Sunset at Dubai International Airport
A FlyDubai aircraft Boeing 737 is on the ramp at sunset.
Air Combat Command F-22 Raptor Demo
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Demo Team flies at the 2018 Wings Over North Georgia Airshow.
Disappearing...
The last British Airways 747-400 departs Heathrow International Airport on Oct. 8 on a very overcast day. BA is retiring its 747s as a result of the pandemic.
30's meets 40's
A 1936 Staggerwing and a de Havilland Dominie built in 1943, shown here during a formation flight over the picturesque, still Lake Hawea on the majestic South Island of New Zealand. The camera ship was a 1934 de Havilland Fox Moth.
KFIR
This Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir fighter was photographed on the flight deck of the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum in New York during Fleet Week in 2015.
Falcon 9 Meets the Sun
At 7:29 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, Oct. 6, SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink communications satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). This photo—centered on the face of the Sun and shown at a distance of 11 mi. from the pad in nearby Titusville, Florida—shows the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the payload to orbit and transiting the Sun shortly after sunrise.
Sunset at Sky Harbor
A view of sunrise over Arizona as seen from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Red Sunset
A blood-red sky provides a remarkable backdrop at Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A. This untouched shot was taken more than 40 min. after sunset on a mostly overcast night and produced a scene I have not previously shot in my years of rocket photography.
Aero-Flite’s Avro RJ85 Idaho
This shot was taken Sept. 22, 2018, during the Eight Mile wildfire in Soda Springs, Idaho. While under evacuation order and running to leave everything behind as flames approached, this picture of Aero-Flite’s Avro RJ85 airtanker dropping retardant was captured by a Nikon P900. The good news is that aerial firefighting support combined with firefighters on the ground saved the homes and ranches in Caribou Village.
Enterprise Above New York
The decommissioned space shuttle Enterprise is transported on April 27, 2012, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. From Kennedy, Enterprise was transported by barge to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for permanent display.
Pandemic Or Not, The Show Must Go On
A masked pilot carries his radio-controlled Sukhoi Su-30 to the flightline for a socially distant flight demonstration at the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Biggest Little Air Show, conducted during a short break in California’s pandemic-driven museum closures. Closed to the public, this event was livestreamed for the spectators sheltering in place.
F-15 Reflection
An F-15 making a low pass is reflected in the canopy of another aircraft at the Reno Air Races in 2018.
Airbus H175 In Hover
This Airbus H175 hovering above an empty runway of Esbjerg Airport in Denmark.
Kalitta 747 Landing
This photo taken from above as a Kalitta Air 747 cargo aircraft nears touchdown at Anchorage, Alaska, provides a new perspective on landing.
Flying Into the Sun
A morning flight over Israel in formation with a Tecnam P92 light aircraft.
Graduation Show
An AH-64D Saraph fires flares and conducts an evasive maneuver during a demonstration at the graduation ceremony of Israeli Air Force pilot cadets in December 2012.
Maintaining Air Superiority
A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor making a low pass at sunset on full afterburner.
B-1B Takeoff
B-1B bomber launch from Nellis AFB, Nevada, at early dusk with the Las Vegas Strip in the background. The sound and vibration is hard to believe!
B-17 Sunrise
B-17, Ye Olde Pub, greeting an Arizona sunrise in Page, Arizona, in February 2019.
Incheon Parking
Korean Air heavies are stored on the Incheon International Airport cargo apron.
Collings B-17G in Repose
This photo was taken at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, on July 30, 2014, on the morning after The Collings Foundation brought their B-17 "Nine-O-Nine" into St. Louis for flights. I was driving into work at Boeing Co. and decided to swing by the airport to see this magnificent warbird in the morning light. Sadly, the aircraft was lost in a tragic crash in 2019.
Never fly in the same cloud as a rock!
Mount Ranier in Washington pokes through the clouds as an aircraft flies close—but not too close.
Tanker 101
Evening maintenance on Tanker 101, Gen. William J. Fox Airfield, Lancaster, California.
Sunset at Dubai International Airport
A FlyDubai aircraft Boeing 737 is on the ramp at sunset.
Air Combat Command F-22 Raptor Demo
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Demo Team flies at the 2018 Wings Over North Georgia Airshow.
Disappearing...
The last British Airways 747-400 departs Heathrow International Airport on Oct. 8 on a very overcast day. BA is retiring its 747s as a result of the pandemic.
30's meets 40's
A 1936 Staggerwing and a de Havilland Dominie built in 1943, shown here during a formation flight over the picturesque, still Lake Hawea on the majestic South Island of New Zealand. The camera ship was a 1934 de Havilland Fox Moth.
KFIR
This Israel Aircraft Industries Kfir fighter was photographed on the flight deck of the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum in New York during Fleet Week in 2015.
Falcon 9 Meets the Sun
At 7:29 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, Oct. 6, SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink communications satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). This photo—centered on the face of the Sun and shown at a distance of 11 mi. from the pad in nearby Titusville, Florida—shows the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the payload to orbit and transiting the Sun shortly after sunrise.
Sunset at Sky Harbor
A view of sunrise over Arizona as seen from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Red Sunset
A blood-red sky provides a remarkable backdrop at Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A. This untouched shot was taken more than 40 min. after sunset on a mostly overcast night and produced a scene I have not previously shot in my years of rocket photography.
Aero-Flite’s Avro RJ85 Idaho
This shot was taken Sept. 22, 2018, during the Eight Mile wildfire in Soda Springs, Idaho. While under evacuation order and running to leave everything behind as flames approached, this picture of Aero-Flite’s Avro RJ85 airtanker dropping retardant was captured by a Nikon P900. The good news is that aerial firefighting support combined with firefighters on the ground saved the homes and ranches in Caribou Village.
Enterprise Above New York
The decommissioned space shuttle Enterprise is transported on April 27, 2012, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport. From Kennedy, Enterprise was transported by barge to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for permanent display.
Pandemic Or Not, The Show Must Go On
A masked pilot carries his radio-controlled Sukhoi Su-30 to the flightline for a socially distant flight demonstration at the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Biggest Little Air Show, conducted during a short break in California’s pandemic-driven museum closures. Closed to the public, this event was livestreamed for the spectators sheltering in place.
F-15 Reflection
An F-15 making a low pass is reflected in the canopy of another aircraft at the Reno Air Races in 2018.
Airbus H175 In Hover
This Airbus H175 hovering above an empty runway of Esbjerg Airport in Denmark.
Kalitta 747 Landing
This photo taken from above as a Kalitta Air 747 cargo aircraft nears touchdown at Anchorage, Alaska, provides a new perspective on landing.
Flying Into the Sun
A morning flight over Israel in formation with a Tecnam P92 light aircraft.
Graduation Show
An AH-64D Saraph fires flares and conducts an evasive maneuver during a demonstration at the graduation ceremony of Israeli Air Force pilot cadets in December 2012.
Maintaining Air Superiority
A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor making a low pass at sunset on full afterburner.
B-1B Takeoff
B-1B bomber launch from Nellis AFB, Nevada, at early dusk with the Las Vegas Strip in the background. The sound and vibration is hard to believe!
B-17 Sunrise
B-17, Ye Olde Pub, greeting an Arizona sunrise in Page, Arizona, in February 2019.
Incheon Parking
Korean Air heavies are stored on the Incheon International Airport cargo apron.
Collings B-17G in Repose
This photo was taken at Creve Coeur Airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, on July 30, 2014, on the morning after The Collings Foundation brought their B-17 "Nine-O-Nine" into St. Louis for flights. I was driving into work at Boeing Co. and decided to swing by the airport to see this magnificent warbird in the morning light. Sadly, the aircraft was lost in a tragic crash in 2019.
Never fly in the same cloud as a rock!
Mount Ranier in Washington pokes through the clouds as an aircraft flies close—but not too close.
Tanker 101
Evening maintenance on Tanker 101, Gen. William J. Fox Airfield, Lancaster, California.
Sunset at Dubai International Airport
A FlyDubai aircraft Boeing 737 is on the ramp at sunset.
The photographers whose work is featured here were among the first to enter this year's Aviation Week Photo Contest.
If your work is as good as or better than what you see here, enter today for the opportunity to have your photo selected as Best of the Best or one of our 20 other winners.
We recognize the challenges of taking great photos this year, so we are opening the contest to photos taken in any year starting in 2000.
We also have a special category this year, the COVID-19 Challenge, for great photos that tell the story of the pandemic's effect on the world's airlines and aerospace/defense industry.
In addition, you can enter in these categories: Commercial Aviation, Defense, Business and General Aviation, and Space.
