There’s nothing quite like that first flight as pilot in command. For David Booth, it was extra special because he was flying his adult children. The view of Melbourne from his Robinson R44 helicopter is great, but even better was “the surprise and amazement when they found out that their father had learned to fly.”
That first long cross country flight is always a memorable experience, and for Kevin Cook it was even better – just look at that sunset. But what he remembers most are the helpful controllers throughout his flight. As he says, “We truly have an amazing ATC system in place in the US.”
It looks like a setting for a Western – because it is. The sandstone buttes of Monument Valley, on the border between Arizona and Utah, appear in many famous movies but they are even better in person. Richard Garnett shares a photo of the otherworldly scene in this Friday Photo, taken from a Piper Archer during a cross-country training flight.
For Vini Khurana, checking out in his first airplane was a dream come true. He took this photo on a training flight and it shows a stunning view. The Pipistrel Virus is packed with Dynon avionics that light up the panel, but the view out the front window isn’t bad either.
Rocky Mountain National Park is a stunning 265,000 acre park in northern Colorado, famous for the Trail Ridge Road and its spectacular vistas. In this Friday Photo, Daniel Hesselius shares his unique view of the park, one that’s even better than the Trail Ridge Road. He took this photo from the left seat of his Baron as he cruised back to Denver in clear skies.
Sometimes everything comes together: a high wing airplane, a beautiful Caribbean island, and a friend to share the flight with. That’s what Reinaldo Marquez shares in this Friday Photo, and it looks pretty good to us. The view is of Isla Palomino beach, on the southern edge of a small island just off the coast of Puerto Rico.
I hadn’t been to the Reading WWII Weekend at KRDG in many years. As I was going through my photos picking out the best shot of each airplane in the show I stumbled across this shot of the P-51 along with a small winged friend sharing the sky. I’d love to say, it was planned, but it wasn’t. Never saw the bird while making the photo.
This is recreational aviation at its very finest. Pete Aarsvold shares a photo of two pilots relaxing on a bench, right next to a Cub Crafters Sport Cub sitting on an immaculate grass runway. Looks like the start of a great day.
Cranberries are knocked off their bushes while the bogs are flooded, allowing them to be corralled for harvest. We may be flatlanders here in this part of our state but the water views (both coastal and lakes) make it beautiful flying country. This annual sight is always one of my favorite iconic views of the Cape Cod area.
Towering over the shoreline of Port Campbell National Park in Victoria, Australia, the Twelve Apostles is a unique formation of limestone stacks. Neil Sidwell captured a great photo of this unique vista from the cockpit of his ICP Savannah. While many visitors see it from the nearby road, there’s nothing like an aerial view.
Every pilot has spent time in an FBO waiting out weather. For a lucky few, that patience is rewarded with a beautiful view. That’s what happened to Rick Kennett as he climbed out of St. Louis in his Cessna 340. The stormy clouds supplied the perfect rainbow, which he followed on his way home.
For Caravan pilot Peter Santana, simple grass or dirt strips are nothing new. In fact, such challenging airports are just part of the job. But while many are challenging to land on, there’s something very beautiful about strips like the remote Koropun airstrip in Papua, Indonesia. It’s certainly not flat and there are tall cliffs off the end, but it’s an essential lifeline for villagers there.
Pilot and aviation enthusiast Agustin Rubiños describes it as, “vuelos divertidos en Skyhawk.” As this week’s Friday Photo shows, he does indeed have a lot of fun flying around Argentina. In this photo, taken from his wing-mounted GoPro, he’s soaring over the vast plains in his Cessna 172M.
What a spectacular sight. The plains of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico seem to go on forever and with the vibrant blue of the sky contrasted by the white of the puffy cloud, well it was a picture worth putting in the family photo book.
Words cannot express the feeling that comes over you as you leave the earth and look around at God’s creation. As the sun begins to disappear on the horizon, and the shadows begin to stretch across the ground, for the moment, the earth seems to be calm and peaceful.
Goetz A. Giessler captured a unique perspective from the cockpit of his Zlin Savage Cub as he did some ground reference maneuvers above the Rappbodetalsperre in the Harz Mountain Range, Germany. He remembers “the fine lines of pancake ice crust formation in a freshwater lake, painted in contrasting colors and shadows beneath cool calm air.”
As a corporate pilot, Duane Mader is usually working when he’s in the cockpit. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy the view from the left seat. In this stunning photo, he shares the view over the left wing of his CJ2, with the Badlands of South Dakota under some puffy clouds. The light didn’t last long, but it’s saved forever in his memorable shot.
Photos don’t get much better than this. Diego Errazuriz took this breathtaking picture of a total solar eclipse from the cockpit of his Cessna R182, as he cruised over Chile on July 2, 2019. The lights below and the Pacific Ocean frame the beautiful colors in the sky and the utterly unique view of the sun.
Australia’s Gold Coast in Queensland is a beautiful place to fly, as this photo from Ross Clarke shows. He was on his way to maintenance in his Jabiru J170 when he took this shot of the towering buildings and golden beaches below. It’s a famous tourist destination, but we think it looks better from the air.
The sun reflecting off a lake is a wonderful sight, but it’s even better when you’re learning to fly, as John Wesley Collins was in this case. There’s a twist: “His dad got to be in the plane with him and take these beautiful photos. Both sons are working on their private pilot lessons and their dad gets to live his lifelong dream of flying with them.”
