The Fall Of Icarus- A Free Fall Aligned With The Sun

The Fall of Icarus. Credit Andrew McCarthy

Photographer Andrew McCarthy captured “The Fall of Icarus,” a free fall aligned with the Sun.

“We had find the right aircraft, location, and time. Then we had to calculate the proper focal length & sun angle for the PPC’s 4:1 power-off glide-slope without compromising safe exit altitude.”

“This gave us an optimal Sun angle of about 25° (9:00am) for an exit altitude of 3,500ft at a distance of 1.5 miles from the camera; making me cover about 3 arc minutes of the sky.”

“It was also very hard to line up because Andrew couldn’t see us until we eclipsed the disc, so it was up to me and the pilot (Jim Hamberlin) to use the opposition effect to align ourselves with his telescopes. It took six tries to line up the shot perfectly, but we finally got it after a little over an hour of circling.”

The Fall of Icarus. Credit Andrew McCarthy