For 20 years, airplanes—big ones—have set a daily cadence. Early departures roar overhead crowing the daybreak as reliably as a rooster. The departure procedure from one runway involves a heading change to avoid flying low over homes, but some airplanes are moving so fast that they thunder over my sleeping neighbors before heading over the water.
An Empty Sky at Tampa
Key Takeaways:
- The author, an aviation enthusiast living near Tampa International Airport, describes the dramatic shift from a sky filled with daily airplane traffic to an eerie silence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Daily flight operations at the airport have plummeted from an average of 581 to around 100, impacting pilots, airport staff, and replacing passenger jets with mostly freighter aircraft.
- This unprecedented quiet has left the author's pilot friends idle and worried, and despite the opportunity for reflection, he expresses a deep longing for the return of normal air travel and the ability to fly freely again.
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