Nederlandse piloot verrast met prachtige cockpit foto’s

Vroeger wilde ik piloot worden. Lekker reizen, vliegen naar de mooiste bestemmingen en altijd vooraan in het vliegtuig zitten. En dan ook nog zo’n dikke Jumbojet besturen. Dat moet toch een kicken gevoel geven. Een van de vereisten van piloot worden is dat al je zintuigen in topconditie moeten zijn. Helaas bleek in groep 7 al dat mijn ogen pot- en potdicht zaten en inmiddels heb ik de bijzondere oog sterkte bereikt van – 5.50. Aan beiden ogen! Weg droom. Maar hey, bij Manify verveel ik me ook niet hoor..

Christiaan van Heijst heeft het echter wel getroffen. Plus hij kan fotograferen! Hij is een piloot die al bij heel wat vliegturen gemaakt heeft bij diverse vliegtuigmaatschappijen. Niet alleen laat hij zien hoe de aarde er vanuit de cockpit op haar allerbest uit ziet, ook vertelt hij er graag een leuke anekdote bij. Kijk en geniet.

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Flying over the city of Toronto on last weeks flight from Chicago to Amsterdam. A memorable flight because it was the last flight with Cargolux and on the 747 for my colleague Luca, who is seen here enjoying her view over the heavy thunderstorms that pass by our windows. A flight that brought us thunderstorms, shooting stars, moonlight, wonderful views and even some faint Northern Lights to finish it off. A perfect flight to celebrate the end of a special chapter in her career. #aviation #flight #airplane #aircraft #boeing #747 #weather #thunderstorm #lightning #pilot #femalepilot #flightdeck #nightflight #night #stars #light #nature #longexposure #jpcvanheijst #nikon #d800 #instadaily #instagramaviation #instagram #people

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St Elmo’s fire. Somewhere over the Atlantic between South-America and Africa we encountered a huge front of active thunderstorms. Flying in thick clouds with zero visibility, we had to rely on our weather-radar to get a clear image of the weather ahead. It was obvious that there was no way to fly all around this squall line of entangled thunderstorms that stretched across our route for hundreds of miles to either side. Coming closer, the radar provided us with a more detailed image of the interior of the clouds ahead, enabling us to plan a route through this maze of violent weather. This time though, we immediately understood that we won’t get away with a smooth passage. The storms had almost grown together into one, forcing us to find the ‘least’ violent spot to fly through. Our long range HF-radio was already rendered completely useless with the nearby storms that charge the atmosphere and our airplane, thereby blocking all signals to and from the outside…. Full blog can be read here; https://jpcvanheijst.com/blogs/2017/06/574544-st-elmo-s-fire-4-minute-read #stelmosfire #elmosfire #aircraft #airplane #boeing #boeing747 #747 #cockpit #flightdeck #pilot #piloteye #pilotlife #thunderstorm #cloud #cloudporn #instaweather #instaflight #instagramaviation #instaaviation #aviation #flight #avgeek #instadaily #photodaily #photoaday #photography #nature #jpcvanheijst #nikon

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Flying somewhere between Beijing and Shanghai, we encountered a very active weatherfront with beautiful and very active thunderstorms. 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. Growing with a speed of up to 5000/6000ft per minute (1,5-2km per minute) straight up into the air, this was certainly a hazard to our airplane if we didnt fly around her. The beauty of nightflights in Asia this time of the year. #lightning #storm #weather #cb #thunder #cloud #clouds #cloudporn #nature #flying #flight #instaweather #instagramaviation #instamood #instacool #aviation #avgeek #jpcvanheijst #nikon #d800 #nightflight #night #flight #china

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Man-made rainbows. Every now and then all the conditions are just right for the most amazing shots from the cockpit. This time, the sun was straight ahead in the right angle, another Airbus A340 passed straight over us and all the specific conditions in the atmosphere were just right for a thick contrail. All those things combined resulted in a contrail that showed all the colours of the rainbow for a few seconds. By now I can already predict what kind of personal messages I’m receiving after posting certain photos so to prevent a lot of angry messages; this photo is not ‘photoshopped’ or fake, its merely (severely) under exposed and cropped out. On top of that, I had to remove some very annoying sun glare from the thick windows. And yes, the colours were definitely visible with the naked eye. #boeing #340 #a340 #airbus #contrail #sky #flying #flight #aviation #avgeek #aviationgeek #instagramaviation #instaaviation #contrail #rainbow #instagood #instadaily #instapic #photography #photoaday #photoart #piloteye #pilotlife #colors #colours #jpcvanheijst #nikon #d800

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With a great sadness I heard that the airline where I found my first airline job, Denim Air, has definitely ceased operations and now closed the doors for good. In 2004 I was fortunate enough to pass the selection and was to be trained on the Fokker 50 Turboprop as a copilot. Unknowingly, this was going to be the most adventurous and defining chapter of my life. Flying one of the most fun and reliable aircraft I have ever had the pleasure of flying, we operated in the far North of Norway, flew low through Scottish valleys, hopped between Greek Islands, flew all over Spain and even flew for KLM in and out of Amsterdam. Not much later, the company acquired contracts in Africa, flying for local airlines and operators in the most extreme environments. Landing on ‘runways’ in the middle of the Sahara, deep in the dense jungles or other places that accommodated our Fokker 50. Just shortly after that, we started flying domestic flights in Afghanistan and being one of the first handful of volunteers, it was nothing short of pioneering in the most hostile environment you can imagine. Countless adventures, friendships and stories that might be told one day after my retirement. But most of all, my years with Denim Air are defined by the feeling of belonging to a tight-knit family. Small enough to get to know nearly everybody within a year, we were all in it together and shared the stories that no one else could even think of. Even up to today, meeting old Denim-colleagues brings on the stories and smiles from those old days. When I resigned a few years later to start flying the 737 with another company, I felt very sad to leave this family and in retrospect, I should perhaps have stayed a few more years. But then again, its easy to judge with hindsight knowledge. Im honored that I was a part of unique and under-appreciated part in Dutch aviation history and wish all my Denim-colleagues good luck with the new chapter in their flying career. #denim #denimair #fokker50 #fokker #avgeek #aviation #flying #flight #aviationnews #instagramaviation #instaaviation #photoaday #photodaily #instadaily #instaphotos #instaphoto

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Anders dan zijn naam doet vermoeden is Hien een geboren & getogen Bosschenaar. Likes: gadgets & wheels!