I’ve said before that the long version of my life story (i.e. why I am a photographer, and why I’m interested in Russia and Eastern Europe) owes everything to the movie Top Gun. From four years old through high school I dreamed of being a fighter pilot, in the F-14 if I could make it happen. Things went a different way of course, but sometimes they overlap again: on Friday a Canadian CF-18 crashed during practice for an Alberta airshow. The pilot ejected and is reportedly fine. But the crash produced some tremendous video and some even more incredible still images shot by Lethbridge Herald photographer Ian Martens. Unbelievable.

Of course as a photographer who has a lifelong fascination with jet planes I have an eye out for this kind of picture. I’ll never forget this horrifying video of a Ukrainian crash into a crowd of spectators nor this award-winning image of an American F-16 pilot ejecting shot by USAF Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III. Both are slightly more dramatic than today’s footage from Alberta but its incredible to see such images again. Dangerous business.

Perusing Lens, the NYT’s new photojournalism portal and an example of photo webdesign done well, the above photo by Lynsey Addario jumped out at me in the short slideshow “On Assignment: Taking Time Out to Heal.” The shot looks like what the situation would’ve looked like 5 minutes after Larry Burrows iconic 1966 picture from a Hill 484 south of the DMZ in Vietnam:

Addario is currently recuperating after a car crash in Pakistan that also injured Teru Kuwayama and took the life of fixer Raza Khan. Our thoughts go out to Raza’s family, and we hope for a speedy recovery for Addario and Kuwayama.