We’re guessing you like the shot?
It’s very nice and a rare picture. I’ve never seen such a thing before. Dan always has very original ideas on what to do.
Is it unique to have this view from the cockpit?
We have hundreds of pictures from the cockpit! Sure they are different from the images on the ground, they have different emotions. But the best pictures are dependent on special ideas. All of our air to air photos are very similar but Dan’s photos are absolutely different.
Tell us about this shot?
Two aircraft are in the mirror level flight. The leader is on his back and the wingman is in the normal position. The third aircraft is rolling around. We call this maneuver the ‘Apache roll’. The speed of the whole flight is around 250 km/h and of course rolling aircraft speeds up downwards and slow down upwards.
From a flying perspective, was it difficult to perform?
Firstly, this maneuver is not easy to make. The pilot in the rolling aircraft will have learnt for about one year how to do a steady roll. He is flying just around the two, in mirror flight. All the time he can fall back to stay safe. But during the photo shoot there was another aircraft behind. So he had to be very precise in rolling and keep in mind additional safety issues.
What was the Flying Bulls’s first reaction when approached by Dan?
Many photographers come and say: “I can shoot whatever you want.” But I don’t know what I want! I don’t have artistic ideas. So we make some passes over the ground or make air to air shoots and then have hundreds and hundreds of the very same photos. But suddenly some guy came and said: “I have an idea. Let’s sit and talk about it and how we can connect my idea with your flying.” And that was Dan. With him we’re able to connect his artistic and our technical thinking.
How important is good photography to aviation?
It’s similar like in other professions. You can have an ordinary photo, like I do, and a perfect photo, like Dan does. The perfect photo can represent many things. The difference with aviation when making air to air pictures is you have the photographer sitting in the cockpit, he’s in the three dimensional move. He shoots in turbulence. And finally, he can suffer from sickness!
Do you have a favourite photo of flying?
I know it´s embarrassing, but again I have to salute Dan. We spent the whole day shooting with him and at the end have less than ten photos. But all of these pictures are absolutely perfect.