An in-flight photo of a Pilatus PC-12 as it banks away from the camera position. Mount Kilimanjaro, with only a dusting of snow on its peak, is visible in the background. The lighting is such that it looks like the photo was taken either at sunrise or sunset. The aircraft is mostly white, with a curvaceous, graphic pattern consisting of various shades of gold on the lower part of the fuselage and the tip of the vertical stabiliser. The registration « 5H-MAG » is painted on in the vertical stabiliser in black, bold letters. There is a cloud deck below the aircraft and a mostly blue sky with some high, streaky clouds present. Original caption from source: « The Coastal PC-12 with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. » (📸 ©2017 Jon Davison | Eye in the Sky Productions) (📸 ©2017 Jon Davison | Eye in the Sky Productions)
The Coastal PC-12 with Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. (📸 ©2017 Jon Davison | Eye in the Sky Productions)
Under African Skies
The first of four parts where Pilatus air-to-air photographer Jon Davison talks about shooting a PC-12 in the skies over Tanzania.
By Jon Davison

There are some emails that really make your day, for instance; Can Pilatus send you to Tanzania for a week to shoot some lovely photos of a PC-12 against Mount Kilimanjaro? I do like emails like this.

This request was to shoot material for their annual calendar, to provide images of a PC-12 aircraft in action operated by local operator Coastal Aviation. They fly all over East Africa, including generic locations in Tanzania such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Serengeti, Norongoro Crater, Moshi, Kogatende, Mwanza, Zanzibar and many more. Based in Dar es Salaam, they have offices in Moshi and Arusha and operate four PC-12s.

They pioneered the scheduled airborne safari, where you get the opportunity to fly in a light aircraft on an adventure anywhere in the big game parks. Prior to this, access to the parks was generally by four-wheel drive vehicle, which was very time consuming and costly.

After contacting Giles Lauthier at Coastal about the logistics of the assignment, I found that I could fly direct to Dar es Salaam, then get a shuttle to meet Gilles at Moshi or Arusha. But after checking his timetable he emailed back saying that he had an empty aircraft stopping over in Kilimanjaro airport and suggested that I fly direct there, then we would both fly in the PC-12 to Moshi. So that was settled, I would drive from my home near Toulouse to Barcelona, catch a flight with Ethiopean Airlines and fly via Addis Ababa direct to Kilimanjaro.

Arriving at Kili I was met by Mark Mutiso, a Kenyan PC-12 pilot from Coastal. We waited at the carousel watching the usual colorful luggage going in circles.

But there comes a point when you get a sinking feeling in your gut saying that your luggage is definitely not here. In fact the carousel has stopped. In the meantime outside the window I watched the 787 I was on take off, heading to Zanzibar, not knowing that my luggage was still on it! Luckily I always carry my camera and laptop with me, but the luggage had all my chargers, plus my important flight helmet and harness. So after Mark made some calls to sort it all out, Ethiopean would courier it back to Moshi tomorrow. Okay all good, so onward to Moshi.

As I was the only passenger in the PC-12, Mark suggested that I take the right hand seat on the flight deck for the flight. I couldn’t help but notice the black and yellow tell-tale strap of a Nikon DSLR slung over his seat. You guessed it, Mark was a keen photographer, and offered to be my assistant on all the photoshoots. He often flew the routes we would be going on himself, but never from the open door of a cameraship, and never at 10,000 feet over the volcanoes. 🛩️ 🌲

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Have any thoughts or questions on this story? Jon would love to hear from you. You can click or tap any photo in this article for a high resolution version along with a caption, if available. These photos were originally published in 2016 on Jon's personal website, Eye in the Sky Productions. More recently, Under African Skies was first published on Medium. As noted, this article is the first of four parts, with the second and subsequent parts available soon. Meanwhile, Jon Davison and his wife, Jude Brazendale, have just finished a new book; more details about which you can find by clicking its cover below.

A graphic where the primary image is cover of the book entitled « CLIMB HIGHER » by Jon Davison and Jude Brazendale. If features a Robinson R44 helicopter in profile, flying from left to right past a blue/white iceberg. The helicopter is dark in colour and the registration is indistinct. In the distance, other icebergs are visible and then a uniformly grey sky as the background. The book's title appears at the top, with the word « CLIMB » in black and « HIGHER » in white. Immediately below the title are the words « Worldwide adventures with Robinson Helicopters » in black letters. At the bottom of the cover are the words « Jon Davison & Jude Brazendale ». In addition, over on the left, in bold, black letters, are the words « Presented by Jon Davison & Jude Brazendale’s brand new book out on November 17, 2025 at European Rotors. » (📸 Robinson Helicopter Company)