Aerial View of Mout Kinabalu

It was my usual monthly trip to Tawau to my Plantation.  However this time I purposely took the indirect flight from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau with a stopover in Sandakan at 7.00 am,  I know the flight to Sandakan will fly past by the Mount Kinabalu and hopefully the sky will be clear for the intended shot.  I checked in online the night before and chose a seat 2nd row from the rear to avoid seating next to the wings.  From the ground it appeared to be misty but as the aircraft reaches above 5000 feet the sky was clear. Twenty minutes later I started taking th shots of the mountain.

It was still dark and a distance away when I took the first shot of the mountain.  I didnt really know what to expect due to the unfavourable view of the mountain from the ground.

As the aircraft climbed the view becomes clearer with spots of cloud.  This was the view with the populated main road from Kota Kinabalu can be easily seen.

The mountain as seen from the southern face while moving towards the eastern face.

View from the eastern face of the mountain.  The town of Kundasang is clearly visible at the centre of the picture.  The clear white dot is the Perkasa Hotel.

The center of the picture is the Kundasang Golf Course.

These pictures were taken using Nikon D7000 and 18-105mm Nikor.  The picture is not sharp despite taking at high speed to avoid shake and f8 aperture. I think this was due to the concave window shape of the turbo prop aircraft which adds distortion to the zoom lens.  I presume using a wide angle prime lens with polariser filter would get me a better details and contrast.