So this is not a Brooklyn related posting. In fact if I want to be more organized this is an outsid'ah Brooklyn sighting but whatever. Point is earlier today I watched four, counted'em four aircraft in succession slide across the skies,
sideways.
I was in lower Manhattan, and in a uncomfortable frame of mind as I get when I'm on Church and Vesey streets, I went into the deli there between church and broadway, the same one featured buy many stories from that terrible day seven years past. Partially I was in there because I was fiend'ing for a hamburger (after seeing Josh Brolin eat one in his latest film)and partially I thought to myself, I haven't been in here since... so no time like the present to make a new start. I got my burger, I stood in the street and e'te it and then turned to the subway when "WTF!" up above the streets, framed visually by the buildings on Maiden Lane, was a passenger jet sliding wing first, like a flying SUV hydroplaning across the clouds.
The plane which looked to my (geeky, plane enthusiast) eyes to be a 737 was moving sideways led by it's left wing. The only thing more striking than the direction was that it was very low and that there was no other motion, not a wobble or anything.
I just looked up in shock and by the time I reached for my camera the plane was already out of sight. the sight of a enormous flying machine careening across the skies really made my stomach drop. several hectic thoughts in a few seconds later I became aware of the wind, and most of all the clouds, there was an area of clouds, darker than the general overcast sky the seemed to be swirling in the area where I spotted the plane. I ran in that direction up Vesey, because frankly I never saw anything like that before and I wanted to be able to prove I wasn't hallucinating.
I kept my camera out and stood on broadway across from J&R music world and sure enough another shriek of jet engine noise and another sideways slide from possibly the same plane or another of the same size. The planes seemed to be over the east river, and I am certain based on their location that they were in bound to LaGuardia (I've lived in under the LaGuardia flight path for decades). three more planes of various sizes skidded through the clouds after as I tried to record video of it with my camera.
the idea of flight is something we've accepted and I for one love flying, I dig it as much as I can and am always up for a plane trip. but physics aside, it's some crazy shit we do, and we've accepted it as normal. but seeing a plane moving sideways instead of forward, as if swatted by some great unseen cat paw really brings home how out of control the situation can be in a way i've never experienced, despite all the history I've seen.
eventually the swirling clouds became so dense that the last plane I saw was enveloped as it came into view and I tried not to image being on a plane, above New York City, descending sideways, while blinded. no moral, no followup, and no mention of it on the news(although there was a published delayed scheduled of four hours due to wind posted on the LaGuardia website) for all I know this is normal. Just another of the outlandish, possibly life altering scenarios we all simply allow without a second thought.
All I could think as I walked away was "shit, there is so much in this world of ours that is out of our hands." I guess that's why it's vital to make decisions whenever possible.
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