is it normal to see other planes while you're flying?

[drew]

I have flown a lot and up until recently I had never seen another plane while in the air ( well, maybe REALLY far away ) on our way home froms seattle I was gazzing out the window trying to fall asleep and I saw another plane going in the other direction go almost directly under us, i'm sure it was a pretty good distance away but it looked REALLY close. it scared the **** out of me but i figured it was normal. then just now I was watching the history chanel or some **** and i saw that it's NOT normal for planes to come that close! anyone else seen another plane really close by ?

[futuredsmowner]

sometimes....when i was on my way to Hawaii with my family like 5 years ago the pilot came on over the intercom and said that if we look out the right side of the plane we will see a c130 fly by under us.

[ToyotaTat]

damn that would scare the sht out of me, i've never heard of that before

[redline]

Relax guys it is normal for planes to be close!

[doug]

I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth this summer, and 2-3 times there was a smaller private jet flying id say... about 500-1000 feet below us when we were at 30-35 thousand feet. It had me thinking, but then again.. I realized it was most likely normal. I think it's pretty cool.

[MissDSM]

I was on a plane awhile back just looking out the window and i saw a plane go the other direction. It was only visable for a second but it was weird. And I forget who told me, but they said they try to keep planes farther away from eachother but sometimes then have to reroute and end up getting closer to other planes, but the pilots, etc are aware of it... so I doubt it was a mistake or anything

[MPowerKai]

negative ghostrider the pattern is full

[Dave]

my old man is an instructor and I myself have many hours logged towards my pilot's liscense, take it from me: the tristate area is THE most heavily populated area in terms of airplane traffic. seeing other airplanes is completely normal (actually we get nervous if we DONT see any) we also have some of the best controllers as well. nothing to worry about

[MrGudbar99]

It's normal...I used to fly twice a week to and from Atlanta for work and I would see them all the time. Some used to fly next to us and land at the same time (Obviously on the other side). But, THAT I thought was wierd at first.

[den9]

i never seen a place too close, but i seen fireworks from under me it was cool.

also i was watchin a thing on military channel about how planes go into restricted air space and hey send out a fighter jet to go ask him to go back or he gets forced down with missles. usually its accidental but it was pretty cool

[9 Ball]

I’m sure it was a little unsettling to witness… but nothing to be concerned with. I'm positive there was ample distance between aircraft.

[bastid]

This is perfectly fine as long as you aren't within X hundred feet of the plane traveling opposite of your direction at the same exact altitude. Different cruising altitudes allow for multiple planes to be on the same route simultaneously. However, if you had two planes going opposite directions at the same altitude within, say, 1,000 feet of eachother, there's a chance that the low pressure zone created between the two moving aircrafts moving so quickly could pull you in toward the second plane and cause a collision. The same pressure/force could be experienced if you are driving a light car past a tractor trailor, it would just be magnified because you are doing about 425mph.

[Dave]

neat thing is the bigger the plane the bigger the vortice from the wingtip. imagine a small tornado rolling out from the wingtip at a 45* down and outward angle.

[wrx_snobordr]

Its normal... when I went skydiving there was a plane flying close to us. IN the video you can actually see it behind me as I'm falling.. kinda cool.

[PotenzaSub]

It's the end of days!

[88TSI_Rob]

Originally Posted by doug

I flew to Dallas/Fort Worth this summer, and 2-3 times there was a smaller private jet flying id say... about 500-1000 feet below us when we were at 30-35 thousand feet. It had me thinking, but then again.. I realized it was most likely normal. I think it's pretty cool.

Same here. I was flying back from LA recently and a private jet flew by going the opposite direction. I was pretty shocked how close it was though, I'm pretty sure if I could have thown a baseball and hit it if the planes weren't moving. It occured somewhere in the middle of the country, like Kansas or Missouri.

[Silver04STi]

you figure there is something like 10-15,000 flights in the air at any one time, you are bound come close to one or two now and then

[WhiteXFire]

The FAA guidelines are that no two planes can be within 5 miles of one another at the same altitude, and must be at least 1000 feet apart vertically when crossing at different altitudes. I've been flying roundtrip from Kansas City to Philadelphia twice a month since July, and I can't even count how many planes I've seen. When I flew home the Wed before Thanksgiving, I was up to ~30 on that flight alone when I stopped counting halfway. The majority of the planes I see are usually well out in the distance at varying altitudes. However, there have been several that crossed paths below us that I could make out which airline it was...Northwest and Southwest to be specific.