Star-gazing on a Swiss long-haul night flight

Although what is featured in this beautiful video is not an airplane, I, nevertheless, thought it was interesting to share here as it provides quite a unique vantage point: that of the pilots that fly on long-haul night flights.

This time-lapse in particular shows the beauty of the night skies during a Swiss flight between Zurich-Sao Paulo

A rare occasion to enjoy the beauty of the Milky Way totally free of light pollution as the Swiss Boeing 777 leaves Europe behind and flies across the Sahara and the South Atlantic on its way to Brazil.

While watching it, I can't avoid thinking about "Night Flight", the story Antoine de St.Exupéry wrote when he was plying pretty much the same route in the early 1930s...

To get a full account of this flight and how this video was filmed, check out the original story on the pilot's own website.

(and big h/t also to Pau Cuevas for bringing this video to my attention!)