We recently landed at Tokyo Haneda – except that it should have been Osaka! Unfortunately, as we approached, drone activity temporarily closed Kansai International and we were diverted.

The unexpected upside was the magnificent views of Mount Fuji that we passed twice before eventually reaching our planned destination. It got me thinking about the aerial delights awaiting flyers.

I never cease to marvel at the contrast presented by evening departures from Vancouver as the city’s lights soon give way to the darkness of British Columbia’s sparsely populated interior and Northern Canada’s barren wastes.

Between mountain and ocean

As with Vancouver, Los Angeles, or even little Sitka up in Alaska’s Panhandle, there’s something magical about airports located ‘twixt mountain and ocean. Many landlocked destinations are equally impressive. I’m thinking about the sinuous approach to Bhutan’s Paro Airport. Or famously challenging Lukla’s steeply sloping 527m-long runway in Nepal, complete with sheer drops at one end and a rock wall at the other!

Nearer home, how about the picturesque valley approach to Category C-rated Innsbruck? Destinations like these deliver amazing experiences for pilots and passengers alike.

Spectacular natural surrounds guarantee breathtaking views. Sometimes, however, the built environment adds special magic. Picture, for instance, the unforgettable approach to New York’s JFK with its views of Manhattan’s iconic skyline; or the needle-like Burj Khalifa glimpsed through the desert haze after leaving Dubai.

Once-in-a-lifetime views

Arguably, the most memorable ones are the once-in-a-lifetime views delivered by nature alone – helped by our aircraft’s altitude. Winter’s dancing northern lights on approach to Reykjavik-Keflavik need no mortal help. Neither did my most enduring in-flight memory.

It was a westward sunset view across Northern Canada’s myriad frozen lakes. And it came with the added bonus of being savoured from a Boeing 747 cockpit in the halcyon, pre-9/11 days when flight deck visits were still possible. Unforgettable.

Amazing in-flight sights

Will your airborne magic come after the short hop to Shetland or over mountain-flanked Beagle Channel as you approach windy Ushuaia, Patagonia? Or perhaps it will be that first glimpse of French Polynesia after 6000km over the empty Pacific, or the reassuringly familiar view of Windsor Castle on returning to Heathrow?

These and so many other examples remind us to look up from our book or the in-flight movie and take a moment to be awestruck by the joy of flight. What amazing in-flight sights await you in 2020?