Pardon my ignorance...

**KPenn5** · 02-06-2007, 05:26 AM

But I took a rare flight this weekend while celebrating my 21st birthday. We flew out of Austin-Bergstrom Intl. Airport on our way to Lubbock Texas. Anyhow i took a picture of a plane that we would be boarding w/ the intention of asking, what is it?
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/9683/airplanevq8.jpg

When it comes to aviation..i follow the military variety, so I know little when it comes to commericial jets, other than the easy 747's, 737's,etc.

Also..as a little side note..i never knew farmers farmed in circles these days ;) or is this the infamous "crop circle?"
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1...circlesaz7.jpg

**skylab** · 02-06-2007, 06:22 AM

A/C is a DC-9. Now called MD-80 or some such.

Circles in fields are where the Settlers circled their wagons back in the days when they feared the Indians. You can see more of those in Kansas and Eastern Colorado.

**greggerm** · 02-06-2007, 08:30 AM

>Circles in fields are where the Settlers circled their wagons
>back in the days when they feared the Indians. You can see
>more of those in Kansas and Eastern Colorado.

Errmm... They are more likely irrigation circles.

Large farm fields in dry areas need to get water, so farmers determined the best way to irrigate was to use large sprinklers. These large sprinklers work very similar to your standard drawing compass, whereby the center point of the sprinkler is a fixed pivot, and a large boom rotates around it on wheels. This boom has the sprinkler heads on it.

You can see further pics and descriptions here...

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat....62/an/0/page/0

These types of crop circles are REALLY prevelant on the western side of the plains - especially when flying over western Kansas and Colorado, as mentioned above.

Edit:
Some more pics...
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/New...3?img_id=17006

**skylab** · 02-06-2007, 08:56 AM

Geee.....do you mean to tell me I was fibbing my passengers all those years?!?!

**greggerm** · 02-06-2007, 12:43 PM

(Phwew)... I was hoping your original response was a bit tongue-in-cheek!

...or was it?! :)

Cheers!
-Greg

**KPenn5** · 02-06-2007, 01:59 PM

Greg you hit the nail on the head w/ the circles..we were nearing Lubbock when i took this picture and it's real dry..A man sitting nxt to me told me that farmers used giant sprinkler's that water in a circle, as you said.

Needless to say..they sure look cool from the air.

**skylab** · 02-06-2007, 02:40 PM

>(Phwew)... I was hoping your original response was a bit
>tongue-in-cheek!
>
>...or was it?! :)

Well.....when I was a lowly Co-Pilot, that's what my Captain told me, so I just passed it on when I checked out. Made for a good story anyway. The ones that believed it were charged extra fare!

BTW, those "crop circles" can be found just about everywhere, not only in the Plains States.

**KPenn5** · 02-06-2007, 06:52 PM

you sure can see alot from some 23,000+ feet...I was unaware that airliners flew as high as 30,000 feet as our pilot announced...

As fun as it was..i think i'm takin Amtrak nxt time..;)

**skylab** · 02-06-2007, 07:30 PM

Believe it or not.....I'm with you on Amtrak!

Airliners routinely fly in the high 20s and 30s and even up to FL410 or more, although not too often. It's a function of aircraft weight and length of flight.