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This Instagram-famous pilot's photos of thunderstorms, blinding sunrises and the Northern Lights show what it's like to work from the cockpit at 37,000 feet

34-year-old Christiaan van Heijst, Dutch senior first officer and cargo pilot, flies the Boeing 747-8 and -400 Freighter — and he's racked up 8,000 hours of flying time.

Van Heijst is also a travel blogger and photographer. He takes photos of the incredible views he enjoys from the cockpit via his Instagram account, then writes about them on his blog.

From blinding sunrises to the Northern Lights — or navigating his way through a violent front of thunderstorms — scroll down to see some of the insane things he has experienced from 37,000 feet in the air.

From 37,000 feet, Van Heijst gets a unique perspective on the world — and he shares his insane photos on his blog and with his 58,000 Instagram fans.

He enjoys some pretty spectacular views in this line of work.

From the fluffy clouds over Turkmenistan on a spring day...

...to a cloud-covered Britain on a night flight...

 

Night flight over a cloud-covered Great Britain last week. The bright light bulb ahead is the city of London, with the cites of Oxford and Aylesbury passing underneath, while Cambridge is in the far left corner. Although the light pollution from the cities below blinds out our view of the skies above slightly, we are still lucky to see 3 satellites passing overhead, and even a pair that seems to be flying in formation. Its the first time I ever see this and a little investigation showed me that there are a couple of 'binary' satellite couples flying in relatively close formation of each other. I could not find any information in the regular apps or websites that allow tracking of those objects, but my guess is that this is the double NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance System) satellites that happened to cross overhead in their 90-minute trip around the world. This twin set of satellites is being tracked often by amateurs and enthousiasts world wide. For those that are interested or can provide more information; shot was taken December 25th at 0410UTC. 14mm, f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO5000 #london #night #nightshot #nightsky #sky #satellite #space #flight #flying #avgeek #aviation #aviationlovers #instaaviation #instagramaviation #longexposure #nikon #d850

A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst) on

...And a pretty insane sunset in Greenland. Van Heijst has said that sunrise can be painfully blinding, "with a fierce and penetrating intensity that is unparalleled from a spectator on the surface of the earth."

During a "long and turbulent night flight," below you can see Van Heijst navigate his way "through a maze of heavy weather and thunderstorms."

He's also flown through "a huge front of active thunderstorms" between South America and Africa.

 

St Elmo’s fire. Somewhere over the Atlantic between South-America and Africa we encountered a huge front of active thunderstorms. Flying in thick clouds with zero visibility, we had to rely on our weather-radar to get a clear image of the weather ahead. It was obvious that there was no way to fly all around this squall line of entangled thunderstorms that stretched across our route for hundreds of miles to either side. Coming closer, the radar provided us with a more detailed image of the interior of the clouds ahead, enabling us to plan a route through this maze of violent weather. This time though, we immediately understood that we won’t get away with a smooth passage. The storms had almost grown together into one, forcing us to find the ‘least’ violent spot to fly through. Our long range HF-radio was already rendered completely useless with the nearby storms that charge the atmosphere and our airplane, thereby blocking all signals to and from the outside…. Full blog can be read here; https://jpcvanheijst.com/blogs/2017/06/574544-st-elmo-s-fire-4-minute-read #stelmosfire #elmosfire #aircraft #airplane #boeing #boeing747 #747 #cockpit #flightdeck #pilot #piloteye #pilotlife #thunderstorm #cloud #cloudporn #instaweather #instaflight #instagramaviation #instaaviation #aviation #flight #avgeek #instadaily #photodaily #photoaday #photography #nature #jpcvanheijst #nikon

A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst) on

The cockpit has more than a few knobs and buttons to get your head around. Here's a fisheye view of the 747-8 cockpit.

Below, Van Heijst captures the moment an Airbus A340 passes overhead.

 

Man-made rainbows. Every now and then all the conditions are just right for the most amazing shots from the cockpit. This time, the sun was straight ahead in the right angle, another Airbus A340 passed straight over us and all the specific conditions in the atmosphere were just right for a thick contrail. All those things combined resulted in a contrail that showed all the colours of the rainbow for a few seconds. By now I can already predict what kind of personal messages I’m receiving after posting certain photos so to prevent a lot of angry messages; this photo is not ‘photoshopped’ or fake, its merely (severely) under exposed and cropped out. On top of that, I had to remove some very annoying sun glare from the thick windows. And yes, the colours were definitely visible with the naked eye. #boeing #340 #a340 #airbus #contrail #sky #flying #flight #aviation #avgeek #aviationgeek #instagramaviation #instaaviation #contrail #rainbow #instagood #instadaily #instapic #photography #photoaday #photoart #piloteye #pilotlife #colors #colours #jpcvanheijst #nikon #d800

A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst) on

He has captured a stunning display of the Northern Lights over northern Canada...

 

No matter how many times I see the northern lights, it always fills me with excitement and awe when the dancing curtains of light and colours start to appear. Sometimes a dim green blur, other times a lightshow with a size, intensity and speed that will simply leave you breathless. Flying many northern routes across Alaska and Canada, I find myself often enjoying this show that stays hidden for anybody below the clouds. Just a handful of pilots enjoying it from their comfortable cockpit, disconnected from the earth and suspended between the clouds and heavens above. A private show of nature that extends far into space even higher than the altitude of the International Space Station, I can only dream of seeing it from an even higher perspective. #aurora #auroraborealis #northernlights #window #windowview #pilotlife #worldshotz #aviation #avgeek #flying #flight @world_shotz @instagramaviation @natgeosky

A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst) on

...Germany blanketed in thick "stratus" cloud...

...A glimpse of a full moon over the Pacific Ocean...

 

Full moon over the Pacific Ocean. A constantly changing landscape of clouds and shadows complement the reliable and familiar stars above. When we dim the lights in the cockpit during such flights, I often move my seat forward and lean over the glareshield to enjoy those views from behind that curved cockpit window. With the nearest diversion airport at least a thousand km/miles away and far away from routes where passenger airliners would fly, its definitely a view that is reserved for just us. #moon #moonlight #pacificocean #ocean #view #landscape #night #nightflight #star #stars #clouds #cloud #cloudporn #weather #weatherphoto #pilotlife #aerial #aerialphotography #instaweather #avgeek #earth #nature #aviation #instagood #instadaily #dailypic

A post shared by Christiaan van Heijst (@jpcvanheijst) on

While cruising at 37,000 feet over Texas, Van Heijst captured the city of Houston.

If all of that isn't enough, he's even caught the so-called "Zodiacal light" on camera.

 

Its not often that the so called Zodiacal light is that clearly visible! Zodiacal light is a faint glow that is sometimes seen at twilight when the sunlight is scattered in the interplanetary dust between the sun and the earth. On top of that, the International Space Station (ISS) made her third visible pass during our night flight, seen here as a bright trail of light as it reflects the sunlight from over the horizon. The green glow on the right is known as earth glow, not to be confused with aurora (or Northern Lights). Its actually a faint glow that is being produced by the oxygen in our own atmosphere and not a side effect of the sunlight or radiation. Sometimes visible with the naked eye, but you’ll to find a place with a little light pollution as possible. The joys of night flights. #zodiacal #night #nightflight #sunrise #space #iss #internationalspacestation #stars #earth #nature #earthglow #avgeek #aviation #pilotview #pilotlife #longexposure #photo #photography #instagood #instaphoto #instaspace #phootaday #photodaily #dailypic #nikon #longexposure_shots

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