Gallery: 2023 Aviation Week Photo Contest Early Entries

The remote Rothera Skiway, located approximately 4 km (2.5 mi.) from the Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island, is used for pilot training during the early part of the Antarctic flying season.

I took this photo at the Boeing Seafair Airshow on Aug. 6. I was at Mount Baker Beach on Lake Washington in Seattle, when I captured this image with a Canon R5 and Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM lens. As I was tracking two F/A-18 Super Hornets overhead, four F/A-18s in tight formation passed by in the background.

The photographer captured the image of this Black Hawk from the passenger seat of a Piper PA-20 Pacer.

The “ghost” livery F-16 prepares to land at Nellis AFB, Nevada, during the Red Flag 23-1 air combat training exercise.

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly their delta burst maneuver during the Thunder and Lightning Over Arizona air show at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson.

This De Havilland Tiger Moth was originally built in 1941 in the UK. As this restoration was reputed to be Barry Hill’s last (it was his seventh), I thought it fitting to do a special photoshoot. It was a sizable task that took 1.5 days to set up and a day to tear down. Materials included 40 m² (431 ft.²) of construction plastic for a shallow pool of 11.5 m², a timber frame, 3,000 liters (793 gal.) of water and multiple lengths of 4-m black backdrop drapes. After the “stage” was set and the pool full of water, I had to wait until nightfall so no light could pass through the hanger’s skylights. Mission completed. Kudos to Hill’s UK visitors for helping out as well.

The photographer captured this image of a Cessna 185 from the back seat of a Piper Supercub that flew in formation alongside with the door open. Outside temperatures were well below 0F.

A Cessna 170 skims the Knik River in Alaska. The image was taken at a shutter speed of 1/30 on a Leica SL2 camera.

A Falcon 9 rocket launch lights up the night sky in June above Titusville, Florida, carrying Starlink communication satellites.

NASA’s SpaceX CRS-27 crew resupply mission creates a spectacular “nebula” after launching from Pad 39A, as the Falcon 9 booster separates. The cloud was visible to most of central Florida due to the angle of the exhaust from the first-stage booster (the dot at the top) interacting with the second stage (the lower dot) during its initial boost back burn.