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Sapporo to Jakarta in a McDonnell Douglas MD-11

LivewireExpress flight 2733 is a pleasant but long flight that starts off at New Chitose International in Sapporo, Japan and finishes at Soekarno-Hatta International in Jakarta. It is a lengthy all-night flight that treated me to some surprisingly lovely visuals.

While I usually select images according to their narrative value, there was little for me to report during this flight. (I'm choosing to ignore the 60 second drop from 18,000 ft. MSL to 6,000 ft. MSL early in the flight. I'm rather proud of the recovery, in fact. But it's safe to say that I had no time to be snapping images at that time.) Instead, I chose the images for their aesthetic value. However, this also means, there was less to explain in the shots so my narrative style is significantly more brief than usual.

Because this is a night flight and I chose not to digitally brighten the images, I recommend viewing them in a dark room. They are really spectacular if you do so, in my opinion.

On the ground at a very wet New Chitose International, we prepare to taxi.

Uh, ground... Go where now?

This is just moments after our wheels left Japanese soil. I'm speaking figuratively, of course. I chose to remain on the runway today.

Looking back we see runway 19L at Chitose International.

The powerful MD-11 had little trouble climbing to our cruise altitude of FL390.

Directly below us is Japan. The moon casts it's light across the nearby seas.

Now, some six hours later, the moon is on our right as we approach Jakarta.

On final descent into Soekarno-Hatta.

Touching down on runway 7L.

I had to fight a left-to-right crosswind, but, nevertheless, we found ourselves right on the line.

Taxiing to the gate.

And, finally, we are snug at the gate.

I hope you all enjoyed.

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