Aviation Week 2023 Photo Contest Winning Photos

SpaceX’s launch of Crew 7 to the International Space Station creates what appears to be a nebula as the Falcon 9 conducts its boostback burn. The booster is visible just above the Crew Dragon capsule.

A pair of Polish Air Force F-16Cs from the 10th Tactical Sqdn. pop flares and maneuver while participating in “Air Shielding” in October 2022, an event coordinated by NATO Allied Air Command to demonstrate interoperability among different air forces. The photo was taken over a quarry near Lodz in central Poland.

Cmdrs. Lee Smallwood and Matt Gibson of VFC-111 fly Northrop F-5Ns low over Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park, located on the edge of the Whiskey 174 Range Complex near Key West, Florida. The Sun Downers are one of four Navy Reserve adversary squadrons in the tactical support wing tasked with training U.S. aviators in air combat tactics.

A Lockheed Martin F-22 pulls vapor as it makes a pass during the evening air show at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh in 2023.

A Boeing 777-232ER operated by Gridiron Air overflies Monument Valley in Arizona as sunset approaches. The photograph was taken looking straight down from an Embraer Phenom 300 using a remotely controlled Shotover gimbal that housed a Sony Alpha-series still camera. Gridiron transports the Arizona Cardinals football team.

It is not common to have two helicopters picking up water so close together. I saw these aircraft using two little ponds on the Oak Quarry Golf Course in Jurupa Valley, California. I quickly got to the right location and angle, hoping multiple helicopters would arrive at close to the same time. I was ecstatic when everything came into place.

As night falls, an aircraft stands resolute at a Detroit Metro Airport terminal, brimming with passengers and cargo. Amid a thunderstorm, the dedicated crew persists, their efforts a beacon of determination, ensuring journeys continue despite the challenges.

Stoke Space’s Hopper2 vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket undergoes a hot-fire test in Moses Lake, Washington, in December 2022. The Hopper2 is designed as a fully reusable second-stage rocket. It features a hydrogen-oxygen engine, regeneratively cooled heat shield and differential throttle thrust vector control system. The Hopper2 made a 15-sec. test flight on Sept. 17, landing 30 ft. away at its planned landing zone.

A Falcon 9 departs Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A carrying NASA’s Crew-6 to the International Space Station.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches the SES-20 and SES-21 C-band communications satellites from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral SFS on a beautiful afternoon. Photo for United Launch Alliance.

Veteran air show pilot Bob Carlton makes a low pass with his Super Salto jet sailplane, powered by a PBS TJ-100 jet engine, at the 2023 NAS Oceana Air Show in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Christian Moullec and his geese fly in close formation during ZigAirMeet 2023 in Mollis, Switzerland.

In 2023, a display team made up of two Fournier RF-4Ds piloted by flight leader Benoit David and wingman Anthony Bezard perform aerobatics during French air shows like La Ferte-Alais and Salon-de-Provence at the 70th anniversary air show of Patrouille de France, the aerobatics team of the French Air and Space Force.

This is two photos taken at the same focal length two days apart. One was taken from a charter boat 12.2 mi. offshore, where we were trying to capture the Starship on the pad at the right proportions for the Sun to totally envelop the massive rocket. As luck would have it, the cloud bank on the horizon blocked the Sun. However, I stuck with it and captured a frame while bouncing around in 8-10-ft. seas and didn’t think I would use it at all. But the next day, the sky on the horizon was clear at SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. So I used the same settings to capture the Sun on the horizon at the same angle. The two images were combined in Photoshop with a blending mode and slight masking.

This image of a North American P-51 Mustang with mist, flares and smoke was created from real photos and special effects with multiple layering of special brushes.

Inspired by the prop circle, this photo imagines a swirling vortex created in effect.