This C-17 Rocketed Through Star Wars Canyon Like A Fighter Jet

Updated Jul 2, 2019 7:07 AM EDT

Star Wars Canyon, also known as the Jedi Transition or Rainbow Canyon , and the aviation photographers that trek there, have offered up some of the most stunning and interesting images and footage of military aircraft over the last half-decade. The variety of aircraft that blast through the chasm is one of the locale’s biggest attractions. Like fishing in some bizarre intercoastal waterway you truly never know what you might catch . In the case of pro photog Eric Larson, he recently caught a whale with one hell of an attitude.

Fighter jets are the normal fare for Star Wars Canyon, but it also gets its share of propeller-driven aircraft and helicopters. It even gets larger aircraft like bombers and transports, but they always seem to take a far less aggressive and higher route towards the valley below.

This wasn’t the case for a C-17A Globemaster III from Edwards AFB that took to the canyon in a manner unlike seemingly any other ‘heavy’ caught on camera in the canyon before.

Eric describes his unique encounter with the C-17 as such:

“I’ve been wanting to get up to Death Valley for fresh jet pics all year, but I’ve been working solidly and haven’t been able to make the trip since last December when the Dutch F-35s put on that epic show . So I’m up here for the week. I got to the ‘amphitheater’ and started keeping watch in the morning. A little after noon the sound of approaching jet engines got me up on my feet. I remember it because it was unusual in that the build-up of approaching jet noise was longer than usual. Then I saw a wing start to appear from behind a distant mountain. Then more wing. And more wing! At first, I didn’t comprehend what I was seeing, then the full C-17 came into view. It actually caught my breath and I just watched it for a couple heartbeats. Then I remembered to start shooting! I remember thinking how remarkable it was that it was already so low in the canyon. I’ve seen a C-17 at the canyon before, but usually they just pass over the top. This one was down in it a lready! The C-17 was crossing my line of sight from right-to-left at the canyon’s entrance, then it made a huge arcing turn toward me proceeding down the canyon—the pilot made a powerful turn, banking the aircraft up to nearly 90 degrees. I remember the lights were on and that made a significant impression. It was an awesome sight seeing a big jet like that maneuvering hard, lights on, coming straight at me! He continued the turn, got pointed down the canyon and passed by, the shutter on my Canon 1DX firing off at high-speed. It was so big and so close I had to rack the zoom out all the way on my telephoto lens to fit the whole thing in the frame! I remarked on Facebook later noting how it’s funny because I don’t have to crop in much on these C-17 pics. There was someone over on the saddle [another shooting location down the ridgeline] and we looked at each other and both put our arms up in the air! It was quite a sight!”

“I’ve been wanting to get up to Death Valley for fresh jet pics all year, but I’ve been working solidly and haven’t been able to make the trip since last December when the Dutch F-35s put on that epic show . So I’m up here for the week.

I got to the ‘amphitheater’ and started keeping watch in the morning. A little after noon the sound of approaching jet engines got me up on my feet. I remember it because it was unusual in that the build-up of approaching jet noise was longer than usual.

Then I saw a wing start to appear from behind a distant mountain.

At first, I didn’t comprehend what I was seeing, then the full C-17 came into view. It actually caught my breath and I just watched it for a couple heartbeats. Then I remembered to start shooting!

I remember thinking how remarkable it was that it was already so low in the canyon. I’ve seen a C-17 at the canyon before, but usually they just pass over the top. This one was down in it a lready!

The C-17 was crossing my line of sight from right-to-left at the canyon’s entrance, then it made a huge arcing turn toward me proceeding down the canyon—the pilot made a powerful turn, banking the aircraft up to nearly 90 degrees.

I remember the lights were on and that made a significant impression. It was an awesome sight seeing a big jet like that maneuvering hard, lights on, coming straight at me!

He continued the turn, got pointed down the canyon and passed by, the shutter on my Canon 1DX firing off at high-speed.

It was so big and so close I had to rack the zoom out all the way on my telephoto lens to fit the whole thing in the frame!

I remarked on Facebook later noting how it’s funny because I don’t have to crop in much on these C-17 pics.

There was someone over on the saddle [another shooting location down the ridgeline] and we looked at each other and both put our arms up in the air!

It was quite a sight!”

That’s an understatement. I have seen a lot of C-17 low-level videos and photos, including of the intense stuff the Aussies do with their C-17s, but the only other instance that I have seen something like this was in a video from Mach Loop in the UK :

Bravo on the amazing catch Eric, bravo!

Make sure to check out more of Eric’s work at his website linked here , there are some stunning images on there outside of aviation.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

Comments couldn’t be loaded. Please refresh the page.

更新于美国东部时间2019年7月2日上午7:07

星战峡谷（Star Wars Canyon），又名绝地过渡峡谷（Jedi Transition）或彩虹峡谷（Rainbow Canyon），以及前往那里拍摄的航空摄影师们，在过去五年里贡献了一些最令人惊叹、最精彩的军用飞机照片和视频。各种各样的飞机呼啸而过，是这片区域最大的亮点之一。就像在某个奇特的沿海水道钓鱼一样，你永远不知道会钓到什么。专业摄影师埃里克·拉尔森（Eric Larson）最近就拍到了一头“桀骜不驯”的鲸鱼。

战斗机是星战峡谷的常客，但螺旋桨飞机和直升机也时常出没。甚至连轰炸机和运输机这样的大型飞机也会来到这里，但它们似乎总是选择一条更为低调、地势更高的航线飞向山谷下方。

但来自爱德华兹空军基地的 C-17A 环球霸王 III 运输机却并非如此，它进入峡谷的方式似乎与之前在峡谷中被镜头捕捉到的任何其他“重型”飞机都截然不同。

埃里克这样描述他与C-17运输机的独特遭遇：

“我一整年都想去死亡谷拍些喷气式飞机的照片，但一直忙得不可开交，自从去年12月荷兰F-35战机那场精彩绝伦的飞行表演之后，就再也没能成行。所以这周我终于来了。我到了“圆形剧场”区域，早上就开始守候。刚过中午，我就听到喷气式发动机的轰鸣声，立刻起身查看。我记得很清楚，因为这次的轰鸣声比往常要长得多，很不寻常。然后我看到远处一座山后开始出现一个机翼。接着是更多的机翼。还有更多的机翼！一开始我还没反应过来，直到一架完整的C-17才出现在视野中。我当时真的屏住了呼吸，愣愣地盯着它看了好一会儿。然后我才想起来该开始拍摄了！我记得当时我在想，它飞得这么低，真是太不可思议了。我以前也在峡谷里见过C-17，但它们通常只是飞过而已。”真是太震撼了！这架飞机当时已经飞到峡谷底部了！C-17运输机从峡谷入口处从右向左横穿我的视线，然后它猛地向我转弯，沿着峡谷向下飞去——飞行员做了一个强劲的转弯，飞机倾斜角度接近90度。我记得当时机灯亮着，这给我留下了深刻的印象。看到这么大的喷气式飞机猛烈地机动飞行，机灯闪烁，径直朝我飞来，真是令人叹为观止！它继续转弯，机头指向峡谷底部，从我身边呼啸而过，我的佳能1DX相机快门高速连拍。它又大又近，我不得不把长焦镜头拉到最远才能把它整个拍进画面！后来我在Facebook上评论说，这很有趣，因为我拍C-17的照片几乎不用裁剪。当时有人在山脊上的鞍部（山脊线下方的另一个拍摄点），我​​们互相看了一眼，然后都举起了手臂！真是壮观啊！

“我一整年都想去死亡谷拍一些新的喷气式飞机照片，但我一直忙于工作，自从去年12月荷兰F-35战机进行了那场精彩的表演后，就一直没能成行。所以我这周就来这里了。”

我到达“圆形剧场”后，早上就开始值班。刚过中午，喷气式飞机引擎的轰鸣声把我惊醒。我记得很清楚，因为这次的轰鸣声比往常要长得多，很不寻常。

然后我看到远处山后出现了一只翅膀。

起初，我没看清眼前的一切，然后C-17的全貌才映入眼帘。我着实屏住了呼吸，愣愣地看了它几秒钟。然后我才想起来该开枪了！

我记得当时我就在想，这架飞机居然已经飞到峡谷这么低的地方了，真是太不可思议了。我以前也在峡谷里见过C-17运输机，但它们通常只是从峡谷上方飞过。这架飞机居然已经飞到峡谷底部了！

C-17 飞机从峡谷入口处从右向左穿过我的视线，然后向我做了一个巨大的弧形转弯，继续沿着峡谷向下飞行——飞行员使飞机猛地转弯，倾斜角度接近 90 度。

我记得当时机舱灯亮着，这给我留下了深刻的印象。看到那样一架大型喷气式飞机，机舱灯亮着，猛烈地转弯，径直朝我飞来，真是令人震撼！

他继续转弯，沿着峡谷向下行驶，从我身边经过，我的佳能 1DX 相机快门高速连拍。

它又大又近，我不得不把长焦镜头的变焦倍率调到最大，才能把它整个拍进画面里！

我后来在 Facebook 上评论说，这很有趣，因为这些 C-17 照片我几乎不需要裁剪。

鞍部（山脊线下方的另一个拍摄地点）上有人，我们互相看了一眼，然后都举起了手臂！

真是壮观啊！

这简直是​​轻描淡写。我看过很多C-17低空飞行的视频和照片，包括澳大利亚人用C-17进行的那些惊险刺激的飞行，但我唯一一次看到类似的场景是在英国Mach Loop的一段视频里：

埃里克，你这真是太棒了，抓到你了！

务必访问 Eric 的网站（链接在此），查看他的更多作品，上面有一些航空以外领域令人惊叹的图片。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

评论加载失败，请刷新页面。