Take a closer Look
Cover
Fly me to the moon
This Airbus 319 is nicely established on the final approach of runway 28 at Zurich Airport while the full moon rises into the nightsky.
January
Winter wonderland
The so called Sharklets on the wingtips of our HB-JLT mainly decreases the fuel burn and increases the aircraft’s climb performance. Above all they just look great. Here the 2.4m tall Sharklet can be seen in front of the perfect winter wonderland of the Bernese Alps.
The big honor was up to the pilots of the six F-5E Tigers of the Patrouille Suisse and our Airbus 320 to perform an impressive formation flight as the opening act to the famous “Lauberhorn” ski race.
February
Transatlantic lullaby
Up ahead the setting sun is offering a calming band of beautiful colors and as she descends, painting the earth’s shadow on the horizon. The chatter on the radios is getting less and less as we are leaving the Canadian mainland behind us. The intense and busy moments of our departure in Montréal is a good hour behind us as we are settling-in for a short night flying across the North Atlantic Ocean.
March
Foggy evening
We are closing-in to land on runway 14 at Zurich Airport as a beautiful day slowly comes to an end. In the cockpit of our Airbus, the pilots are fully focused on the landing in challenging weather conditions coming up in a few moments. Meanwhile the world beneath us is about to be covered in dull grey fog, as the pilots are about to encounter low visibility procedures.
April
Colorful delivery
A colorful rainbow is spanning across HB-JNA, the first of ten Boeing 777 a day before its delivery to SWISS. The scene may look calm, but thorough inspections of each and every detail take place inside and outside of the airplane at the flight line of Boeing Everett Airport just north of Seattle.
May
Morning calm
The impressive Swiss Alps provide a scenic background while the first sunrays are welcoming LX139 back home. After its 12 hour long haul flight from Hong Kong, this B777 is on final approach to runway 34 at Zurich Airport, as yet another pre-summer day kicks off.
June
Electrified
While enroute to to Brazil, we are about to cross the inter-tropical convergence zone near the equator and its belt of thunderstorm cells. While circumnavigating this area, we admire it’s breathtaking “side-effect”: The St. Elmo’s fire. While looking spectacular, it is no hazard at all. It is caused by the clouds electrically charging the atmosphere and becomes visible as a luminous electrical discharge once the electrical charge becomes sufficiently intense.
July
Rush-hour
Long haul aircraft are queueing up on taxiway Echo during the midday peak hour at Zurich Airport. This B777 will depart runway 16 in a few minutes, operating flight LX40 bound for Los Angeles while the Airbus 340 is following close behind in its way to San Francisco as LX38.
August
Marry me Switzerland!
A special scenic flight above the Swiss Alps marks the introduction of the Bombardier CSeries 100 at Swiss. On the one-hour long flight the passengers were offed an impressive sightseeing tour of the most stunning scenery of Switzerland. Flying around the famous Matterhorn clearly marked the highlight of this flight aboard this brand new aircraft.
September
Streaks of Lights
As the First Officer turns our Triple Seven onto final approach, the glowing city lights of São Paulo are visible below. After an eleven hour night flight across the South Atlantic Ocean LX92 will soon smoothly touchdown on runway 09R.
October
Busy night sky
We cross continental United States on our long flight though the night back to Switzerland. We are busy avoiding some active thunderstorms ahead while another airliner is coming across our routing one thousand feet above. As he is heading for Los Angeles his beacon and navigation lights are clearly marking his flight path.
November
Winter illusions
We are about to land on runway 14 at Zurich Airport as snowflakes hit our windshield. A cozy warm cockpit is quite a big contrast to the freezing temperatures outside. The visual illusion because of the snow makes landing in these weather conditions challenging.
December
Destination Milkyway
We are passing the city of Dakar on our way to Brazil in the middle of the night, following the milky way on our southern course. Soon we will be flying out into the darkness, where no more lights will mark the presence of civilization until we reach the South American continent. It will be up to the millions of stars accompanying us on our flight.
Welcome on board
As an airline pilot I get to meet a lot of people and see a lot of cities and landscapes. One of my constant travel companions
on my journeys is my camera. The photographs in this calendar were taken during my flights all across the globe. I would like to invite you to take a seat in the cockpit and look at the flying world from a pilot’s perspective.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all who were involved making this project possible again. A special «thank
you» goes out to the flight crews and internal departments for their support and permission to use the images.
All pictures were either taken during cruise flight, on ground or as an observer on the third seat. The safe conduct of the
flight was never affected.
Because we care
I am very proud to inform you that by purchasing the photo calendar «Up in the Sky 2017» you are doing good. For every
copy sold SkyProduction donates CHF 5.- to the children foundation of the SWISS employees (Stiftung Kinderhilfe des
SWISS Personals). Check www.swiss-kinderstiftung.ch for further information. Thank you very much for your support.
This project is produced entirely in Switzerland and renders an effort to the global climate issue! Therefore all the arising
CO2 emissions are compensated by donations towards projects of myclimate. Further the print production takes place according production sequences in accordance with FSC-standards (from the wood processing until the finished print). The
used paper originates from environmentally-friendly and socially acceptable managed forests.
Kommentar schreiben
Renato Stiefenhofer (Freitag, 02 Februar 2018 22:03)
Coole Aufnahmen. Thank's for sharing. Fotografiere selber auch sehr oft und ab und zu gelingen mir ähnliche Shots. Speziell deine Nacht-Aufnahmen sind absolut Spitze!
Gruss aus dem 747-8 Cockpit. Fly safely, high and fast.
Renato (Korean Air)