Bismarck, North Dakota.

One of the more difficult duties I have as North Dakota Wing Commander is to represent the wing at member funerals. Since taking the job, I’ve had to fulfill that duty twice, once for a cadet and last week, for a senior member. Both were killed in vehicle related accidents. On Thursday afternoon, Ken, the Wing Vice Commander and I flew toward the Mandan airport where the Bismarck squadron is located and where a vehicle waited for our arrival to drive to the location of the memorial service. We would attend the service along with the members of the Bismarck Squadron. Ken and I departed around 10:30 PM for the one-hour and forty-five minute flight to Fargo. Mandan, North Dakota is just west of Bismarck, a sister city on the opposite side of the Missouri River. As I was the pilot on the inbound flight, Ken did the return pilot-in-command duties leaving me the opportunity to capture a few images of the city as we flew over.

About the photo: The Mandan Airport is at the south end of the Bismarck metro area and as we crossed over Bismarck, most of the city lay to the north. I reached behind the pilot’s seat to my left and snapped some photos on my Samsung S7. If you look closely, you’ll notice the lights at the bottom of the picture are a bit fuzzy. The slow shutter speed created a bit of motion blur as we were moving forward at a climbout speed of around 100 miles per hour (160 km/hour). The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured and edited on a mobile device. As usual, this photo was edited on an iPad.

John Steiner