The dark area behind and in the same horizontal line as the wing is the Valley of Fire lava fields -- the youngest lava field on the North American Continent. This particular set of images is from a recreational plane-chase exercise in Otero County, New Mexico. The region flown lies between Alamogordo, NM and Ruidoso, NM. Shooting this set of images was a bit of a challenge, aside from freezing in the cockpit, the Autofocus kept malfunctioning so I had to focus the "old-Fashioned-Way" for most of the flight. So much for technology! ;-)

For more aircraft images, and/or to buy a print, go to:
http://AdLibitur.imagekind.com/PlaneChase1