A sort of related question is... what time of day do you fly? I've tried a few flights around sunset but it's very challenging to capture the light.
Now we're in the full swing of summer (in the UK - it lasts about three days and then we go back to moaning about the weather) we have beautiful blue skies but the high contrast makes it difficult to get the image you want.
Worst time of the year for landscape photographers. Anytime after about 8am and the light is just too harsh and flat, you really need to be out real early or late. Sunset shots don't have to be pointing at the sun often the best light is if you turn around. Most landscape photographers favour autumn for the colours and misty mornings, winter for the crisp frosty and snow scenes and spring.
Add to that, blue sky photography makes for boring shots unless you are selling holiday brochure images or similar. Usually you need some cloud at least, but what is better than a late evening sinshine against a dark brooding sky?
If you shoot sunset and into the sun the you will usually need to take multiple exposures and blend, the camera just cannot record what the eye can see as far as dynamic range is concerned, also if you wait too long until the sun is below the horizon then you may have a beautiful sky but noy much else. These kind of shots are best over water or architectural work
