An aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 emerges from a cloud of smoke as it recovers from an intentional stall.
Credit: Bob Driver/Santa Clarita, California
Pilot Vicky Benzing puts her Boeing Stearman PT-17 through its paces during the Apple Valley Air Show in Apple Valley, California. Benzing is always a crowd favorite with her aerobatics displays.
Credit: Bob Driver/Santa Clarita, California
Pilot Tony Higa puts his diminutive Pitts Special S1S through the wringer, much to the delight of the Apple Valley Air Show crowd in Apple Valley, California.
Credit: Janis Parr/Andover, Kansas
The Italian Air Force demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, perform at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.
Credit: Karen Powell/Fort Worth, Texas
Bill Stein performs in his chromatic-painted Zivka Edge 540 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.
Credit: Karen Grillon/Kankakee, Illinois
Two aerobatic aircraft—one piloted by Kevin Coleman of the "Red Bull Air Force"—decorate the blue afternoon sky with smoke as they perform aerobatics during the Chicago Air and Water Show in August 2024.
Credit: Dana Gumm/Mechanicsville, Virginia
The Italian Air Force demonstration team, Frecce Tricolori, perform over Ocean City, Maryland.
Credit: James Knauf/Rolling Hills Estates, California
Pilot Vicky Benzing goes "over the top" in her 1940 Boeing Stearman at Wings Over Camarillo, California.
Credit: Scott Slingsby/Francestown, New Hampshire
An aerobatic plane cuts a ribbon in the late June afternoon in North Dakota.
Credit: Arnab Bhaduri/Sunnyvale, California
The Red Bull Extra 300 goes inverted at the Salinas Air Show, Salinas, California.
As aviation technology has improved over decades, so has the field of aerobatics: stunt pilots performing wild feats in their planes to the excitement of crowds below. From California to North Dakota, in old planes and new, aerobatics pilots continue to push the envelope of acrobatic flying. This gallery showcases the best aerobatics photography submitted to Aviation Week's 2024 Photo Contest.
