Cassandra

Ever done it? Over what area? What did you see?

Did you actually book your flight planning to try to catch some displays? How did you calculate the timing/route?

gail

About 10 years ago I flew 7/4 evening flight Boston-Shannon, Ireland. Flight went up east coast of US and then over Atlantic. Saw a few flashes of colored lights, but that was it.

RoamsAround

I've done it but unless you are doing it in a private airplane flying at low altitude it's pretty unsp[ectacular. Most airliners fly between 25,000 and 35,000 feet (that's about 5 to 7 miles up). Add to that the fact that the site of the fireworks might be as much as 5 to 20 miles from the path of the plane and you can see why it's nothing to write home about.

As far as calculating timing and routing you really don't have any control. Most fireworks displays beging around 9:00PM to 9:30PM and last 20 to 30 minutes. It's really just luck that you'll be in the right place at the right time.

soccr

Saw fireworks -- not for the 4th but for some unspecified event -- near Seattle. Was fascinating -- many looked like blooming chrsanthemums from above. We weren't at highest altitude, were descending into Seattle -- I think ca. 15K -- so they were small, but visible.

flanneruk

If you arrive in London any evening over the November 5 weekend, anytime between 6.30 pm and 9 pm, you'll see lots of fireworks going off under you.

Since you're normally flying lowish as you're about to land, you get about as good a view as it's possible to get. And, since it's essentially a suburban activity, there's probably a higher density of fireworks displays along the flightpaths into London's airports than anywhere else in the world.

SPECTACULARLY underwhelming. Even at 15,000 feet you're miles above them (they go off at 100 ft or so) - and they're designed to be seen from underneath anyway. About as interesting as a few cars flashing their headlights.

RaymondLuxuryYacht

I'm in the minority here, it seems. I flew out of the DC area (can't remember if it was Dulles or National) on July 4th a couple of years ago, and happened to take off shortly before 9:00, prime time for fireworks shows. This was purely by accident, as I'd planned to be leaving earlier in the day, but had to change flights and destination at the airport at (literally) the last minute because of a death in a friend's family.

I think it was just luck on my part, having lots of little semi-rural northern Virginia communities in the takeoff flight path, each with their own community fireworks show. I saw countless shows going off in the immediate area, and still more to the west, as we gained altitude. An hour later, I saw still more, as we crossed into Central timezone, though we were much higher by then, and the fun was more of a treasure hunt aspect, trying to see if I could find the fireworks explosions below.

All in all, it was a neat novelty, but one that comes with serendipity. Trying to plan such a thing would be fruitless, most likely.

Mike
My travel blog: www.stricklandia.com