Northern lights reflected in the sky over Lofoten, Norway, on Nov. 8, 2023.
NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
João Mendes is a captain for TAP Air Portugal and often records time-lapse videos of flights from the cockpit for his YouTube channel.
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He told SFGATE in an email that he recorded the clip while on a flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to SFO on Sept. 16. He said the flight path took a more northern route than usual to benefit from cruising tailwinds, and the celestial flyover was unplanned.
“We went even north of Toronto in Canada up to 52ºN,” he wrote. “That surely helped on witnessing the event … I normally setup my Sony A6300 on the glareshield to get these timelapses at night and getting the Aurora was just pure luck.”
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Other videos on Mendes’ YouTube channel, called Best Airplane Seat, feature a night lapse of Manhattan and a line of Starlink satellites cruising across the sky. The São Paulo, Brazil-based pilot said that he loves flying to SFO and that the flight in September will remain special because “it was my first time ever watching such a beautiful event.”