And their three songs about Snoopy and the Red Baron!!!

I enjoy your columns, their diveristy and humor! Keep it up!

john

There's also Philip Glass and David Henry Hwangs' collaboration "1000 Airplanes on the Roof". I haven't seen the production so I don't know if airplanes actually make an appearance but it debuted in a hanger at the Vienna airport.

http://www.philipglass.com/html/compositions/1000-airplanes-on-the-roof.html#synopsis

While "Flight" is the only opera set in an airport...

There is another opera that's entirely set in an airport departure lounge. It's Philippe Manoury's "60e Parallele" (if you do a Google perhaps "Soixantieme Parallele" is a better key). Available on Naxos: 8.554249-50. Damn, there should be some accents in there but I can't get them right!

Speaking of George Antheil, his "Ballet Mecanique" (1924, revised 1954) has "a small airplane propeller" in its list of required instruments. The one (lp) recording I own of this work uses a tape recording instead of the real thing.

There are still several pop songs I can think of that are not in the previous lists

Off the top of my head

• Chuck Berry: "Back in the USA"
• Rolling Stones: "Flight 505"
• Led Zeppelin: "Night Flight"

And for connoisseurs of French pop, Robert Charlebois' classic "Lindbergh".

but let's not get obsessive,

Francois

Another airplane pop/rock song not on the lists:

The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights"

Argh..got that one wrong. It's actually "Recycled Air" by the Postal Service.

I once ride on an Icarus Airline in Ecuador. The name is actually Icaro. The logo is clearly depicts Icarus.

http://www.icaro.com.ec/

I was only slightly nervous climbing on board a plane named after flier who crashed to earth.

Here's a short list of tracks from my iTunes collection you might want to give a listen to. It ranges from the pounding, insistent techno beats of DJ Tiesto to the lounge-y, snarky pop of Ladytron.

"Flight 643" DJ Tiesto

"Circling overland" Front 242

"I'm with the pilots" Ladytron

"Jet Age" Ladytron

...and of course:

"Rhapsody in Blue" George Gershwin

"Flight 643" is a current favorite. Insistent techno-trance that for me conjures up the image of looking out the window at 33,000 ft and seeing another jet zip past in a perpendicular or opposite direction, reminding you of just how fast you're really traveling.

Count me as one who has not forgotten the magic of flight. I can never understand why anyone would pass up a window seat, even for the admittedly more convenient aisle seat.

Several weeks ago, I was winging from San Jose to Chicago via Southwest, and was thrilled when three different times another plane passed us going west, in clear view of my window perch. I had never seen this before, and was amazed at how fast the other planes came into view and were by us.

Later, on approach to MDW, we slowly descended into a rather thick cloud cover. It was almost like submerging in a submarine.

I understand the physics of flight quite well, but my eyes still can't believe they're seeing a large jet lift off of the ground and climb through the clouds.

(I also enjoy the obscure music references, having been quite the young punk in the early 80s!)