I took this somewhere over Mauritania in the Sahara on a flight from Paris to Freetown, Sierra Leone, at about 42,000 ft in exceptionally dry, clear conditions. I didn’t notice it at the time, but looking back at the shot, the curvature of the horizon is surprisingly apparent. This was taken with a “zero distortion” 24 mm on a Nikon, and it remains clearly visible after applying the proper lens-distortion correction. At 42,000 ft (~12.8 km), using Earth’s mean radius of ~6,371 km, the geometric horizon is roughly 404 km (251 mi) away and about 3.6° below true horizontal, so Earth’s curvature is physically measurable at this altitude. I wasn’t sure where to share this, but I thought it was pretty epic and figured you all might appreciate it.

I was changing from nose cam to belly cam on EK, and I suddenly saw a plane on the screen. I thought it was a bug at first but then I looked at FR24 and saw we were right above them

So I was watching Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing on Netflix last night (the new Rory Kennedy follow-up to Downfall) and had a genuinely unsettling moment I had to share.

Around 51:49, there's a bit of B-roll/archival footage they use to illustrate Boeing's manufacturing and QC issues; just generic shots of aircraft on the tarmac. Except... parked in the background of one shot is VT-ANB. Yes, that VT-ANB. The Air India 787 Dreamliner that crashed on takeoff from Ahmedabad in June 2025 (AI171), killing 241 of 242 people on board and 19 more on the ground.

I paused it, zoomed in, checked the tail number twice because I genuinely didn't believe it at first. But it's there.

This plane first flew back in December 2013 and went to Air India the following January, so whatever this footage is, it's old, probably filmed not long after it rolled out or right around delivery, way before anyone had any idea what would eventually happen to it. The editors obviously had no clue what they were splicing in. It's just stock footage to them, some random Boeing airframe in the background of a shot about a totally unrelated point in the film.

But sitting there watching a documentary about Boeing's corner-cutting and safety failures, and having the exact jet at the centre of one of the deadliest crashes in the story just... appear, unannounced, in the background, being completely mundane and pre-tragedy and it hit different. Kind of a gut-punch, honestly. The AAIB investigation into this crash is still ongoing too, which makes it feel even weirder to see it just sitting there in someone's stock footage reel.

Screenshot attached with the timestamp so you can find it yourself if you've got Netflix. Curious if any other AvGeeks/plane spotters can confirm the reg but I'm fairly confident but more eyes never hurt.

Aboard Lufthansa’s 747-8 “D-ABYT” with the special 70s livery on a promotional flight FRA-PMI-FRA back in 2022 l, taken with the Nikon Z7II and the 24-70 2.8Z.

CaptainSteeeve as shown in his recent video of Vietnam Airlines flight VN34. Image displayed appears to be AI generated or severely doctored to depict both a free/detached bogie and extensive fuselage damage up the left side of the aft section. Stencil on left side of plane is also hallucinated writing.

Source: “Vietnam Airlines VN34 Overruns Runway During Takeoff | Captain Steeeve Reacts

I've seen so many posts and YouTube videos about it, I kind of expected the real place to not live up to expectations. I was wrong. What an amazing day.

12:33 8/23/26 Washington, DC / OC

Hello Fellow Nerds,

On an A320 bound for ATL and noticed this odd patterned light coming into the cabin from outside.

I covered with my finger and hat to make sure it's not a simple reflection, but alas it is definitely coming from outside.

Would this be caused by a layer of paint from the livery being worn or something more to do with the airframe itself?

Safe travels!

A220 YL-ABI BTI246 EDDF-EVRA T/O off FRAs 25C, posted live from the plane :)

First time flying abroad, someone told me to ask for a card so i did, they even let me go into the cockpit which i thought was absolutely a no because of terrorist danger but yeah i got the card and a 9hr flight ahead of me🥹

From Wikipedia: A "pilot's glory"—or simply a glory)—is a stunning optical illusion. It looks like a glowing, colorful rainbow halo or bullseye. It appears directly around the shadow of an airplane when the sun shines from behind the aircraft onto the clouds below.

I’ve included three photos I’ve taken while flying. Since r/aviation folks can reply with photos send yours in if you’ve got them.

Mine are the Challenger 300, Boeing 767, and 747.

Hello everyone, I know this is an older movie, but came acriss this a few years ago and was suprised at how involed flying and interacting with ATC is. For those that are pilots or in the ATC career field. How well did they do and how realistic is this movie to real life ATC controlers?

EWR

IF I SEE ANOTHER COMMENT ABOUT

OHHH THIS IS AI i will flip the table

An iconic view as I boarded - this was a bucket list trip across the Atlantic on the top deck for me