Pilot captures once in a lifetime photo of the Northern Lights
A pilot has captured the breathtaking moment he flew beside the Northern Lights while manning a cargo plane.
Christiaan van Heijst, a pilot and photographer, shared the incredible image to Instagram, which shows the "turquoise aerial fire" appear in the form of the aurora borealis.
Beneath the sea of twirling green lights, the city lights of Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, illuminated the horizon in a contrasting orange glow far away.
The extraordinary photo has racked up thousands of likes in just a few days, as Captain van Heijst shared the entertaining story of his flight and the moment he captured the picture in the caption.
“Artificial lights on the horizon: a beacon of civilisation and connectedness to the world after many hours of isolation: no communication in my headset except for the bare minimums in regard to procedures, nor any personal interaction from my Icelandic captain, who’s been mute ever since the landing gear went up on the other side of the planet,” he explained in the post.
“A character known for his absolute approach to colleagues and deliberate lack of conversational depth during flight."
“Hours later, the lights of Reykjavik are abundantly visible and without need, heed or warning, he opens up the intercom and takes his time to start his declaration for a single-person audience: me. Staring out of his window, eyes set on the distant orange glow from his left-hand window, he solemnly proclaims a few seconds later: ‘… the centre of the universe …’, allowing some moments of quiet contemplation and thought on my side, before switching his intercom off again, as if to underline this statement and retreating back in his cone of silence."
Mr van Heijst said after the pair touched down four hours later in a cargo-airport in central-Europe, neither shared a single word “besides his solemn proclamation of Iceland’s true worth”.
The incredible post has unsurprisingly been met with comments from stunned followers in awe of the natural beauty.
“Wow! Incredible shot! Silence is golden indeed,” one person wrote.
Mr van Heijst is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers, and has been lucky enough to witness the Northern Lights several times from above, capturing the moment each time to share online.
Image credits: Instagram