Once in a lifetime view out an airliner window

[Whiskey Delta]

As luck would have it I flew into Washington-Dulles IAD while the Shuttle Enterprise and SCA were still in town. I had hoped to get a chance to taxi close enough past the aircraft to get at least one quick picture. They were parked on the ramp pad between Runway 19R and 19C which were the active runways. Well I thought if we weren't initially assigned the runway we'd request 19R so we could taxi by the Shuttle on the way to the Terminal.

My hats off to the Air Traffic Controllers in IAD. They were landing all aircraft on 19R just so they could see the Shuttle. Even better, they were letting each inbound airliner take a turn and taxi around the ramp area to the east of the Enterprise/SCA so passengers on both sides of the aircraft got a chance to see them. The best investment of 5 minutes of time and fuel ever spent. I wish the pictures did a better job of showing how close we were able to get. Simply amazing.

[EGTC]

Great shots. Very lucky!
Whats happening with those B747's now that were used to transport the shuttle?
I never knew NASA had a DC9.

[Comet]

I remember seeing Enterprise doing a flypast at Reykjavik Airport when I was a kid, brilliant sight!

[mrtotty]

What a wonderful opportunity. I was forced to cancel a recent planned trip to Washington DC, and these pictures add to my general sense of frustration at not being able to be there.
It is interesting to think what the modifications to the B747 are, apart from the visible ones. It looks like a 100 or 200 to me.

[Primate]

Great stuff.

Can I ask which company you're with and which plane you're flying?

[Whiskey Delta]

What a wonderful opportunity. I was forced to cancel a recent planned trip to Washington DC, and these pictures add to my general sense of frustration at not being able to be there.
It is interesting to think what the modifications to the B747 are, apart from the visible ones. It looks like a 100 or 200 to me.

According to wikipedia it's a former AA 747-100.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft

Great stuff.

Can I ask which company you're with and which plane you're flying?

EMB-145 for ExpressJet Airlines

[pistonrob]

how cool is that, lucky sod

[NightFlight]

Amazing the second image (IMG_0489) really gives you a sense of scale! Beautiful combination the Shuttle and SCA - utterly unique!