When jogging through the Clingendael Park, I noticed the rising full moon and the afternoon’s peak of traffic approaching for Schiphol Amsterdam Airport flying exactly north of my position, straight into the direction of the upcoming full moon. I rushed back home to get my 200 mm telephoto lens and was lucky to capture an airplane flying the RNAV36 towards RWY 36L at approximately 1500 ft AGL.
Long before 9/11 it was already prohibited to fly over the city centre of Dutch adminstrative residency The Hague. The royal palaces, the medieval court housing the parliament and senate are strictly forbidden to overfly below 3,000 ft AGL. To take pictures of the city I flew exactly along the border of the prohibited airspace.
Flying over Amsterdam isn’t easy, but Gerhard van Roon says he wouldn’t trade it for anything: “once over the target and the safety pilot has taken the yoke with me hanging with my cameras out of the window, I am sure that there isn’t a job in the world as beautiful and satisfying as mine!” As this week’s Friday photo shows, he does have quite the view.
This week’s stunning cockpit photo comes from pilot and professional photographer Gerhard van Roon, who snapped this beautiful shot of The Netherlands’ second-largest city. The combination of twilight, tall buildings and calm water make for an unforgettable view.