The Aerial Horizon
Forget where your feet are and simply enjoy the view.
Shortly after dawn over Valparaiso, Illinois and the drifting snow has frosted the earth leaving a bright smooth white gloss to hide any rough edges from yesterday’s storm. The highway is pristine and there is not a car in sight to sully the crisp snowy scene.
Rounding New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the North. Though far below us, the snowcapped peaks reach upward into the atmosphere and penetrate the vague line of the aerial horizon. The shadows cast by the ridges and the pinnacles highlighted by the backdrop of haze convey a great sense of depth.
Chicago’s Polar Scene… Snowstorms are yesterday’s news. Today we live in the “Polar Vortex.” Still blanketed in snow, Chicago sits on the edge of a glacial dream. Clouds and fog cling to the snow covered ice flows on Lake Michigan while the polar winds sheer across the landscape.
Night’s Departure. As the twilight bathes our faces in a purple wash, light divides the darkness and a Winter’s night yields to the dawn. Near Ocean City, Maryland.
The Continental Divide cuts through the desert near Playas, New Mexico. High winds across the desert stir up plumes of sand browning the lower atmosphere while a thin and scattered cloud layer contains the maelstrom. As light burns through the clouds and lights the atmosphere, the scene resembles patches of froth floating on the surface of a creamy coffee.
Rocketing over New Mexico, a 737 crosses the desert north of the Cornudas Mountains. The straight line of the aircraft’s contrail as it hangs in space provides a contrast to the curvature of the earth as seen at the horizon.
Snow covered volcanoes add a wintery air to the painted earth of the high desert in northern Arizona. The Coconino National Forest is situated northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona and west of the Painted Desert.
Remembering the Airmail
Remembering the airmail as we fly in our heavy jets the same routes that our predecessors flew in biplanes and Ford Tri-Motors. Their chief concerns in looking upon this view might have been, “Can I top that peak, or do I have the gas to go around it?” To us, it is a monument to the pioneers of early aviation and their predecessors, the Pony Express. High atop Capitan Peak at the southern tip of the Guadeloupe Mountains, there is a physical monument to both.
The Grand Canyon is a sight to behold on a clear sunny day and at night it represents a deep and vast darkness devoid of contour and light. But when snowfall on surrounding high terrain and low clinging clouds are illuminated by moonlight, a different character is revealed that resembles a deep blue sea with white caps highlighting its form. Colored lights on the horizon help us to understand that the night cannot purely be defined by black and white.
Passing southeast of the Coronado National Forest in Arizona, the scene is dreamlike as low wispy cirrus clouds stripe the desert floor with their shadows. In the space between shadows, the sun burns away a morning mist. Once completely obscured in the mist, the Peloncillo Mountains awake from their dreams. Meanwhile Mount Graham peeks out from under the layer and awaits its moment in the sun.
Descending vertically into night. As the sun sets between layers of cloud, we descend into the top of the clouds, the aerial horizon seemingly rising with every second of descent toward the deck. A temperature inversion exists above the cloud deck and we find colder air below as the rime ice melts on our windscreen. As we emerge from the bottom of the clouds and the last chunks of ice fly away, it is suddenly night and we follow the lights of the city as we find our way to the airport for landing.
Departing Las Vegas in the early morning light, the Colorado River cuts its way through the rocky terrain south of Lake Meade. Lines of erosion running perpendicular to the river mark the path of water runoff from the surrounding high desert plain. From directly overhead we can see shadows and reflections of the terrain on the river’s glassy surface.
Earth and shadows rise to meet us as we turn toward Las Vegas. The sight of this terrain makes every moment of our journey more interesting. When masked with clouds, this same terrain can be treacherous if not given the appropriate respect. Vigilance, training, and experience are the essential tools of our trade.
There are times that it seems we may never see the sun as we fall into a routine of flying through the night. In the darkness we are conveyed across the continent by our aircraft, the winds, and our will. In the moments when the darkness in the void between lights takes shape it communicates a sense of motion. One such dark conveyance is the Kanawha River as it exists between the lights and twists through the city of Charleston, West Virginia.
Scattered flecks of light in a sea of darkness, a slight indiscernible glow on the horizon, light without dimension or context…As we near them they take on the shapes of cities. The lights of Victorville first appear before Los Angeles takes shape. Separated by a sea of blackness, the void takes on meaning as the lights that line Big Bear Lake come into view winding through the San Bernardino Mountains…darkness has dimension.
Over the River and Through the Woods
Happy Thanksgiving to all, but especially to all of my fellow travel industry workers who make “over the river and through the woods” possible so that so many others may enjoy their times with family and friends today. See you on the road. Safe travels.
Signal Peak erupts from the plain near Casa Grande which lies between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. The ashen color peaks provide a contrast to the ochre color of the surrounding terrain while the entire area is framed with rectangles and circles of irrigated fields in varying shades of green.
Contrails twisting into the sunset over southern Michigan. The sun obscured by a thin layer of clouds backlights the contrail as it swirls, drifts, and dissipates. The purple hue of the icy vapor trail appears as if brushed into the scene.
Departing Los Angeles on a cloudy morning, we look forward to climbing into the sunshine above the cloud layer and escaping the earthbound gloom…Though we are blessed with sunshine overhead, the cloud deck persists and we write off our hopes for scenery below. As we pass Las Vegas the clouds magically part as if the earth had been commanded to reveal itself. Our eyes follow Colorado River on its path through the Grand Canyon and gradually the vast expanse of scenery is fully revealed.
Alamo, Flat Top, and Wind to name a few of these peaks in the desert plain that make up the Cornudas Mountains that straddle the New Mexico and Texas border. Dell City Texas stands amid a gridded sea of circular fields between the Cornudas and the Guadalupe Mountains.
The Aerial Horizon – Photography
The Aerial Horizon 