Photography From The Air

It is a discovery flight — $200 for one guest, $300 for two or three, about 45 minutes in the air — flown from McClellan along the American River, past the Sacramento skyline at a safe distance, and back. You sit in the left seat with a certified instructor beside you, and you are welcome to bring a camera.

• Bring your own camera. A handheld phone, a compact or a small action camera is fine once your instructor has briefed you on it.
• Your photographs are yours. Anything you shoot on your own device belongs to you, and we neither receive nor store it.
• A guest can be the photographer. On the $300 option any of your two or three guests can be whoever you like, camera included.
• The route and the light are decided on the day. The pilot in command flies the aeroplane, so weather and safety set what is possible rather than a shot list.

The Cessna 172S is a high-wing aircraft, which is exactly what you want for looking down and photographing the ground. Side windows stay closed in flight.

• Welcome after a briefing: a handheld phone, a compact camera or a handheld action camera.
• By prior written approval only: suction mounts, rigid mounts and externally mounted cameras. Ask us well before the day, and bring nothing that could reach the controls or come loose in the cabin.

A birthday, an anniversary, a proposal at 3,000 feet — a discovery flight makes a good setting for all of them, and a small pre-agreed card or a ring inside the cabin is no trouble at all. Tell us the occasion when you book and we will plan the slot around it.

For safety and under the rules we fly by, nothing may be attached to the outside of the aircraft or released in flight: no banners, dropped objects, smoke or pyrotechnics, and doors stay closed.

Four seats, one for the instructor, so up to three guests. We plan to a guideline of about 250 lb per guest and 450 lb for the group, with roughly 10 lb of secured baggage — the pilot in command confirms it with a weight-and-balance calculation before the flight.

The minimum age is 12, and anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian’s signed consent, with an adult present at check-in.

If what you want is photographs of a person with an aeroplane rather than photographs taken from one, that is a shoot on the ramp beside the aircraft — portraits, graduations, milestones, or the aircraft itself. It happens on the ground, so the weather matters far less and the light is yours to choose.

Tell us what you have in mind, roughly how long you need and whether you are bringing your own photographer, and we will quote it and find a slot when the aircraft is on the ramp.

A discovery flight is $200 for one guest and $300 for two or three, with no surcharge for a slot near sunset — book early, because those go first. A ramp photoshoot is quoted on its own, because it depends on how long you need the aircraft and how many people are coming.