATL. IMO it is kinda hard to tell the difference between Charlotte and Greensboro at night from about 20,000 feet. However Uptown does stand out but other than that they both are pretty spread out.

Many areas of the south, that some would think weren't too developed, look very developed at night, if you're judging by lights. For example, the area of Northern Alabama, from around Muscle Shoals over to Decatur and Huntsville, on to Boaz look somewhat developed. You'd never think that they look as interconnected as they do, if you are simply driving by car.

Metro Atlanta, better yet most of north-central and northwest Georgia, in an area from Dalton to Rome to Cartersville, southeastward to Atlanta, looks very developed at night. Metro Atlanta looks very huge, which it is, but the exurbs seem to extend way beyond what you normally think.

The difference in lights on the west of the Missississipi River to the east of the Mississippi River is like night and day. For example, even Arkansas looks significantly less developed than Mississippi. The southwest looks to be pitch black, with the exception of the cities, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, which seem to pop out of nowhere. Outside the cities, the trip from Phoenix to Portland, Oregon is almost lightless, though you do start to see a few lights in the countryside once you make it up to the northwest.

[Rickydavisfan21]

the coolest place I ever flew over was detroit because the grid pattern that was mentioned above, Newark Airport was also pretty cool, because the view of the city is breathtaking and just unbelieveable, its hard to believe that one city can be so dense and just wow, I miss the city. This is by far one of the neatest threads ever done thanks for sharing :-)

When I flew outta midway airport in chicago, I think, I remember seeing downtown chicago from the lake it was amazing to see, I love chicago, it has imo the best skyline in the united states, it flows far more than NYC, which is just clumps of tall towers, althought the lower part of manhattan was pretty spectacular before 2001, but I won't bring that up

[JunktionFET]

On night flights from RDU to Philly, often you can see DC and Baltimore about 25-30 mins into the flight. You see two densely lit cores, one is rather large (DC), the other looks a bit grided (Baltimore). Some distance out from each core, you can make out their respective Beltways.

On takeoff from RDU, you can see the downtown Raleigh skyline for a few moments if you're sitting on the correct side of the plane. It looks rather small from that distance and height. It takes seemingly forever for the sprawly lights below to thin out.

[NcSc74]

the coolest place I ever flew over was detroit because the grid pattern that was mentioned above, Newark Airport was also pretty cool, because the view of the city is breathtaking and just unbelieveable, its hard to believe that one city can be so dense and just wow, I miss the city. This is by far one of the neatest threads ever done thanks for sharing :-)

When I flew outta midway airport in chicago, I think, I remember seeing downtown chicago from the lake it was amazing to see, I love chicago, it has imo the best skyline in the united states, it flows far more than NYC, which is just clumps of tall towers, althought the lower part of manhattan was pretty spectacular before 2001, but I won't bring that up

I remember flying to midway from Cincy after a layover in St. Louis. The skyline was speachless. The grid pattern lined so perfeclty. After that I was guessing what city we were where flying over. I couldn't figure it out. The most spectacular thing I can remember is final decent to Sea-Tac and flying over Mt. Olympus(Washington).

[Creasy336]

I remember being amazed the first time I traveled to Chicago by plane everything from northern Indiana to the lake was lit up. The street grid from above was equally impressive. Seeing almost straight streets over long distances ending near the lake. All most all the highways in the Chicago area are brightly lit this enhances the effect of flying over even more. The Raleigh area did have alot of lights over a vast amount of area also. Its easy to make out the subdivisions and I-40

[RiverwoodCLT]

Try flying into Houston, Tx at night.

[Rickydavisfan21]

a few years ago I flew from Charlotte to Seattle, to Ketchikan, and flying over mt. edgecrumbe or however you spell it in sitka was amazing. mt. edgecrumbe (spelling) is a dormant volcano in the southern islands of alaska, it is amazing, absolutely amazing, it was one of the few clear days I saw while In the big AK, and I've never seen such incredible views.

[raleightransplant]

I always seem to fly in/out of RDU during daytime hours. I would love to see that at night. My wife connected in Charlotte a few months back and mentioned how great that city looks at night from a plane. An area that looks dense is right around Duke Medical Center...almost looks like it's own skyline over there. Really impressive looking from above. I, too, was able to make out both Raleigh and Durham's skylines as we descended.

Chicago at night is very impressive looking...much better than the day where you see flat cornfields in grids, and then you come into the industrial south side.

[Eastwestrob]

I am flying to Los Angeles again monday morning from Richmond to Philly to LA during the day. Flying back friday night from LA to Charlotte to Richmond and will take many pictures from the air and post ....I do need help posting pictures though as I have never done this

[krazeeboi]

I am flying to Los Angeles again monday morning from Richmond to Philly to LA during the day. Flying back friday night from LA to Charlotte to Richmond and will take many pictures from the air and post ....I do need help posting pictures though as I have never done this

Flying into LA at night blew me away. Lights, lights, and more lights.

Flying into or out of DC on a clear day is a beautiful thing.

[avery]

I've flown in and out of RDU numerous times. Raleigh looks huge because it is so spread out. You can see new neighborhoods popping up everywhere. There are lots of trees. It doesn't look quite as intensive in density as some other areas, but it is definitely more spread out than most.

Flown into Newark and the sightline into Manhattan is really cool. Los Angeles is a monster and goes on endlessly. My favorite by far is Chicago. Something about seeing Lake Michigan and all of the highrises that makes it true breathtaking. Seattle is probably second in my opinion. Very pretty from overhead.