On a recent night flight from Nice to London, the pilot pointed out the Eiffel Tower down below, lit up like a Christmas Tree! I was mesmerised. When I flew back from Santorini last week, I was on the wrong side of the plane to see the Grand Canal of Venice

What fantastic things have you seen from the air?

The Alpes, birdseye view of London over the thames - from Millennium Dome to The House, clouds.

"The House"?

never heard that expression before

The House - Houses of Parliament

Last year we were flying from Nice to London and I looked down and saw the Alps and Lake Geneva. I thought maybe I'd gotten on the wrong plane .#-o Turns out the french traffic controllers were on strike and we had to fly around France rather than over it.
Also spotted from the air ships, icebergs, islands etc..

My first ever trip overseas in Sept '94, when we got stationed in the UK for the first time. The Army had sent my husband ahead by about a month (he found the house, the car, etc before I got there) and I flew from Arkansas to Manchester by myself. I was nervous as all heck, not because of the flight, but because it was all so new, and I was sooooo excited about being overseas!

As we were descending over Ireland, I saw the beautiful green, green, green quilt of farmland and stone walls below us, and I was just mezmerized. When the plane landed in Manchester, it was pouring down rain, chilly, and miserable. But my mind was full of the lovely images of Ireland from the air, and rain or no rain, I was hooked.

Ironically, in all the time we've been here in the UK, we have never made it over to Ireland - not once!! LOL

I was flying from Iceland to London in the 60s at the time Surtsey was erupting. The pilot flew round the island a few times and the view was fantastic. Of course what he did was extremely dangerous and we actually had to make an emergency landing in Glasgow.

Does sound dangerous, but that must have been so cool!!!

Mount Fuji is magnificent from the air.

Also enjoyed flying over the Alps for both the magnificent natural beauty, and the towns and villages tucked away here and there.

Yes, flying over Ireland, and England too, is memorable.

Grand Canyon, glaciers in Greenland,

landing at LAX, plane flies for miles and miles and miles over the city

the Statue of Liberty

My first view of New Zealand was pretty special. It was 2 weeks after 9/11, after a long, long flight. It was a gorgeous sliver of snow crusted land in the shimmering sea...

Have also seen Uluru from afar. I needed to measure it against Mount Royal in Montreal. It's a pretty BIG rock!

Flying over London is great - so many visible sights. Have also seen Land's End and the heel of Italy - amazing to see the shapes from the air, just like looking at an atlas!!

Not Europe - - but about ten years I took a small plane from Portland to Seattle, flew right over Mt. St. Helens and it seemed like the pilot dipped a little from right to left and back so that everyone could get a good view. Better than anything I ever saw about it on PBS.

Best wishes,

Rex

Off the top of my head, the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the NYC Twin Tower beams (which was the most memorable and made me quite misty), and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Flying over Mr. Kilimanjaro which is almost always in clouds at ground level - amazing from above, seeing the snow covered peaks.

Flying from East Africa to The Seychelles - about an hour out the color of the water becomes the most amazing shades of blue and turquoise - as if food coloring were poured into the Indian Ocean!

Flying into Sydney harbor, the Opera House. Flying from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock and seeing Uluru and The Olgas from the air.

Flying over Israel (Old City Jerusalem) and Petra in Jordan, before landing in Amman. And, of course, the Pyramids in Giza before landing in Cairo.

On a night flight from Johannesburg to London. Woke up (before dawn - lights off and most people still sleeping) and got up to stretch my legs. Looked out of the window and realised we were flying over Lyon - where I live. Recognised the city straight away (it's an odd shape) and could practically identify my neighbourhood from the streetlight patterns. Wow.

Statue of Liberty was the only thing I recognized from the air!

BrimhamRocks - You flew from Arkansas? WHat part? (Just being nosy, I'm from AR)

Another vote for New Zealand.

While flying into Queenstown the pilot announced, " The view of the mountains from the cockpit is fantastic. You folks can come into the cockpit and see for yourself".

The view was incredible.

And yes, this was pre 9/11.

Quite a few things come to mind, but the most notable:

The week Princess Diana died, flying along the Thames and seeing streams of people waiting to sign condolence books at various points and mounds of flowers in front of Buckingham Palace.

Seeing Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe from the air.

But the most beautiful was flying into Italy for the first time, over the Alps. Incredibly beautiful.

I too have looked right down the spout of an erupting volcano - mine was on the Aleutian Islands. The pilot (an acquaintance) was probably violating company rules because who knows what rocks or other crud might have come shooting out of the hot goo right at us. Also, watching the lava from Kilauea pouring right into the ocean on the Big Island is a gas (ha ha).

I never tire of looking down on the Arctic Ocean and/or Greenland on polar flights.

For human geography, London from the air is great, especially landing after an all-nighter across the pond, when the low sun angle highlights all the landmarks. Landing at LAX at night is awesome, but IMO nothing holds a candle to landing at Mexico City on a (rare) reasonably clear day - the biggest city in the world and no mistake.

A spectacular lightning storm, flying from Dallas to Corpus Christi. Had never seen horizontal lightning before. Sat white knuckled for a while and then decided what will be will be, and gazed out the window to watch mother nature's light show.

The pentagon and statue of liberty.

The alps.

Both New York City and San Francisco are pretty spectacular from the air, both at night and during the day.

Flying low in a small plane from San Juan to St. Thomas, the water such gorgeous colors and so clear you could see to the bottom near the beach.

Flying over all our European destinations just before landing is exciting to me, because it means the beginning of another wonderful adventure.