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The view: Storm cloud
The pilot: Harvey Swift
The airplane: Boeing 737
The mission: Flying passengers from Houston Hobby to Dallas.
The memory: It was a very stormy day—we had to fly west out of Houston about 100 miles to get around a line of weather between Houston and Dallas. I spotted this storm cloud and managed to get this great photo.
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Harvey is a 737 captain.
Latest posts by Harvey Swift (see all)
- Friday Photo: thunderstorm at sunset - September 11, 2020
Hello—what an outstanding picture! I would like to recreate it in a water color painting. May I have your permission?
Please do!
What FL was that?
I don’t remember however, we mostly do that trip about FL330.
Great capture! Pilots are privileged to see a unique perspective on nature that no one in history has and few currently do. I look back sometimes in my corporate jet job to see if anyone is noticing a gorgeous sunset or scenery and usually they are just on their phones.
I once was flying from SEA to MDW at night. The northern lights were very active and quite beautiful. I brought the Flight attendants up to the cockpit one at a time. Two of them were very excited and loved it. The other one was not impressed and was more interested in her make up. Go figure!
Years ago flying into Houston Hobby on the Navasota arrival at 8,000 feet there was a similar huge boomer right over Navasota. I checked in at the same time as a Southwest 737 higher up. Houston Approach asked me if I could maintain VFR. I could by flying south and west around the cell. Meanwhile Approach cleared Southwest to Maintain FL 250 over the top direct to Galveston and come in on the back side of the cell. Approach continued to move arrivals left and right around the cell and occasionally would transmit, “You doing OK little 17D? 17D affirmative Houston Approach.”
Got on the ground at Hobby and looked back to the Northwest expecting to see a boomer like in the photograph. Wow, it was all gone. An airplane killer one minutes and the next clear skies.
Great photo, Harvey