Friday Photo: the fog rolls into Chicago

April 1, 2020. The fog rolls in off Lake Michigan... Normally a bustling metropolis, this evening finds Chicago’s streets deserted as the reality of COVID-19, like the fog itself, begins to shroud the city.

Friday Photo: logging some actual

Flying in actual IMC is an invaluable experience for any pilot and even more so for one training for the next level certification. We knew there would be good IMC opportunity (without icing or convection) on this day for some valuable flying time. We took off early morning, climbed above the first layer and found a nice area for this picture.
Sunset

Friday Photo: Sunset takeoff

Airports around sunset are beautiful places to just sit and watch the world go by. Alan Connor snapped this photo of just that moment, as a tailwheel airplane lifts off, rising above a setting sun. It almost looks as if the airplane has a spotlight on it.

Friday Photo: sunset from FL 380

A sunset between layers, flying southwest between two of the most well known tourist destinations in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguaçú, home of our share of the amazing Iguazu Falls, on the triple border with Argentina and Paraguay.

Friday Photo: over the moon

Our local EAA chapter had a late afternoon picnic right at sunset at Ovid, NY (D82) – also known as “Ovid International.” Waldo was kind enough to take a number of members up in his beautiful Cub on an absolutely perfect autumn evening.

Friday Photo: sunrise at Monument Valley

After four days of touring the canyons of the West, I was looking at nearly 10 hours of flying time to get home. I checked out of the hotel early and walked across the street to the airstrip, watching the horizon slowly brighten. At exactly sunrise, I took off and grabbed a couple of “secondary sunrises” of the big, red fireball cresting the mesa. Made it home just before sunset!

Friday Photo: a Smoky Sunset

A look at the smoky skies over northwestern Colorado, before dusk. In Steamboat Springs, we have been surrounded by TFRs on all sides due to wild fires. While much of the time our aerial views are obscured to just a gray haze, there are magic moments when nature plays with light and color, due to the smoke.

Friday Photo: Alaska seaplane sunset

Seaplanes are as much a part of everyday life in Alaska as pickup trucks are in Texas. Whether ferrying essential supplies or transporting passengers on a memorable trip, they keep things moving the Last Frontier. Craig Bixby captures this spirit in his beautiful Friday Photo, which shows a Male on floats tied up to shore after a long day flying hunters.

Friday Photo: Pure Michigan sunset

You've probably seen the ads for Pure Michigan, promoting the state's natural beauty. That's what came to mind for Tim Crawford after taking this shot. He stopped to capture the moment after a Father's Day flight, with his Diamond DA40 in the foreground and the setting sun lighting up the background.

Friday Photo: a foggy sunrise at the airport

Sunrise is a magical time, but that's especially true at an airport in the fall. Doran Jaffas perfectly captures the peaceful and enchanting scene in this photo. His Wittman W-8 Tailwind sits ready to go, as the morning fog begins to burn off. The only reaction is, "let's go flying!"

Friday photo: above the thermal layer

Cruising along at 8500 feet in his Tecnam P2008, Mike Hackney captured this beautiful and slightly strange photo. As he says, "The optical illusion was of a lake covered by a sheet of ice, and the cloud tops emerging. This went on for an hour of flight time. Simply beautiful."

Friday Photo: Dominican Republic from a TBM

The view from the cockpit of a TBM 910 as it cruises along in the flight levels is usually pretty good, but sometimes it's great. Omar Haedo captured one of these unique views as he flew home to Miami, with the sun reflecting off the Caribbean Sea and the cumulus clouds building over the Dominican Republic.

Friday photo: Airbus X3

The X3 was unusual from many different perspectives, not the least of which being the addition of a pair of stub wings with tractor propellers at their tips. The propellers, though appearing to have their own powerplants, were actually driven by the engines that drove the main rotor.
Pipstrel in flight

Friday Photo: storm over the Everglades

The Pipistrel Sinus motorglider is all about fun flying, and that's what Todd Tracy captures in this Friday Photo. His wingtip-mounted GoPro camera shows him soaring over the Everglades in Florida, with a typical summertime rain shower making itself known in the background.

Friday Photo: somewhere over the rainbow

Returning east at 11,000 feet from Saint Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, to Asheville, North Carolina, on an Angel Flight mission. Major thunderstorm activity over Knoxville. ATC queried me, “Do you want to divert north or south? Suggest south.” Good choice.

Friday Photo: the sun sets on a rewarding flight

Sometimes you're so busy flying that you forget to take a photo until after you've landed. That's what Tom Kingston shares in this Friday Photo, but what a great way to remember a flight—a beautiful sunset in the western sky serves as a colorful reminder of a great flight in his Cessna 172.

Friday Photo: one last flight

As partners sharing ownership of a Nanchang CJ-6A and four and a half years and many hours of fun and adventure in the Decathlon, it was our last flight as co-owners. My longtime friend, who took this shot, had lost his medical due to a stroke. 

Friday Photo: Southern Utah paradise

Just another day in the Southern Utah paradise. My buddy always says “if there’s a bump in the world, this is where you’ll find it” but this day, the air was smooth as glass.

Friday Photo: Resting

Birds of a feather flock together, and you really notice it when the airplane has such a unique silhouette. Chris Priaulx saw these two airplanes on the ramp at Wendover, Utah (ENV) some years back, parked in their unique, nose-down position.

Friday Photo: under the bridge

The mission on this day was to get out of the house (pandemic blues) and shoot some practice instrument approaches in typical August hot, humid southeastern Virginia weather. The pilots were rewarded with an interesting sight, as a US Navy ship was passing through the York River Coleman Bridge.