Aviation Week 2024 Photo Contest Winning Entries

This composite image captures arrival traffic at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the world’s busiest airports, over a 15-min. period.

These American Airlines passenger aircraft sit at their gates at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. This photo was made up of 257 10-sec. exposures, making a 43-min. exposure in total.

SpaceX launched Integrated Flight Test 5 of the Starship 30 spacecraft and Super Heavy Booster 12 at 8:25 a.m. EDT on Oct. 13 from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. After separation, the Super Heavy booster executed a controlled descent back to the launch site, where it was caught by “Mechazilla,” SpaceX’s launch tower equipped with massive “chopstick” arms. This composite image, created by merging four images, captures the Super Heavy booster catch sequence, the first midair catch of a rocket system.

A Canadian Air Force Boeing CF-18 lands in Oshkosh under a star-filled nightscape that rivals the sparkling stars on the jet.

Pilots Kyle Fowler and Nathan Hammond bring fireworks to the 2024 Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo.

Members of the Polish Zelazny Aerobatic Group fly in formation.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) John “Slick” Baum leads the Alpha Jet element of the Polaris Program’s Ghost Sqdn. Demonstration Team back to Earth during a practice session over Avon Park Air Force Range in Central Florida. The Polaris Program, led by Jared “Rook” Isaacman, is designed to further capabilities of commercial space flight while supporting important causes here on Earth, primarily St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ghost Sqdn. assembled to demonstrate precision formation flying to the public to inspire the next generation of aerospace enthusiasts.

Ballistic missiles, launched from Iran Oct. 1 are intercepted above Israel 2,000 km (1,200 mi.) away during the largest attack in the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. “The air resonated with the loud bangs of interception explosions above my head, and the entire building shuddered with each explosion in the air,” photographer Avichai Socher said. Arrow interceptors, David’s Sling and Iron Dome interceptors all worked at various altitudes to defend against the onslaught. “The Strategic Defense Initiative from 1984 came to life in 2024 in full scale for the first time,” Socher said. “It is the most unique photo I have ever captured."

Swiss Air Force Boeing F-18C Hornets put on a show during a live-fire exercise above Axalp, Switzerland.

U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform an opposing knife-edge pass maneuver with General Dynamics F-16s at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida.

After a heavy storm, the sun reappears as this Air Malta Airbus A320-200 kicks up a cloud of water after takeoff from Runway 28 at Zurich Airport.

“I saw the air tankers coming back to San Bernardino International Airport after dropping on the Line Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains,” photographer Marty Wolin says. “Even the sky around the airport was filled with a light layer of smoke that produced a very warm light, such as the diffused light on 10 Tanker’s McDonnell Douglas DC-10.”

A Sunclass Airlines Airbus A321 descends toward Rhodes-Diagoras International Airport with a Blue Star Ferries vessel that had departed Rhodes Port in the background. The photo was taken from the hill over the village of Kremasti on a day when temperatures reached 40C (104F). "Climbing up the hill with all the photography gear to take this shot was well worth it," photographer Artur Jarosz says.

A SpaceX Starlink launch streaks behind a Crew Dragon on the launchpad before the Polaris Dawn launch.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carries the U.S. Space Force-52 mission past the Moon and into space on Dec. 28, 2023. The mission extended the flight envelope of the X-37B reusable spacecraft.

SpaceX’s “Mechazilla” catches a Super Heavy booster launched on Integrated Flight Test 5 as it descends toward the launch tower.

A 41-sec. exposure taken at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo shows a warbird in silhouette against the nighttime air show finale.

A Republic P-47D Thunderbolt World War II-era fighter rests on the ground at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot, North Dakota. The aircraft, nicknamed Bonnie, was located at Girua Airport in Papua, New Guinea, before beginning a 10-year restoration by AirCorps Aviation in Bemidji, Minnesota.

Airmen work alongside the McDonnell Phantom XT914 Cold War jet at RAF Wattisham, England.