What airports have great views when taking off/landing?

[K1052]

Meigs Field in Chicago before Daley destroyed it.

 

[Lucky]

Lying on the ground 100 feet from the landing approach is a great place to get cool pics. Benton Harbor, MI regional airport. Here's a wider view.

 

[Ameesh]

San Diego has the best one, you basically fly right through downtown, its crazy

 

[MrChad]

LaGuardia in NYC often routes planes up past Manhattan before looping around for landing in Queens. You can get a great view of the city depending on the flight.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: MrChad
LaGuardia in NYC often routes planes up past Manhattan before looping around for landing in Queens. You can get a great view of the city depending on the flight.

Depends on where you're flying in from and what side of the aircraft you are sitting on.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
San Diego has the best one, you basically fly right through downtown, its crazy

From the east, right? Because IIRC, the naval base is to the west of the airport ...

 

[Theiananator]

Charles De Gaulle has some pretty sweet views.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Theiananator
Charles De Gaulle has some pretty sweet views.

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=39445898&size=o

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=39445899&size=o

Pretty nice, but I kinda wish I could have seen the city instead. Perhaps if I had sat on the left side, but IIRC, the airport is north of the city and this flight was from New York, so my guess is that it landed eastbound (?).

 

[JasonVaritekMVP]

Landing at Logan is a trip if approaching from over the ocean. While its not nearly as good at night, during the day as you descend its...

Ocean ...
More Ocean...
Getting really close to landing on water...
then in a matter of seconds
-Land
-Airport Fence
-Runway
plane on ground

I love landing at Logan. The Big Dig made getting to and from logan a breeze but with the current big dig tunnel issues Logan ground travel has been somewhat complicated.

"Cause I love that dirty water, ooooooh, Boston you're my home"

 

[TheSlamma]

SeaTac

 

[rudder]

I used to love flying to Cancun. When you got the right approach you would fly along with the beach outside the right window (side I was on).

Also liked Midway since there are houses at the end of the runway.

 

[Acanthus]

You can get great views of the chicago skyline landing at O'hare on the right flight.

 

[amol]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
You can get great views of the chicago skyline landing at O'hare on the right flight.

I'm having a conversation with a friend over IM about this and he just said that. Sent me a link for this pic: http://airliners.net/open.file/0961398/L/

 

[Scarpozzi]

Approach to Salt Lake City about 5 mins from landing....I was there for the snowboarding.
Departing SLC. The Great Salt Lake at sunset.

 

[CptObvious]

i flew in/out of reagon this past weekend. great view of the pentagon and all the monuments, and you can see the capitol building from the runway.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Chicago Midway is fun, It's really close to the neighborhoods that surround it. Hong Kong's Kai Tak was famous for it's approach (http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/Approaches/kal.jpg

I would've said HK Kai Tak too... you could literally look into people's windows and see them eating dinner on landing...

 

[phantom309]

Mexico City from the north approach, right as you clear the mountains. One of the most awesome sights I've ever witnessed from a plane.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: Acanthus
You can get great views of the chicago skyline landing at O'hare on the right flight.

I'm having a conversation with a friend over IM about this and he just said that. Sent me a link for this pic: http://airliners.net/open.file/0961398/L/

I can see my house, seriously.

 

[aphex]

Flying into San Jose, Costa Rica is always fun.... You weave through the mountains until you reach the San Jose valley, literally going over and between volcanos.

 

[hellman69]

Flying from Seattle south has some great views of the mountians/volcanos. If it's clear, you can see Crater Lake which is neat. Also along the way you get great views of Mt. Rainer, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood.

Here are some pictures of the view:
http://www.photodiary.org/large/e_1022.jpg
http://www.photodiary.org/large/e_1024.jpg
http://portlandbound.tripod.com/Images/MtHoodFromAirplane.jpg
http://www.kamron.com/Kirkconnell/Ranier_plane.JPG
http://www.littlereview.com/seattle/05seafl1.jpg
http://earth.geol.ksu.edu/sgao/g100/plots/1008_crater_lake_Oregon.jpg

Trevor

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pricess Julianna on St. Maarten takes the cake, though. http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/Approaches/stmaarten.jpg

My guess is that that is probably more fun for the people on the ground and for planespotters than for passengers who think they're about to crash

Being able to see the faces of people sitting on the beach would be interesting

Major, major noise pollution from that! :|

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Baltimore if your approach/departure vector takes you over Chesapeake Bay.

Kai Tak in Hong Kong used to be a pretty spectacular landing too. Unfortunately it's gone now.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pricess Julianna on St. Maarten takes the cake, though. http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/Approaches/stmaarten.jpg

This is the one. I have also seen a video of folks on the beach being blown over on a runup on the runway.

The number 1 thrill ride used to be Hong Kong's Kai Tak 13. sample

 

[HardcoreRobot]

already lots of good responses

personally, i like seeing the strip at night flying into vegas.

i enjoy the sight of manhattan flying into nyc

the monuments of dc are great flying into reagan


and, i have actually been on that very beach on st. maarten. its quite a thrill watching those bigass planes come right at you!

 

[gsellis]

Forgot... OGG, Kahalui Maui HI from the mainland is wow. Fly next to Haleakula (10000ft) on the left, turn over Kehei/Maalaea with all the reefs below. Now Haleakula is on the right (right side got the reef view) and left side gets a great view of Lanai and the West Maui mtns (tropical at 5000).