bussed it to the plane good to goDnata training center, hmmm, interesting Dubai, home of Emirates cue-ing up and we're off  bit smoggy today, 8am top of the Burj in clear sky can't see beyond Russian beach, Jumeirah blocked by smog poking through near Dubai Marina from Dubai, all past Persian Gulf, crossing into Iran near Kuwait, it was a thick cloud cover all the way, so I gave up looking and had a little nap, something jolted me up and made me look out the window, and am I glad I did Somewhere after Basra flying North, so underneath me is Iran looking across mountains into Iraqand a light dusting of snow on the higher peaks must be really cold and hence crisp air and clear photos beautiful Kermanshah province, Iran clouds rolling in again but only a few cumulus, this would make a nice big print give you an idea where I am peaks are getting higher and so is the snow cover guessing KurdistanSanandaj Airport Town of Sanandaj look toward Iraq not sure they get this much snow here all the time ? quite impressive  Saqqez getting thicker that snow cover anyone say ski terrainLahijan-e Sharqi Rural District, Lajan District, Piranshahr County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran Naqadeh, also known as Naghadeh, Naghdeh and Nagadeh, is a city in and the capital of Naqadeh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran Edge of Lake Urmia ( check the difference  same flight 4 months ago,  this flight left hand side, that flight right hand side and amazing photos of Lake Urmia all pink ) City of Urmia and Urmia Dam sharp turm left and gret shot of Urmia look at all that snow behind it Zagros Mountains looking south along the Zagros mountain range I'm guessing we are looking at three countries in this photo ( Iran, Iraq and Turkey ) Baskalesurprised there's no ski resorts :-) town of Atalna on Lake Van, and interesting pattern in the water Lake Van Camel Neck Peninsula oh woauw , look at this, looks like a volcanic crater or meteor impact and this little crater just off it, with what looks like lava flow turns out it is a crater with a lake inside here some info I found Nemrut Dagi is the westernmost of a group of volcanoes near Lake Van in eastern Anatolia and the only one that has erupted in historical time. Nemrut Dagi contains a 9 x 5 km caldera partially filled on its western side by a caldera lake. Post-caldera volcanism, of basaltic to rhyolitic composition, initially occurred along the caldera rim and floor. Pyroclastic flows and the emission of glassy obsidian lava flows accompanied construction of lava domes within the caldera; later activity formed a series of cinder cones and lava domes erupted along N-S-trending fissures on the northern flank. The most recent activity has been concentrated along a NNW-trending fissure cutting the eastern caldera floor and extending beyond the north caldera rim; nearly two dozen cinder cones and lava domes were constructed on the caldera floor. Ash layers in Lake Van document numerous Holocene eruptions, and an historical eruption in 1441 AD from a north-flank fissure involved compositionally bimodal lava flow Dam near Batman ? Earthquake territory, so many recorded earthquakes in this region of East Turkey Erzincan valley Erzincan Airport yes, there is a town called Batman in Turkey Amasra on the black sea Bartin Port not alone heading over the black sea  slowly leaving Turkey, to the far right is Istanbul an hour or so later, Austria looking towards the mountain at the back of Trieste Germany Belgium going down cloudy Belgium Landed Flightracker