The Mail Online, a Bristish publication, recently wrote about the Holuhraun eruption.
“A daring pilot flies his plane over a volcano as red-hot lava bursts into the sky.
The scorching lava erupts in the air up to heights of almost 60 meters (200 feet).
On board the little blue and white plane are sightseers, who get an up close view of the spectacular volcano, as they were just 300 metres (984 ft) away.
These stunning pictures were taken by photographer Baldur Sveinsson, who was in another plane flying around the volcano.
The 72-year-old retired teacher captured the photographs at a volcano in Holuhraun, Iceland.
Baldur, from Iceland, travelled with his friend, pilot Elias Erlingsson, to witness the longest and largest eruption in Iceland since 1783.
While in the air, he was able to make contact with another plane flying around the volcano and ask them if he could take pictures of them.”
The pictures in the article are, of course, an optical illusion. You can see the same thing in this picture of our editor Páll Stefánsson, taken by Jóhannes Benediktsson.
Baldur told the Mail Online:
“All of the aircrafts pass the crater on the upwind side to avoid the toxic fumes and the disturbed air. Every aircraft that approaches the area will announce its arrival, distance and altitude on a common frequency, so there have been no dangerous close encounters. Infrared cameras have measured the temperatures of distant objects. The fire fountains were over 850 degrees Celsius. It was a stupendous example of the forces of nature and makes one very insignificant in comparison. This is about as far from any settlements or towns as an event like this can be.”
