Sometimes we can find ourselves getting curious about a place that we’d never actually want to visit.
For instance, if you told me to plunge into the murky depths of the deep seas and meet some of the terrifying creatures you’d find down there, I might startle you with how I loudly I’d say no. But if someone else is intrepid enough to take a camera down there, you can bet I’m tuning in.
By the same token, you’re a lot more likely to find someone who wouldn’t mind seeing what it looks like inside an erupting volcano than you are to meet one actually willing to dive into one.
Fortunately, one YouTuber did the next craziest thing and sacrificed his drone so we could get the closest footage of a rushing lava flow that we’re likely to see.
Over the past couple of months, the Fagradalsfjall volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula has been putting on quite a show.
According to NASA’s Earth Observatory , the series of eruptions that have been taking place there have not only created dazzling lava flows like the one shown here but have also lit up the night sky and changed the clouds above it.
And as Reuters reported , it could continue behaving this way for years. While that’s not what we would normally expect people to want to hear, it’s apparently inspired hopes that the area will become “a perfect tourist attraction.”
Among the thousands in Iceland to approach the volcano was a YouTuber and drone hobbyist named Joey Helms, who had an ambitious idea.
He mentioned in the description for his video that it’s common for drones to crash and break after a while so he figured that if that must happen, it should be while it’s getting as close to the erupting volcano as possible.
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And he said that his experiment worked well as the camera was able to capture the drone’s last seconds before the lava destroyed it.
He also said that even though he was obviously at a safer distance than his drone, that doesn’t mean this footage was easy to capture.
According to Insider , he told Reuters, “Around the volcano where you have the hot gases emitted they cause turbulences all around it and hot rocks raining on to you, flying these things is even more tricky.”
But fly it he did and the results are an incredible look at the vibrant, fiery lava that Fagradalsfjall keeps spitting out.
You can see the key moments from the drone’s final voyage in the full video, which will fill you in on the exact moment that the lava made contact with it.
