Magnificent Images Of New York From A 747

We have magnificent images of New York from a Boeing 747 taken by its captain Christiaan van Heijst, one of the world's leading aviation photographers.

Christiaan van Heijst recalls his viisist to New York.

"Early morning over New York City, flying overhead at roughly 12,000 ft during our approach into Kennedy International, affectionately known as 'JFK'. Vectored multiple headings and guided through a variety of altitudes before we can declare ourselves 'visual with the airport' and cleared approach for runway Four-Left. Beautiful: flying a 747 jet as if we're an oversized Cessna. Well... we are, actually.

"Anyway. The runway, in use for landing was the shorter Four-Right, but since we carried a ton of very expensive-looking horses I wanted to limit the braking-action a bit: instead of going for braking-setting 'ludicrous', longer runway Four-Left offers me the option of braking-setting 'reasonable'. Horses happy, grooms happy, pilots happy.

"I still remember the first dozen of times I flew into New York's JFK since 2011, cautioned about the aggressive and fast-paced talking controllers over the radio: one mistake and how they'd grill me over the radio for everyone to hear. Short runways with the risk of hot brakes on landing our seven-four, chaotic last-minute runway changes, confusing clearances, tight parking spots at uncontrolled cargo parking areas and the typical 'JFK radio slang' that is off from standard phraseology I was used to.

"Years have passed and I've grown used to it. In fact, I've come to like it by now, knowing what to expect, which arrivals we'll get, the likely change in runways and anticipated frequencies pre-tuned.

"Operating into JFK on an almost monthly, if not weekly, basis since those days of 2011, I've seen a wide variety of weather: extreme winter operations with blizzard snowfall, ice-blocked runways and holding patterns that extended for tense hours, to infernal autumn storms and crystal clear summer skies along the East coast by now. Never boring, to say the least.

"But apart from the operational challenges, I'm beyond privileged to command a Boeing 747 into JFK these days: flying one of the most iconic flying machines ever into the lion's den of long-haul aviation for a living.

"Proud to be one of the last of a select few to do so in history."