"V1. . .Rotate!"

[jinman]

Let's go flyin'.

 

[RobJ]

Can we guess a photoshop?

 

[Bird]

That picture makes it look like the lightning startled one airplane so bad the front end jumped up in the air.

 

[gordon21]

Looks like photoshop to me. Taxiways are bathed in full light, it is dark from the storm and there are shadows along the taxiways that don't jive with the rest of the lighting. Plus, the tiny piece of lightning near the roof appears cut and pasted since it bypassed the tallest part of the roof nearby.

And of course the biggest mistake is that ATC wouldn't have allowed that departure with level 5 activity so close.

Nice try though.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Looks like photoshop to me. Taxiways are bathed in full light, it is dark from the storm and there are shadows along the taxiways that don't jive with the rest of the lighting. Plus, the tiny piece of lightning near the roof appears cut and pasted since it bypassed the tallest part of the roof nearby.

And of course the biggest mistake is that ATC wouldn't have allowed that departure with level 5 activity so close.

Nice try though.

Have to agree. I made the same observations you did. If it were cleaned up a bit and the pic had been of a military all-weather aircraft, I would have thought it authentic, Lord knows, we took off and landed in the muck many, many times...those FAA rules don't apply when going tactical, however NATOPS rules do apply, but can be waivered by the commanding officer of the squadron. A radio call in and permission can be obtained rather quickly. I want to point out though that there is a difference in "tactical" mission and just a training mission...

Podunk

 

[Bird]

I'm not much photographer, so I can't say what was done to the photo. Maybe it's phony, but did you notice the date used as the name for the picture? That day, the DFW airport got over 2" of rain (I got 3.04" at my house), all but 2 of the people in the control tower were evacuated for about 15 minutes when they reported seeing a funnel cloud, and local news media said about half of the 950 plus daily flights were cancelled. Some areas south of the airport got 3 times as much rain that day.

In other words, it was definitely a stormy day that day.

 

[jinman]

I'm not much photographer, so I can't say what was done to the photo. Maybe it's phony, but did you notice the date used as the name for the picture? That day, the DFW airport got over 2" of rain (I got 3.04" at my house), all but 2 of the people in the control tower were evacuated for about 15 minutes when they reported seeing a funnel cloud, and local news media said about half of the 950 plus daily flights were cancelled. Some areas south of the airport got 3 times as much rain that day.

In other words, it was definitely a stormy day that day.

Bird, the photo is far too compressed and has too many compression artifacts to be determined as real or a fake. My first thought on seeing it was that it was likely "doctored" a bit. The story is that it was taken by an American Eagle employee during the storm a week ago. I will neither guarantee its validity nor pronounce it a fake. It's a fun picture either way. It does hold up my theory that flying in one of our simulators is the safest way to go.

From my 4th floor view just off the airport, I was attempting to count the number of aircraft lined up at the south end of the airport. I counted 24 awaiting departure and within 10 minutes I could not see any due to the heavy rain. As a matter of fact, I couldn't see the street in front of our building. Many folks sat for over 4 hours waiting to depart before their flights were cancelled. It was a messy storm that moved very slowly and seemed to take everyone by surprise.

 

[mikim]

here's a good storm shot for ya -- Atlanta tornado ....we get lots of storm pictures around here.

 

[txdon]

Whoa, maybe I out to be thinking of building a storm shelter next!

 

[Bird]

The story is that it was taken by an American Eagle employee during the storm a week ago.

I'll have to try to remember and ask my next door neighbor later. He's an American Eagle pilot (Captain on the Saab A340s) and was out at the airport that day, but his flight was among those cancelled.