ACT On PilotEdge

As in “After hours Closed Traffic,” which is a group of guys who have been flying on PE Saturday mornings (US) from non-towered fields for practice, and then finishing at a towered field with the controllers once they’re online. Today we took advantage of the Western Expansion, flying a number of short mountain fields before finishing at KSEA. Here are some shots showing what XP11 and xEnviro can do when combined with photorealistic scenery (that first one looks almost real).

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The Milky Way

Just two more photos from Wisconsin, these of the Milky Way. We had great seeing the last night, and these are 30 second exposures at f2. Note the Andromeda Galaxy at lower left in the second shot. If you click these they will load full size, and you’re welcome to use them as desktop wallpaper if you like.


Northern Lights

I was in Wisconsin a few nights ago and we had clear skies, no moon, and an active Aurora Borealis. I’ve never seen the Northern Lights except from the passenger window of a transcontinental flight, and I’ve never seen anything like this. I managed to take a few time lapse photographs, and am sharing them here. The lights weren’t nearly as bright as this in real life but they were still an amazing sight to see and I’m very glad I saw them. I know this isn’t about aviation, but I thought aviation fans would probably enjoy these shots. (Oh, and I tossed in a Milky Way shot just for fun.)