Satellites

[Stifler's Mom]

SATELLITE

Had somebody ask me if I had ever seen satellites in the sky while flying. I thought he was crazy until he actually pointed some out to me.

If you ever have the opportunity to see them, I highly recommend it. I was pretty amazed at being able to see them orbiting the Earth.

I guess they are only viewable when the sun is rising and you are still flying in the dark. We were heading East as the sun was rising.

 

[Immelman]

I have seen them several times, once on a very dark night (not flying) I counted 3-4 go by in the space of 15 minutes.

 

[Al Coholic]

I use to see them all the time in the NE

 

[NCFlyer]

Can't say I watched satellites go by, but have watched the Space Station & Shuttle fly over many times.

Here is a link that provides real time satellite, Space Station, and Shuttle (when in orbit) tracking.

http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/

 

[mar]

City Boy

Had somebody ask me if I had ever seen satellites in the sky while flying. I thought he was crazy until he actually pointed some out to me.

You're obviously a city boy. That's ok. I am too. The first time I ever had a satellite pointed out to me I was pissey-eyed drunk in the middle of the night on the football field at ERAU PRC.

Actually that night was the first time I ever saw the Milky Way too.

But yeah, I've since seen satellites while flying.

It's the Green Flash I'm still waiting to see.

 

[Immelman]

It's the Green Flash I'm still waiting to see.

I grew up on the island of hawai'i... a place that you expect to see the green flash often. I only remember seeing it being *really* green once.

 

[typhoonpilot]

Satellites - Check

Green Flash - Check

Little green men - I'll have to get "pissy-eyed drunk" for that. :beer:



TP

 

[starchkr]

Satelites can be seen from sundown to sunup(nightly occurance for us)...the space station is cool as well...Northern lights can be just amazing at 3 am, all the colors you can imagine, and shooting over you like wildfire.

Wait till you see the rotating satelites, they look like a strobe light as they catch the light every few seconds...I have talked with a few fellow pilots who actually asked ATC if they had traffic, of course ATC then begins to freak out because they cannot locate that "traffic" on their screens. Myself, i don't think i would actually ask if they were traffic, you can tell they are WAYYYY out there, and couldn't possibly be another a/c.

 

[Counselair]

I can't remember which way they go but I read somewhere that spy sats. go north and south and commercial ones go east and west or vice versa.

Counselair

 

[VNugget]

That's true... if the orbital plane is aligned North/South (high inclination) they "sweep" through every latitude each orbit, and since the Earth rotates, every orbit they "sweep" through a new slice, and in a 12 hour period they have covered all of Earth's surface, and can see everybody's dirty secrets.

Orbiting East/West (low inclinatin) can allow a geosynchronous orbit, which is useful for communications and weather satellites.

 

[flyguybri]

Check out this page: http://satobs.org/iridium.html

 

[SiuDude]

I've seen many Iridium flares. A cool way to freak out your date, because you know when they're coming.

 

[jknight8907]

Oh yeah, I've seen them a lot. Also lots of shooting stars.

 

[pilotmiketx]

Satelites can be seen from sundown to sunup(nightly occurance for us)....

Don't ya mean 30 minutes after official sunset to 30 minutes before official sunrise as reported in the Airman's Almanac

 

[RipCurl]

Can't say I watched satellites go by, but have watched the Space Station & Shuttle fly over many times.

Here is a link that provides real time satellite, Space Station, and Shuttle (when in orbit) tracking.

http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/

That 3D one is frikkin awesome.