Photographers document Yosemite’s Firefall from Adventure Airplane

Yosemite National Park’s firefall — a yearly event in which the rays of the setting sun make Horsetail Fall glow like fire — is spectacular to behold from within the park. But this year, three photographers took things to the next level.

As the sun set on Feb. 23, they flew over Yosemite in a six-seat Cessna 210, aiming their lenses through a broken-out window in the back. Although they were focused on getting into the right position to shoot Firefall, in the minutes just before the main event, something equally astonishing began to occur.