FRIDAY THOUGHTS: AIR TRAFFIC LULLABIES

I didn't realize I was counting. 

By 1:00 AM, there had been seven. 

The eighth plane flew over around 1:14. 

Whoever says that landing planes aren't noisy, doesn't live on a flight path. 

Funny thing is, when an air traffic controller took a nap on the job not so long ago, I thought I'd heard eight planes flying over. 

Turns out it was only two. They were circling until they were directed to land.

Yesterday, I got out of the car just as a plane flew over. It was so close--so low--it was a little unsettling. 

What about noise abatement? 

Environmental issues? 

Did I mention noise? 

"When did THIS start?", I asked myself. 

So, I turned to Google, and sure enough, found an article at arlnow.com explaining my neighborhood's new nighttime lullabies. 

It seems, there is work being done on a runway at DCA, and flights have been redirected to a runway that requires them to fly directly over my condo community.

I live close to two hospitals and a fire station. 

I'm accustomed to noise. 

The planes, however, remind me of summers in Addis, Louisiana. 

My grandmother's house was off of Addis Lane, and the sound of trains was as regular as breathing. 

Just as I got used to the sound of the trains, then, I suppose I have to get used to the planes, now--at least until the end of the year.

It's 1:55. 

Perhaps that last one that flew over, (that I just happened to snap a cell phone photo of from my kitchen window) was, in fact, the last one.