Extrodinary Views from the Cockpit

[leprechaun]

Views from the cockpit
I received these photos in an email and they are so stunning I just had to copy then and share. Gone are the days when passengers could have a visit to the cockpit.
The pictures were captured by senior first officer Christiaan van Heijst, a 33-year-old from the Netherlands, and his riend Daan Krans. Van Heijst and Krans run a company called Amazing-Aviation, which specialises in eye-catching photos of planes and the views from them .
'I feel very privileged that I can somehow translate these views with my camera into something that can be shared, viewed and appreciated by anyone.'Flying large cargo planes around the world, Van Heijst takes photos from the cockpit when his fellow pilots are flying, and when the thunderstorms are not so severe as to greatly affect the flying. Van Heijst, who began learning to fly as a 14-year-old, said: 'Ever since I started my first job as a pilot, I felt the need to capture the atmosphere of the unique views that I had from the cockpit.
'My colleagues were very supportive since they could now show their loved ones at home what our job was like from the cockpit.
'I know very well that trying to take a perfect picture is an eternal and fruitless goal, but I do my best and allow my viewers the sometimes jaw-dropping views that I share with them.'

No 1. This image shows a cloud illuminated with lightning between Beijing and Shanghai. Van Heijst said: 'The cloud here seen on our left started to appear on our weather radar only a few minutes before and started to show off an amazing display of lightning that grew ever more intense. When we got closer, we saw that the cloud was going to burst through our flight path and we had to deviate up to 10km to avoid flying into this cell'


No 2. Northern Lights sweeping uninterrupted across the atmosphere and the galaxy stretching on forever. This image was taken over Canada


No 3. The scenes are amazing, with thunderstorms lighting up the insides of clouds, lightning streaking across the sky like cracks in a windscreen


No. 4 & 5. As Van Heijst and his colleague Luca flew over Toronto this July on their way from Chicago to Amsterdam they were treated to a stunning view of a heavy thunderstorm and faint Northern Lights as the icing on the cake



No. 6. Van Heijst said of this amazing image: 'A beautiful show of Northern Lights over Canada, while a few active thunderstorms . 'The Northern Lights, with its massive strings of coloured light, starting high above the airplane and Extending 500km (310 miles) into space, each dancing, vibrating and so fast and furious, is almost impossible to photograph properly.


No. 7. The Milky Way as seen from the cockpit during a flight over the Sinai desert in Egypt


No. 9, 10, 11 & 12 Cockpit views





Hope you all enjoy

[Shadowman]

Nice series, thanks for sharing.

[LePetomane]

Beautiful shots. Thank you.

[lookmore]

I don't want to pose as the copyright police but is this OK to post someone else's pics here?

Sent from my thl 4000

[madcrow]

Out of this world. Every one a treat to look at. I would like to see more. Thanks for sharing.

[bnnrcn]

Very extraordinary, thanks for sharing

[Wavelength]

Excellent set of images....

[Tony1967]

How amazing - these photos are stunning, thanks for sharing them!
Tony

[bje07]

wonderful images.

[JemC]

What an amazing set of images, glad you shared them,

[leprechaun]

Hi Lookmore. As i included the names of the people involved and all their information I don't think any copy write laws were violated. Showing these photos was not for profit but rather sharing some great images.

Thanks to all for your comments, if only we all could be so lucky having an opportunity to take these kind of shots.
Just keep posting your great photos for us to enjoy.