Apology accepted.
No CGI was used at all. That entire video was shot from a helicopter. The same photographer/videographer, Sam Lafoca, shot many of the stills that can be accessed via one of the "stickies" above, which were shot the same day just prior to takeoff. Some of those stills show the clouds building up in the northwestern sky that helped make the takeoff so spectacular. Later that afternoon, the thunderstorm in those clouds dropped large hail on Victorville that might have damaged our expensive paint job - so we got off just in time! The plane's climbout was a little steeper than normal because it was empty, so that might have made the footage look a little unreal to you.
This film clip is part of a documentary "Birth of an Airline" now in production that will be completed soon after the launch, and which will be part of a huge PR and advertising campaign after FAA certification. (No advertising allowed by DOT until after certification.) And yes, more aerial photography is planned with the plane with a spectacular familiar background. (But it's extremely difficult to pull off because of the complex variables and clearances involved, and might have to be scrapped.) The aerial photography team has already flown a test flight for that, so some of the variables are already under control.
AI
