I took a video of a customer's Beoing 767 today
I had barely heard it taxiing out to the runway
It's engines were so quiet
The two General Electric CF-6's sounding so far away
Almost like they weren't even fired up
I drove my car across the ramp
To the taxiway turn-off
So that I could watch the plane takeoff
On the runway only three hundred yards away
My iPhone at the ready
Video camera mode engaged
The brilliant looking silver and maroon aircraft turned square with the runway
Spooled up it's barely heard engines
And began picking up speed
With no fuss whatsoever
It's front wheel becoming light as it passed perpendicular to me
Leaving the ground entirely a few seconds later
The details of the plane grew fuzzy as it pulled away
Climbing at what seemed to be about a 30 degree angle
Very faint black smoke trailing behind it
Marking it's path through the air
Until it was just a dot in the blue cloudless sky
I turned off the camera
And reflected on how uneventful it all was
I don't mean that I wish something bad had happened
No
It just made me wistful for the older aircraft
The DC-8's
The 707's
That always made such a production out of takeoffs
Usually pulling onto the runway and stopping
Brakes set hard
Spooling up all four engines until it felt that the earth was shaking
Black smoke bellowing out behind them
Before releasing the brakes and rolling
Gathering themselves for an eventual leap into the sky
A desperate grab for the stratosphere
Propelled by the crackling barely contained turbine explosions
Happening in quartet under their wings
The deep dark black smoke trails lingering for long minutes after their departure
And sooty marks on the ground at the start of the runway
Where they had spooled up their engines before rollout
Marking their presence as a dog pisses on a hydrant
There is an engineless DC-8 out on this very ramp
Resplendent in sleek styling
Various air intakes and exhaust all over it's fuselage
Things that the new jets don't require
It's waiting for the recycler's chop
To be turned into scrap in just another dumpster
It's only crime that of age
And to have lived long past it's predicted life
Another ghost for the concrete ramp of the Air Base to collect
Another mark on the bedpost of progress
But I don't have to like it
So I don't
I had barely heard it taxiing out to the runway
It's engines were so quiet
The two General Electric CF-6's sounding so far away
Almost like they weren't even fired up
I drove my car across the ramp
To the taxiway turn-off
So that I could watch the plane takeoff
On the runway only three hundred yards away
My iPhone at the ready
Video camera mode engaged
The brilliant looking silver and maroon aircraft turned square with the runway
Spooled up it's barely heard engines
And began picking up speed
With no fuss whatsoever
It's front wheel becoming light as it passed perpendicular to me
Leaving the ground entirely a few seconds later
The details of the plane grew fuzzy as it pulled away
Climbing at what seemed to be about a 30 degree angle
Very faint black smoke trailing behind it
Marking it's path through the air
Until it was just a dot in the blue cloudless sky
I turned off the camera
And reflected on how uneventful it all was
I don't mean that I wish something bad had happened
No
It just made me wistful for the older aircraft
The DC-8's
The 707's
That always made such a production out of takeoffs
Usually pulling onto the runway and stopping
Brakes set hard
Spooling up all four engines until it felt that the earth was shaking
Black smoke bellowing out behind them
Before releasing the brakes and rolling
Gathering themselves for an eventual leap into the sky
A desperate grab for the stratosphere
Propelled by the crackling barely contained turbine explosions
Happening in quartet under their wings
The deep dark black smoke trails lingering for long minutes after their departure
And sooty marks on the ground at the start of the runway
Where they had spooled up their engines before rollout
Marking their presence as a dog pisses on a hydrant
There is an engineless DC-8 out on this very ramp
Resplendent in sleek styling
Various air intakes and exhaust all over it's fuselage
Things that the new jets don't require
It's waiting for the recycler's chop
To be turned into scrap in just another dumpster
It's only crime that of age
And to have lived long past it's predicted life
Another ghost for the concrete ramp of the Air Base to collect
Another mark on the bedpost of progress
But I don't have to like it
So I don't
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