The sun is setting here in Tennessee tonight. It's a pale yellow streaked with magenta on the edge of the horizon. As usual, I'm in the airport. I'm looking out over the tarmacs and runways. And, as it slowly gets darker, I can start to see tiny electric blue lights pop into existence.
The blue lights become brighter as the dusk disappears, and form virtual paths that guide planes like customers walking up the aisle in a dark movie theatre.
These are special lights, airport or not. They are the original blue LED's.
We first saw them on trips in the family station wagon as we passed O'Hare airport. On just the right part of 294 - and if you were sitting on the good side of the car - you'd get a 10-second glimpse of the airport from its Eastern edge.
Of course, it only worked at night. We couldn't really see any planes in the dark from that distance. But what made that brief sight so cool were the twinkling blue lights. Intense neon pinpoints of sapphire and cobalt, they stretched in lines and patterns until they flickered out in the distance.
Of course, it only worked at night. We couldn't really see any planes in the dark from that distance. But what made that brief sight so cool were the twinkling blue lights. Intense neon pinpoints of sapphire and cobalt, they stretched in lines and patterns until they flickered out in the distance.
As I've grown older and spend more of my life in airports or on runways, these aviation cart-path markers never lose their appeal. Arriving in any old city, the blue lights do make me feel good, whether I'm glad to be there or not.
In a few weeks, people will start hanging their holiday lights. When I see the blue ones, I'll feel good - if just for a moment. Like when we drove past the airport as kids and saw the blue pinpoints lined up like so many electric rows of corn.
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