Beyond Golden Hour
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 22 Nov 2025 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - local flight | 1.1 | 3089.7 |
"Golden hour" is that time period just before sunset or just after sunrise when a longer atmospheric pathlength softens sunlight toward warmer hues and the low solar angle accentuates topographic differences. With mellowed light and crisper detail, golden hour is a visual feast and an amazing time to be aloft.
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| Sodus Bay. |
On November 22, I indulged in a golden hour flight along the Lake Ontario shore.
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| Sodus Bay. |
Sunlight reflecting off the water at this time of day reinforces why they call it golden hour. Below, the wooded landscape presented a neutral backdrop of bare deciduous trees in shades of brown and gray. Autumn's colorful glory was over for the season.
Then something happened.
The descending sun reached a particular magic angle and the world below was enflamed. It was one of the most striking effects that I have ever seen from an airplane and seemed to dial autumn back to its time of peak foliage glory from over a month prior.
In a moment that seemed to surpass golden hour, I dubbed the phenomenon "fire hour".
With dying sunlight filtered through a notch in the clouds, the sun's continued trek toward the horizon left the surface in shadow while scarlet rays sliced through a narrow elevation band and transformed any blank canvas they encountered from mundane to wondrous.
Minutes later, it was over. I was too hasty in calling the phenomenon "fire hour". Within ten minutes, the optical fire was extinguished and the forested landscape reverted to its usual late November gray aspect. Maybe "fire minute" would have been a better name.
I felt lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to experience it. As I flew westward back to Sodus, I considered it a win for the day.
