Samba of the airplane

RIO DE JANEIRO - SAMBA OF THE AIRPLANE - Samba do Avião

” My soul sings, I see Rio de Janeiro,  I ‘m dying of longing Rio, your see, beach without end.Rio you were made for me.In one more minute we’ll be at Galeão ,Rio de Janeiro, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro Tighten your seatbelt, we’re going to arrive, Shining water, look at the runway coming up …and here we go landing… ”  

Tom Jobim                                Aerial photography Rio Janeiro.

November 2013. Having grudgingly taken a very early flight out of São Paulo, I was nonetheless anticipating the novel experience of landing at the Rio Santos Dumont airport. When we arrived over Rio however, the pilot announced that our landing would be delayed and that we were being diverted to the Rio Galeão airport, due to lack of landing space at Santos Dumont. Circling over Rio for an hour! Here is the reward for this unexpected aerial tour: Sugarloaf Mountain, Copacabana, and Ipanema together in the same images on this aerial photo gallery of Rio de Janeiro!  Happy 450th birthday, Rio de Janiero , city of wonder ! 

São Paulo, March 2015 © Pablo Munini    Aerial photography Rio Janeiro.

As the images in this gallery show, over time the long flights over the “Marvelous City” of Rio, and the landings and take-offs from Santos Dumond airport became a recurring event for me. Not only did I learn the air route from São Paulo to Rio and back practically by heart, but after a few flights I also learned which seats on the planes were best for the ideal photos. And so, on every one of those flights, always full, sometimes by sheer miracle and other times owing to the courtesy of a genial passenger to whom I would patiently explain my need to be in his seat, I’ve always managed to sit in the perfect spot. And every time, the sudden appearance from the clouds of the Bay of Guanabara, Christ the Redeemer, or Sugarloaf Mountain in the sunset or in the lonesome night sky has always touched me with the same intensity.
On one of these night flights, as I watched the lights of Guanabara Bay slowly disappear from view,  a deep sadness overcame me. At that moment for me, every second lived in Rio, even the most mundane, became a priceless treasure that I will keep until the end of my days.