You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.

The line suggests that flight radically alters perception: ordinary objects become newly legible when viewed from above, where scale, pattern, and light reveal features invisible at ground level. A tree’s “shadow from the sky” evokes the aerial viewpoint that turns familiar landscapes into abstract designs, emphasizing how technology and travel can reframe experience and knowledge. At a deeper level, it implies that understanding often depends on perspective—what seems fully known in one position may be incomplete until seen from another. Attributed to Earhart, the sentiment aligns with the modernist fascination with aviation as a tool for expanding human vision and imagination, even if the precise wording is uncertain.