Lightning, camera, action

Storm-chasing pilot Santiago Borja uses a Boeing 767 to capture images most of us would never otherwise see

A forecast of stormy weather might give pause to even the most frequent of flyers. But for Santiago Borja – the man known as The Stormpilot – the wilder the better. Borja takes spectacular shots of brooding cumulonimbus clouds and crackling forks of lightning from the cockpit of the Boeing 767 cargo plane he pilots between North and South America.

While the storm is swirling, however, Borja and his plane are around 20km away. “I’m always outside the storm, so there’s no immediate threat to the plane,” explains the Ecuadorian. “It’s not scary at all. You’re in completely calm air, which is very important. If it’s going to be choppy, I don’t even bother taking my camera out.”

Indeed, if it sounds foolhardy for a pilot to be taking photos when they should be focused on flying, Borja only gets out his Nikon DSLR during the cruise section of long-haul flights. Three or four pilots will be on rotation, allowing colleagues to rest and eat – or, in Borja’s case, to snap away. The skies of Panama and Colombia are particularly fruitful for developing storms, but with the plane travelling at a ground speed of more than 450 knots [830kph], he generally has a window of around five minutes, often taking 200 to 300 images.

Borja’s images have won him third place (Landscape, 2016) in National Geographic’s Nature Photographer of the Year contest, as well as enquiries from meteorologists and scientists, and almost 140,000 Instagram followers. “For years, [pilots like me] have been admiring these views,” he says. “No two storms are the same, and being there to watch makes you feel humble. There are times when you can feel like it’s a different planet.”

And like any storm chaser, Borja still has a few phenomena left on his bucket list, including ‘sprites’ – red lightning flashes that shoot upwards into the atmosphere. “I’ve never seen them, but I’ve talked to people who have, and read about them,” he says. “Hopefully one day!”

Follow The Stormpilot on Instagram: @santiagoborja