WATCH: Beautiful, Poignant Flyover of Parked Planes

by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 12:09 PM ET, Sat April 25, 2020

Even if you're not a so-called 'avgeek' who has a love of all things airplanes, you will appreciate this beautifully poignant video.

Beautiful because it shows the majesty of aircraft.

Poignant because it shows the havoc that the coronavirus has caused the industry.

Pilot Bryan Keith flies his Grumman Tiger over an unused runway at the Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) in Victorville, Calif. that is currently serving as a parking lot for 400 planes sidelined by major airlines. With demand for travel having plummeted 90 percent compared to last year because of the virus, airlines have pared back their schedules and their equipment.

The flyover, which Keith said was in cooperation with air traffic control at the airport, lasts about seven minutes. The final three minutes of the video is a flyover of the peak bloom of the Antelope Valley poppy fields to see an explosion of color in the Mojave Desert.

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