Friday, May 16, 2008

Good Memories

As much as I would rather be in bed before dawn, there are times when you get to experience certain things from the air and it makes getting up extra early almost worth it.
This sunrise occurred over central Texas shortly after takeoff from Austin. We were climbing in the smooth morning air between multiple layers of clouds when the sun poked through and I managed to get off this shot before we went back in the clouds.

After the flight some of the passengers even commented on how cool the sunrise was. I was happy to take credit for it!

Later that same day we got to see a somewhat rare occurrence on the way up to Minneapolis. The skies were perfectly clear and smooth in the upper altitudes except for a bunch of contrails. Underneath was a solid layer of clouds that almost resembled snow. The sun was shining down on the contrails and causing shadows on the undercast.


It was something we don't get to see very often. It looked like a road-map from above.


By the time we reached MSP, the skies had cleared allowing for a nice view of the airport and downtown Minneapolis beyond runway 35. That's the Mississippi River in the foreground.
The rest of the day was uneventful....our flight back to DFW departed on schedule. The contrails had all dissipated and the skies were starting to get choppy from the afternoon heat and an approaching weather system was threatening to disrupt the DFW arrivals, but we made it in before the thunderstorms arrived.

Another trip was safely in the logbook.

The sunrise from just a few hours ago was just another good memory.


For a look at some more of my photos, please aviate over to Plane & Simple.

4 comments:

Matt said...

Yep, although it's nice to sleep in, those early morning sunrises can be the best thing of the day. I went to Sicily in January and the best part of the trip was the 6am ferry ride. Caught the most beautiful sunset in the world and only 4 of us were up for it...

Andrew said...

great blog !

JB's Big and Small Worlds said...

Nice sunrise!
--JB

Anonymous said...

That's not the Mississippi River in the foreground (it's the Minnesota River) but I do like your photo of my old hanger on the right.

NWA R3