Just one pilot's attempt at taking an interesting picture every trip, often with a story to go with it. Come along for the ride.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

The most amazing sight I've ever seen while flying...

I'll probably get around to blogging about this in Cockpit Chronicles next month, but I wanted to share this with you here first.

Not many pilots (myself included) have ever seen Noctilucent clouds before. But what started out looking like Northern Lights turned out to be these Noctilucent clouds which reach an altitude of 300,000 feet.

Read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

I have video to go along with this picture. It's great to hear the other pilots asking about these clouds on the North Atlantic air-to-air frequency. Judging by the comments, it was obvious that most of us had never run across these before.

This photo is almost exactly how it looked to us. I had to use a slow shutter with a high ISO to capture it on Monday night, July 21st, 2008.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simply stunning!

Anonymous said...

A unique experience I am sure. Thanks for sharing this with us, Ken. The first time I saw the northern lights was by air between the US and Europe. Science and nature can be breathtaking.

Julien said...

Thanks for sharing! Amazing photo indeed. It's a beautifully composed shot. The soft light over the instrument panel and on the captain really add to the breathtaking view outside.

ArvydasCet said...

Amazing, Kent! Noctilucents were really spectacular that summer. I took a shot of it from my hometown: http://kukanotas.deviantart.com/art/Noctilucent-Clouds-08-06-26-89924683
Of course, view from the best place in the world (the cockpit) is waaay better. I'd really like to see those views from my office. Someday, someday.. :)

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