Boeing 747 captain Christiaan van Heijst has captured this spectacular image of the Northern Lights on a flight over the North Atlantic.
Christiaan takes up the story of his Northern Lights picture...
"A few hundred miles south of Iceland, somewhere over the North Atlantic Ocean. A turquoise aerial fire in the form of aurora borealis while the city lights of Reykjavik illuminate the horizon in a contrasting, orange glow, far away.
"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. 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. Stoic minimalism at it's best and I can't help but silently chuckle at this unexpected and utterly dry sense of humour.
"We touch down four hours later, finding ground in a typical cargo airport somewhere in central Europe, not having shared a single word since besides his solemn proclamation of Iceland's true worth.
“You're a fun guy, looking forward to flying with you next time.” he confided to me, before leaving me with a solid handshake and sincere smile before disappearing into the night to find his car.
"Indeed, speaking is silver, but silence is golden."
Christiaan is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers and more of his work and more close encounter (s) can be found here.
You can follow Christiaan on Instagram here: @jpcvanheijst
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