flew SWA flt 1090 from MCI-DEN then flt 1388 from DEN to SJC on 02MAY09. MCI-DEN flt left early and arrived early at DEN. My first time at DEN…huge airport! Good news was…all SWA ops are in terminal C so just a short walk to our next gate. Departed DEN an hour later headed west and flew directly over Winter Park, which was nice since we had skiied there previously. Lots of snow yet in the high country. Attatched my Garmin Nuvi 205W to the aircraft window using the suction mount, which was nice…didnt have to hold the dang thing up to the window all morning. Later…over Nevada I spotted a rather large airport out in the middle of nowhere…near a dry lake…could it have been Groom Lake? There were some straight lines in the lake bed. I also saw where a jet flew right under us at a 90 degree angle…looked rather close to me. Both flights were pretty full but the service was good (peanuts and drinks). They of course told us to turn off our devices below 10k ft but I was tempted to leave mine on approaching SJC but didnt. Flying home on 04MAY on SWA flt 508 it was full from LAS to ABQ but then ALL of the other pax got off except me…then NINE got on…so there were just TEN of us in that 120+seat jet from ABQ to MCI so we of course could sit wherever we wanted. The F/As seemed to enjoy it too they came back and talked to us and brought us extra drinks and peanuts and stuff. Flew right over Hoover Dam too and saw that new bridge under construction. Arrived at MCI on time at 2200. Sure is great having that GPS. Wish it gave altitude data also. Having a nose camera would be nice too, so we could see what the pilots see, eh?
Which side of the plane were you on over Nevada? On the left hand side of the aircraft you would be able to see Tonopah Test Range (TNX), although it’s not in a dry lake according the sectional. There is a large dry lake called Mud Lake which is a few miles south of the TPH VORTAC.
That’s why you have FlightAware! One thing I have noticed is that the altitude between what the aircraft altimeter and a GPS shows will be different, sometimes by several hundred feet, because the altimeter is using a standard pressure while the GPS is the satellites to determine altitude.
Did it look anything like this?
Or an interactive map to zoom and pan etc:
well yeah I WAS on the port side of the AC so was looking south. Did sorta look like that Groom Lake pic. Sure was a big airport out in the middle of nowhere. Of course…every time we landed I had to find an outlet at the airport to charge my GPS back up for the next flt segment. I also found that the key to happiness was to NOT have anyone sitting next to you (especially large people) or in front of you. I also got a sore neck from craning it down to see out the window (I am 6 ft 4 in tall). Sure wish the windows were higher. I try to calculate what ground items of interest we’ll be flying over and then what side of the AC to sit on to see them. I found you can see better on the side AWAY from the sun. Also find that terrain features like mountains are better seen when the sun angle is low rather than say high noon.
upon further review…the pic I took was NOT Groom Lake yet was a large airfield near a dry lake, and this was east of the Sierra nevada range so musta been in NV. I also recently bought a Flight Aware shirt and lemme tell ya…they run small! A nice shirt…just small. Shoulda got an XL.
[quote=“skelly76”]
upon further review…the pic I took was NOT Groom Lake yet was a large airfield near a dry lake, and this was east of the Sierra nevada range so musta been in NV. I also recently bought a Flight Aware shirt and lemme tell ya…they run small! A nice shirt…just small. Shoulda got an XL. [/quote]
Thanks for the heads-up on the shirt… I’ll go up a size when I order. 
Is that “Ringer” T-shirt you’re ordering even available in a man’s size? 
I didn’t say it was for me, Jerk! Apparently you missed out on the FA “free porn” opportunity last night. I met a nice mail-order bride on that site and I’m sending her a shirt so I’ll recognize her at the airport. Her pic is SUPER HOT!!! Her profile says “Plus Size” so I assume that means I have to add 1(one) US size to the Russian size for an equivalent clothing fit… Right? Yeah, who’s dumb now? 
I think James was messing with you 
Note the devilish emoticon.
I think I was messing with James… Note the Sarcasm!
Happy M-Day to your wife Lierma!
I mistook the rolling eyes emoticon as I use it in a different sense, my apologies!
Will pass that on! Thanks!
I feel guilty “hijacking” this thread, and I did forget to ask skelly76 if he has any pics of his GPS setup on his flight… I’m not sure I’d have the you-know-whats to actually stick an electronic device on the window of a SWA flight! Did anyone look at you weird during the flight?
Can’t believe no one has any Area 51 comments… Geez!
Going to get my Mom now… try to keep things under control guys!
Odd that. There were quite a few and then they just vanished! 
(PS: Unlike Allen I got the sarcasm. Good luck with Ivana, and plus size means something very different over there when measured against their “norm”!)
well actually I DO have a few cabin GPS shots but am still unable to figure out how to upload them to flightaware SO…please go to flickr and search for the person pappajhn and there you can see all my recent inflight pics…including the “groom lake” pic which is not groom lake.
By the way…on my ALB-MCI segment, our first officer was a female, and a rather attractive one at that…what a deal! I always look at pilots, as I admire them…but this one especially…
Tonopah, KTNX. No the most exciting place I’ve ever been, but it beats Detroit…
Son of a…
One free month of FlightAware to member Damiross.
Tonopah. Probably even more hush-hush than “Area 51”. Zoom in and play “find the JANET flight”.
PS GREAT photo skelly76… just keep a look out for black Sububurns pulling up to your house in the middle of the night. The Camo Dudes WILL find you!
well it WOULD be Tonopah, except that…the buildings are on the EAST side of the runways in my pic since I am west bound, and in the aerial pic of Tonopah they are on the WEST side, plus where is the dry lake?
Still, I know it isnt groom lake, as that never existed…
The photo above is “inverted” so to speak. That is to say that the photo shown was taken from north of the airport looking south. The dry lake at TNX is actually on the northeast corner of the field.
well dang…it looks now like perhaps that IS Groom lake! My flight path could have easily been near there. Then again…folks tend to see what they WANT to see, eh?