As all good Trekkies know, when it comes to the Enterprise, the best place to be is on the bridge, so that's what I did this morning: I went to the George Washington Bridge to shoot the shuttle Enterprise's flyover on a NASA 747.
I walked to the NY side, so everything would be illuminated by the sun. It's a good thing I did, because the flyover appeared to be more toward the Jersey side.
The shuttle was to come north up the river to the Tappan Zee bridge, turn around, and head back south to the Statue of Liberty. What the people I spoke with there didn't seem to know was that it was then to fly over Newark Airport and then head north to fly over Teterboro Airport.
From that point, it would make a right turn and head east for a LaGuardia flyover before landing at JFK.
Knowing that, I stayed on the GWB and walked closer to NJ so I could get a side view of the shuttle/747 coming across the Hudson.
It must have made a pretty wide swing over Teterboro, because I saw it start to cross the river near the Fort Lee high-rises. It probably could have been seen fairly closely from many Hackensack vantage points.
It was pretty cold and super-windy on the bridge. I wondered if the wind would scuttle the mission, but I got my answer just after 10:30am. The two people around me suddenly became two dozen and an excited "Here it comes!" was heard.
There was no good shot of the shuttle/747 tandem against the NYC skyline available coming or going from my angle.
As it approached the bridge, it was clear that the tandem wasn't going to be above the tower from our vantage point, so I had to do a before and after.
Here's what I got:
1. Approaching the GWB
2&3. Before and after
4. I zoomed in as it headed up the Hudson.
5. I missed some shots because of the many westbound trucks whizzing by, but I love this accidental shot. It looks like a 1950s hot rod under a 1970s airplane that's carrying a 1980s space shuttle - ground, air, and space over water. You can also see that the tandem - as advertised - is beginning to climb to 3,000 feet after passing the bridge (from 1,500).
6. The tandem comes back from Rockland County and approaches the bridge, presumably back at 1,500 feet.
7. It passes the bridge - still appearing closer to NJ. From this point, it makes the Statue of Liberty/Newark Airport/Teterboro Airport loop and...........
8. ...........comes out 14 minutes later over Fort Lee/Cliffside Park, heading east.
9. Here's a good side view as it crosses the Hudson............
10.............and passes over some Manhattan water tanks before the LaGuardia flyover.
Did anyone see it from Hackensack?
