Something you don't see every day

And, that something would be the space shuttle Enterprise flying over New York City while strapped to the back of a 747.  The shuttle actually first flew over the city in 1983 as it went on a world tour.  This time, the Enterprise has come home to stay as part of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on the Hudson River.

I took some video from the pier down at Canal Street.  In this one, you can see the shuttle coming up the river from the Verrazano Bridge.  Pardon the shaky camera - film is not my forté - and there is a creepy moment when it looks like the plane is going to fly into the ventilation shaft building.  It was flying so low, this couldn't be helped.



And, here it is coming back down the river.  Once again, there is a disturbing moment as it passes behind a tall building.  The plane then continued to make a loop around the Statue of Liberty and over New Jersey before turning back and eventually landing at JFK airport.  The entire trip took less than an hour.



What surprised me most was how quiet it was.  Normally, jetliners flying over the city are noisy, but I couldn't hear this one at all.  There was a lot of wind, so maybe that blew the sound away, but the way the plane and shuttle seemed to glide together up and down the river was really striking.

I took a few photos, which you can see at my Flickr page.