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  • Corporal Chris Ward, one of the photographers belonging to the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, reads a novel while wrapped up in sleeping bag and hammock aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. Corporal Ward has established for himself a comfortable nest in the rear section at the loading ramp. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camoulflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay. . .
    Red_Arrows050_RBA.jpg
  • A member of the 'Red Arrows', Britain's Royal Air Force aerobatic team, supervise the loading of spares and personal effects into a C-130 Hercules aircraft before the two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Surrounded by heavy-duty flight-spares, survival equipment boxes and a tyre for a Hawk jet aircraft, the Hercules looms large in the overcast sky. The team complete their winter training schedule in Cyprus. The Red Arrows pilots fly their own jet aircraft to air shows but when requiring the support of ground crew  they borrow a transporter to fly behind the main airborne squadron. 10 tons of spares and personal effects are shipped for a six-week stay.
    Red_Arrows263_RBA.jpg
  • Members of the 'Red Arrows', Britain's Royal Air Force aerobatic team, supervise the loading of spares and personal effects into a C-130 Hercules aircraft before the two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Surrounded by heavy-duty flight-spares, survival equipment boxes and a tyre for a Hawk jet aircraft, the Hercules looms large in the overcast sky. The team complete their winter training schedule in Cyprus. The Red Arrows pilots fly their own jet aircraft to air shows but when requiring the support of ground crew  they borrow a transporter to fly behind the main airborne squadron. 10 tons of spares and personal effects are shipped for a six-week stay.
    Red_Arrows041_RBA.jpg
  • A man tucks in to his in-flight meal on-board an Air France Boeing 777 flight from Paris Orly to Cayenne, French Guiana. Putting more food into his mouth while watching an in-flight movie, the male passenger has an aisle seat on this airliner. We also see on another seat back, the progress of this journey across the Atlantic Ocean towards the mainland of South America, seen on the moving map system screen which reveals statistics such as altitude, airspeed, distance to destination, distance from origination and local time. Using GPS avionics, the capital Cayenne is seen as the destination as well as Caracas, Georgetown, Kingstown and San Juan in the Caribbean. On the viewer's lowered tray is a light lunch of fruit, natural yoghurt, bread roll, orange juice and empty up. This is the best of Economy class.
    esa_guiana02813-08-2007.jpg
  • Member of the the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, spend hours aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camouflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay.
    Red_Arrows457_RBA.jpg
  • Corporal Chris Ward, one of the photographers belonging to the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, reads a novel while wrapped up in sleeping bag and hammock aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. Corporal Ward has established for himself a comfortable nest in the rear section at the loading ramp. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camouflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay.. .
    Red_Arrows266_RBA.jpg
  • Members of the the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, spend hours aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camouflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay.
    Red_Arrows053_RBA.jpg
  • Members of the the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, spend hours aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camouflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay.
    Red_Arrows051_RBA.jpg
  • Member of the the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, spend hours aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft during a two-day journey from RAF Scampton to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. The interior is basic with sharp corners but the walls are padded.  Ward wears a heavy camouflaged coat to counteract the cold and ear-plugs from the droning engines. The Red Arrows pilots fly their Hawk jet aircraft to air shows but on long journeys requiring the support of ground crew borrow RAF transporters that fly behind the main airborne squadron shipping 10 tons of spares and personal effects for their six-week winter training stay.
    Red_Arrows049_RBA.jpg
  • An airline flight-engineer occupies his own seat in the cockpit of a Boeing 747 - before the era arrived when technology made his role as a third flight crew member redundant. With a bowl of fresh fruit beside his seat, the male member of the flight-deck crew watches instruments and readings in front of the unseen pilots at the front. Wearing the three stripes designating his rank and seniority within his unspecified airline, the specialist's skills are in engineering systems that maintain efficient flight. When introduced, the Boeing 747-400 model was equipped with a two-crew glass cockpit, which dispensed with the need for a flight engineer - many of whom lost their jobs or retrained as pilots themselves.
    flight_engineer01-07-08-2000.jpg
  • From an airliner passenger seat, bright sunshine causes lens flare during a flight across the English Channel between Paris and London. We see out at a cruising altitude across the clouds that blanket the ground below. The curve of the Airbus window makes for a corner along the right-hand side of the image.
    flight_wing01-29-07-2002.jpg
  • Flight Lieutenant Simon Stevens, a pilot in the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, makes a pre-flight check of his Hawk jet aircraft before a practice flight at RAF Scampton. Stevens and his fellow-aviators fly up to 6 times in winter training, learning new manoeuvres. The dangers of high-speed close formation flight makes health and safety precuations vital; the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Royal Air Force take working environments of their personnel seriously so pre-flight examination of aircraft happens before every sortie (flight). Performing the brief safety walk-around, Stevens bends at the waste to avoid the aeroplane's low aileron despite wearing a helmet, full flying suit, boots, life-vest and anti-g-pants. Flying still continues despite rainclouds in the gloomy Lincolnshire sky.
    Red_Arrows005_RBA.jpg
  • The flight-deck crew of a Sri Lankan Airlines A340-300 series Airbus - registration number 4R-ADE - perform a series of pre-flight checks before a scheduled departure, while on the apron at Malé international airport in the Republic of the Maldives. Featuring electronic instruments it is known as a 'glass cockpit' and using a printed checklist manual, they methodically work through dozens of complex systems that require accurate input before the aircraft is ready for take off. Flight navigation computers, fuel and engine settings and radio frequencies all need programming by the two pilots, the captain on the left and the First Officer on the right. These modern airliners have only two pilots in a modern flight-deck as technology superceeded the need for a third member, the flight-engineers of a previous era of aviation.
    maldives452-15-11-2007.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-15-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-14-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-12-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-11-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-10-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-09-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight Lieutenant Dan Simmons of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, zips up his g-pants before climbing into his Hawk jet. G-pants counterac the effects of high gravity stresses that jet-fighters impose on the human body, automatically inflating and squeezing blood back to the thorax and head when blood drains towards the legs. As he attaches the zipper, he rests his straight right leg on a retractable step which helps him and his ground crew engineers to gain access to the cockpit, high above the ground. Hanging from another part of his airplane is his life-vest which he will wear around his neck, whilst in flight. Flight Lieutenant Simmons wears heavy-duty black boots which are regulation footwear for flying personnel and dressed in his red flying suit that is famous around the world.
    Red_Arrows173_RBA.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-13-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Stored in their respective wooden boxes are the flying helmets and miscellaneous equipment belonging to two pilots of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, at their headquarters RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. All ten pilots have their own storage space for gear. We see the place names of Reds One and Two: Squadron Leader Spike Jepson and Flight Lieutenant Matt Jarvis, whose visors are protected by soft cloths preventing scratches protective face screen. Squadron Leader Jepson is team leader and Flight Lieutenant Jarvis flies slightly behind and to the right in the Red Arrows Diamond Nine formation. On an average winter training day at Scampton, the crews will collect their kit up to six times a day in readiness for the forthcoming summer air show season. Flight Lieutenant Jarvis died of cancer one year later in March 2005. .
    Red_Arrows021_RBA.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-35-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-34-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment and a secured hoover next to the rear bulkhead in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-28-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the rear cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-27-20-07-2022.jpg
  • A flight testing workstation in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering calibated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-25-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-23-20-07-2022.jpg
  • In mid-flight between Hamburg in Germany and London Heathrow, we see a passenger?s view of a climbing airliner's port wing and the hazy German landscape below at a high altitude. The sky above reflects its soft blue hue on the upper surface of the left wing but the air below is a soft pink, a rural patchwork of fields and villages. As an example of aerodynamic design, the flying machine is a perfect gesture towards the conquest of flight, copied from the characteristics of a bird?s anatomy. As art, the mere beauty of taking to the air and maintaining level, organised speed is so routine, we rarely look our from our window to marvel at how and why. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis34-21-05-2002.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-36-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-33-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-32-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, during the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-31-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the rear cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-30-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment and a secured hoover next to the rear bulkhead in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-29-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the rear cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-26-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Flight testing equipment in the cabin of a Boeing 777X jet airliner, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the fatal accidents of the 737 Max, the 737 fleet was grounded around the world and Boeing is now recovering from a resulting financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-24-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Waiting in line for a departing flight, an airline captain patiently queues with his flight baggage along with passengers. Rather than being on duty and flying the aircraft himself, he is travelling home as a passenger. On many commercial flights, off-duty air crew position as passengers. Airlines plan complicated logistics with cabin and cockpit crew members' duty rosters. This man's four stripes denotes his seniority as a captain who flies right-hand seat, in command of a airliner. In the US, pilots might also have National Guard careers flying jet fighters in times of conflict while off-duty in airline shifts. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis53-10-11-2000.jpg
  • An American Airlines male flight attendant stands with his crew baggage against a window at Dallas Fort Worth airport, Texas. Dressed in the corporate airline uniform he stands erect with a hand in his pocket, his ID badge clipped to his jacket and a pin conveying his command of the Japanese language. A mesh screen partially obscures drab concrete buildings outside which can be seen through the glass. Dallas Fort Worth is the sixth busiest airport in the world transporting 59,064,360 passengers in 2005. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..
    aviation_corbis48-10-11-2000.jpg
  • About to board their Sri Lankan airlines flight to the Maldives, crowds of economy class passengers stand and make an orderly queue when their flight has been called by ground staff at London Heathrow airport England. Lines of people from all nations can be seen reflected in a large window that also overlooks the airport apron where their front-facing Airbus A340-300 aircraft awaits them, its flight-deck crew is seen in the cockpit readying their plane for the long night journey ahead. Catering service trucks are parked alongside the aircraft, loading supplies and all is on schedule from this large intercontinental airport hub to the much smaller island airfield in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the idyllic destination for holidaying Europeans.
    maldives01-10-11-2007.jpg
  • In mid-flight over Greater London, we see a passenger?s view of a turning airliner's wing and the capital's dusk landscape below at a low altitude. As the starboard (right) wing dips, the Virgin Atlantic Airbus banks and a long exposure blurs the city lights below. A small curved portion of the passenger window, red engines and the Union Jack colours are seen. As aerodynamic design, the flying machine is a perfect gesture towards the conquest of flight, copied from the characteristics of a bird?s anatomy. As art, the mere beauty of taking to the air and maintaining level, organised speed is so routine, we rarely look our from our window to marvel at how and why. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis50-10-11-2000.jpg
  • Looking down from above, we see one lone queuing traveller at Charles de Gaulle, gazes up towards the large Departures board. Fellow-passengers wait by baggage trolleys in a civilised line beneath the information. Charles de Gaulle/Roissy is a hub airport for Air France north of the French capital. The departures information has schedule times, destinations, flight, satellite and gate numbers plus   remarks. Air travellers experience such misery every day and shows of how global air travel has become a routine, mundane and stressful for the everyday airline passenger - a far cry from when commercial flight was purely for the elite. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis29-27-07-2000.jpg
  • About to board their Sri Lankan airlines flight to the Maldives, crowds of economy class passengers stand and make an orderly queue when their flight has been called by ground staff at London Heathrow airport England. Lines of people from all nations can be seen reflected in a large window that also overlooks the airport apron where their front-facing Airbus A340-300 aircraft awaits them, its flight-deck crew is seen in the cockpit readying their plane for the long night journey ahead. Catering service trucks are parked alongside the aircraft, loading supplies and all is on schedule from this large intercontinental airport hub to the much smaller island airfield in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the idyllic destination for holidaying Europeans.
    maldives01-10-11-2007.jpg
  • In the kitchen on a Sunday morning, space-suited frequent flyer astronaut Alan Watts reads the Sunday newspaper while his wife empties the dishwasher in his north London home, England. Alan, 51, runs an electrical company and qualified for a free space space flight after being contacted by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company, having accumulated 2 million air miles on the Virgin Atlantic flight network. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 from a Mojave desert test facility but therafter, at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million headquarters facility near Las Cruces.  .
    baker_virgin03.jpg
  • A portrait of space-suited frequent flyer astronaut Alan Watts in his north London home, England. Alan, 51, runs an electrical company and qualified for a free space space flight after being contacted by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company, having accumulated 2 million air miles on the Virgin Atlantic flight network. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 from a Mojave desert test facility but therafter, at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million headquarters and mission control facility near Las Cruces.  ..
    baker_virgin02.jpg
  • A portrait of space-suited frequent flyer astronaut Alan Watts in his north London home, England. Alan, 51, runs an electrical company and qualified for a free space space flight after being contacted by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company, having accumulated 2 million air miles on the Virgin Atlantic flight network. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 from a Mojave desert test facility but therafter, at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million headquarters and mission control facility near Las Cruces.  ....
    baker_virgin01.jpg
  • Squadron Leader Spike Jepson, leader of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, demonstrates the Corkscrew manoeuvre to his group of pilots and visitors in the briefing room at their RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire headquarters. Using two scaled model Hawk jet aircraft he shows how their formation is to be flown on their next training flight. Five autumn and winter months are spent teaching new recruits manual aerobatic display flying while the older members (who rotate positions) learn new disciplines within the routine. Their leaning curve is steep, even for these accomplished fast-jet aviators who had already accumulated 1,500 hours in fighters. By Summer they need every aspect of their 25-minute displays honed to perfection. In this meeting room they meet before and after every flight discussing safety, merits and failures.
    Red_Arrows610_RBA.jpg
  • Officer pilots of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, lean aginst a wing of their Hawk jet in a pre-flight briefing while a member of their ground crew positions some wheel chocks. The highly-skilled engineer is known as a 'Blue' but the 'Reds' discuss  flight plans. Eleven trades skills are imported from some sixty that the RAF employs and teaches. It is mid-day and only their flying boots and red legs are seen with the RAF roundel emblem is on the underside of the wing. The better-educated officers in the armed forces enjoy a more privileged lifestyle than their support staff. In the aerobatic squadron, the Blues outnumber the pilots 8:1. Without them, the Red Arrows couldn't fly. SOme of the team's Hawks are 25 years old and their air frames require constant attention, with increasingly frequent major overhauls due.
    Red_Arrows174_RBA.jpg
  • Flight Lieutenant Dave Slow of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, is seated in a BAE Systems Hawk jet aircraft simulator at the fast-jet flying training centre, RAF Valley, Anglesey, Wales. Like all fast-jet pilots, Flight Lieutenant Slow is required to complete this emergency drill every six months. The pilot is seated in his ejector seat as if in a real jet using back-projected computer graphics representing a generic landscape below. Each aviator proves they can cope with a series of failures that operators select: Engine, hydraulic failure or bird strike.  Apart from the aircraft fuselage, the high-tech facility loads malfunctions on a pilot that he could experience in reality. The version of Hawk that the Red Arrows fly is actually a primitive piece of equipment, without computers or fly-by-wire technology.
    Red_Arrows043_RBA.jpg
  • In the heat and dust of the arid Sonoran desert are the remains of a Boeing 747 cockpit at the storage facility at Mojave, California. The wiring of the now-extinct flight engineer's console is a jumble of old technology. Either by age or cooling economy airliners are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. Elsewhere, assorted aircraft wrecks sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificent engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..
    aviation_corbis43-15-08-1998.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-08-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-06-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-02-20-07-2022.jpg
  • Frequent flyer astronaut Alan Watts is presented to the media and space industry commentators by Sir Richard Branson during the Wired NextFest science fair, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City in his north London home, England. Alan, 51, runs an electrical company and qualified for a free space space flight after being contacted by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space company, having accumulated 2 million air miles on the Virgin Atlantic flight network. Aboard the re-usable space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each of whom will have paid $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience just 6 minutes of weighlessness. Flights start around 2009/10 at the new Philippe Starck-designed SpacePort America, New Mexico, USA. a 27 square mile, $225 million facility near Las Cruces.  .
    baker_virgin05.jpg
  • Dr Safaa Elagib Adam and Maha Faraigon help themselves to airline sweets near the window on a flight to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Discussing conference matters, they sit in a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) in north Darfur where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves them a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan035-23-05-2009.jpg
  • Looking down vertically upon the Hawk jet aicraft of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, the team loop over agricultural countryside during an In-Season Practice (ISP) training flight near their base at RAF Scampton. Roman Ermine Street road is a diagonal line through the centre, dissecting wisps of organic white smoke left hanging in the air. Reforming in front of a local crowd at the airfield they work through a 25-minute series of display manoeuvres that are loved by thousands at summer air shows. Freshly-ploughed English fields with properties, roads, hedgerows plus former nuclear silos are seen below. After some time off, spare days like this are used to hone their manual aerobatic and piloting skills before re-joining the air show circuit. Since 1965 they've flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries.   .
    Red_Arrows733_RBA.jpg
  • Known as 'Old Glory', a polished silver Boeing Mitchell B-25 is refuelled in readiness for a display flight at Oshkosh Air Venture, the world?s largest air show in Wisconsin USA. In afternoon light, a lady in a stars and stripes shirt stands arms behind her back admiring the lovingly restored polished twin-engine bomber, the most heavily armed airplane of the second world war used for high and low-level bombing, strafing, photoreconnaissance, submarine patrol and fighter. Close to a million populate the mass fly-in over the week, a pilgrimage worshipping all aspects of flight. The event annually generates $85 million in revenue over a 25 mile radius from Oshkosh. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903
    aviation_corbis45-28-08-1998.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-07-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-04-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-05-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-03-20-07-2022.jpg
  • The cockpit of a Boeing 737 Max 10 airliner, the experimental variant of 737 that replaces the 737 Max, the model which suffered fatal crashes in Indonesia and Kenya, at the Farnborough Airshow, on 20th July 2022, at Farnborough, England. As a result of the accidents, the 737 Max fleets around the world were grounded with the US aviation manufacturer now recovering from a financial downturn. The flight test cabin is configured for computer work stations and cabling which relay data while water ballast transfers weight and centre-of-gravity information to sensors during flight, gathering callibrated performance information before official the aircraft's eventual certification.
    farnborough_airshow-01-20-07-2022.jpg
  • A hot air balloon is partially inflated before flight at Longleat Estate, Warminster, England. Using firstly cold air from a gas-powered fan, before its propane burners are used for final inflation, one of the ground crew assists in the process by pulling at the fragile synthetic material so that the volume within the whole 'envelope' can fill without damage and it's spectrum arc of colours are becoming rainbow-like. The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. The first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.
    balloonist08-18-2004.jpg
  • During a two-hour flight to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Women sit patiently in the cabin of a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) in north Darfur where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves them a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan038-23-05-2009.jpg
  • During a two-hour flight to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Women sit patiently in the cabin of a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) in north Darfur where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves them a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan037-23-05-2009.jpg
  • Dr Safaa Elagib Adam and Maha Faraigon are seated near the window on a flight to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Discussing conference matters, they sit in a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) in north Darfur where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves them a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan036-23-05-2009.jpg
  • Dr Safaa Elagib Adam and Maha Faraigon are seated near the window on a flight to attend the first-ever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Discussing conference matters, they sit in a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) in north Darfur where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves them a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan034-23-05-2009.jpg
  • With the runways and former nuclear silos of RAF Scampton below, Lincolnshire, the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team swoop down to their home airfield during an In-Season Practice (ISP) training flight. Trailing white organic smoke before reforming in front of a local crowd they work through a 25-minute series of display manoeuvres that are loved by thousands at summer air shows. They curve round in a similar trajectory as seen on the bending taxi-way. Freshly-ploughed English fields with properties, roads, hedgerows and cold war nuclear solios are seen below on a perfect day for aerobatic displaying. After some time off, spare days like this are used to hone their manual aerobatic and piloting skills before re-joining the air show circuit. Since 1965 they've flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries.   .
    Red_Arrows732_RBA.jpg
  • Banking slowly left over the agricultural Lincolnshire countryside are the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, who have commenced an In-Season Practice (ISP) training flight near their base at RAF Scampton. They turn at a gentle angle trailing white organic smoke  before reforming in front of a local crowd at the airfield and working through a 25-minute series of display manoeuvres that are loved by thousands at summer air shows. Their objective is to appear perfectly spaced from a ground perspective. Freshly-ploughed English fields with properties, roads and hedgerows are seen below. After some time off, spare days like this are used to hone their manual aerobatic and piloting skills before re-joining the air show circuit. Since 1965 they've flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries.   .
    Red_Arrows682_RBA.jpg
  • Junior Technician Brian Robb, an engineer with the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, shines his torch inside the flaps of a Hawk jet aircraft checking for obstructions, RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. Wearing ear defenders clasped to his head, J/Tech Robb peers into the wing assembly during a pre-flight inspection before the pilot emerges from for another winter training flight. Robb is a member of the team's support ground crew who outnumber the pilots 8:1 and without them, the Red Arrows couldn't fly.  Eleven trades are imported from some sixty that the RAF employs and teaches. Crouching by an RAF roundel emblem, he wears an army style green camouflage coat as protection over the biting Lincolnshire wind, and a fluorescent tabard required for any personnel working on the 'line', where the aircraft taxi to and park. .
    Red_Arrows028_RBA.jpg
  • Climbing at sub-sonic speed, a Hawk jet aircraft of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, is seen from a neighbouring aircraft during an 'In-Season Practice' (ISP), a summer training flight over the farming fields of Lincolnshire. A landscape of agriculture is behind the red airplanes as they loop after a vertical climb. The front-seated pilot and his guest passenger stare through visors towards the wing to keep a perfect 'reference', maintaining an exact formation as seen from the ground. The Red Arrows fly to within 10 feet (3 metres) apart in some formations with speeds of 480 mph (770 kph), keeping in formation is a skill they learn every winter and refine on spare days like this between public air shows. The RAF roundel, (emblem), is on the nearest wing and the other fuselage as the world falls away in perspective.
    Red_Arrows575_RBA.jpg
  • Flight departures information boards in landside Departures area newly-opened London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 building.
    heathrow_terminal_five-08-17-03-2008.jpg
  • Late at night, in a gloomy arrivals gate at Chicago O'Hare airport, a young man sits patiently on his own awaiting the arrival of his girlfriend after a holiday in Asia. It is the last flight to land and a helium balloon floats on a string bearing the words 'Welcome Home', a popular gesture for relatives in airports around the world, each having their own cultural way of showing affection for arriving family members after long absences. The balloon stands still, the only colour amid the drab interior of this sprawling airport hub. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis54-10-11-2000.jpg
  • We see a male passenger from the waste down with a laptop computer in one hand and a Retriever puppy peering out from his owner's bag in the other, both human and pet are about to board a domestic flight from Chicago O'Hare airport. According to the American Transport Security Administration, taking pets into the aircraft cabin is permissable but the animal is required to be presented to the Security Officers at the checkpoint. it may also walk with its owner through the metal detector but not through the x-ray scanner. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis51-10-11-2000.jpg
  • Air passengers exit and enter a transit train at Chicago O'Hare airport, Illinois USA. They pull suitcases behind them as they negotiate the airport terminal transport system that takes them across the sprawling complex of terminals and tunnels. A large central yellow traffic arrow saying OUT is most prominent telling arriving people to keep in the middle, allowing those departing to enter the carriage from the sides. There is a slight blur to the picture showing the hurrying nature of modern air travel, vastly different from the pioneering days of flight for only the socially elite. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903..
    aviation_corbis49-10-11-2000.jpg
  • A door painted with a high-gloss red finish is closed and a warning sign for privacy is hung to deter outsiders from entering. This briefing room belongs to the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team Lincolnshire, who use these offices as headquarters and administrative centre for the 90-plus displays they perform a year. The pilots' crew room is screened off from visitors and the notice says "Stop, do not enter, briefing in progress" to isolate the serious business of briefing and de-briefing. Performance appraisals before and after a training flight or air show displays are intense. Matters of safety and perfection are discussed so the aviators politely close the door unless visitors have been invited in to hear about the features of the next flight or afterwards, the gentlemanly exchanges providing analysis and frank views.
    Red_Arrows472_RBA.jpg
  • Landside Flight departures information boards in newly-opened London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 building.
    heathrow_terminal_five-30-17-03-2008.jpg
  • Seen through a glass screen, we see a crowd of passengers - a mixture of business and holiday travellers - awaiting the departure of their commercial flight from Frankfurt am Main international airport, Germany. Reflected lights and other windows merge into this scene of European air travel where the everyday misery of delays and disruption affect millions on a daily basis. Some people are still seated while the more enthusiastic wait in line, queuing for the imminent departure. Frankfurt is also a sprawling hub for the German state airline Lufthansa. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_corbis33-19-10-2000.jpg
  • Parked on the apron at Paris Orly Airport, a lone pilot of the French national airline Air France, leans out of his right-hand seat's cockpit window of his Boeing 777-328/ER aircraft (F-GSQT). It is a bright morning at this international hub for Air France and without help from ground staff, the silver-haired gentleman who may be the captain and commander of the aircraft (because of age and seat position) has decided to get on with the job of cleaning his window himself much like a driver wiping away flies from his car windscreen. Here however, this chore being performed approximately six meters off the ground so safety is vital - just as a clear front view for the flight-deck crew before their flight. Attached to the plane is the mobile walkway, the air bridge, that awaits boarding passengers but no 'ramp agent' is below.  .
    esa_guiana02513-08-2007.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of a Boeing airliner sat the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_graveyard04-16-03-2008-15-0...jpg
  • Banking hard right over the agricultural Lincolnshire countryside are the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, who have commenced an In-Season Practice (ISP) training flight near their base at RAF Scampton. They turn at a ninety degree angle, two trailing white organic smoke before reforming in front of a local crowd at the airfield and working through a 25-minute series of display manoeuvres that are loved by thousands at summer air shows. Their objective is to appear perfectly spaced from a ground perspective. Freshly-ploughed English fields with properties, roads and hedgerows are seen below. After some time off, spare days like this are used to hone their manual aerobatic and piloting skills before re-joining the air show circuit. Since 1965 they've flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries.   .
    Red_Arrows731_RBA.jpg
  • Specialist Corporal Mal Faulder is an armourer engineer (qualified to handle ejection seats and weaponry on military jets) but here in the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team he is seen polishing the aircraft's flying surfaces using wool and cleaning fluid on the morning of the team's PDA Day. PDA (or 'Public Display Authority'), is a special test flight when their every move and mistake is assessed and graded. Corporal Faulder is to buff up the airplane for an extra special shine on such an important day and we see the UK's Union Jack flag on the side of the diagonal stripes of the tail fin. The Red Arrows ground crew take enormous pride in their role as supporting the aviators whose air displays are known around the world. Blues like Mal outnumber the pilots 8:1. Without them, the Red Arrows couldn't fly.
    Red_Arrows129_RBA.jpg
  • At the start of another day's work, pilots belonging to the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, walk in single-file out into the pink morning light for the first winter training flight of the day at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. Emerging from their squadron building the aviators make their way along a pathway towards the waiting Hawk jet aircraft known the world over. Wearing winter green flying suits and carrying their helmets, their day is spent flying and de-briefing up to six times a day when weather permits. Long shadows spill over on to the airfield's cropped grass. Scampton  is one of the original World War 2 RAF stations for the Lancaster bombers the 617 Dambusters squadron who attacked the damns of the German Ruhr valley on 16th May 1943 using the Bouncing Bomb. Today, it is used almost exclusively by the team.
    Red_Arrows011_RBA.jpg
  • With cabin lights dimmed, economy class passengers sleep under blankets on an international long-haul flight
    maldives496-16-11-2007.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of a Boeing 747 airliner at the storage facility at Mojave, California. Here, the fate of the world's retired civil airliners is decided by age or a cooling economy and are either cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium fuselages worth more than their sum total. After a lifetime of safe commercial flight, wings are clipped and cockpits sliced apart by huge guillotines, cutting through their once-magnificant engineering. Picture from the 'Plane Pictures' project, a celebration of aviation aesthetics and flying culture, 100 years after the Wright brothers first 12 seconds/120 feet powered flight at Kitty Hawk,1903. .
    aviation_graveyard02-16-03-2008-15-0...jpg
  • A detailed view of a Mark 1 Hawk jet belonging to 'Synchro Leader' of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team. We see the flight controls and instrument panels looking grubby and worn with grey paint rubbed or flaking off. This version of the BAE Systems Hawk is low-tech without computers nor fly-by-wire technology it is one of the most user-friendly modern jets to fly and serves as a first step trainer for pilots to accumulate fast-jet flying hours and who are destined for the most sophisticated of fast military fighters in the future. Their aerobatic displays demands that their workhorse machine must have phenominal turning circle ability and rate of climb. The team's aircraft are in some cases over 25 years old and their airframes require constant attention, with frequent engineering overhauls needed. .
    Red_Arrows769_RBA.jpg
  • The elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, fly over an area known as the Cliffs on the Akrotiri peninsular of southern Cyprus. We see a barren scene of scrub and in the air, the team are in their signature 'Diamond Nine' formation, climbing up in a long arc through the blue sky and traversing above the dusty, featureless landscape where a naval Transit marker in the shape of a giant red arrow aids coastal shipping to safely navigate but which is missing some panels. The nine Hawk jets pass-by as a tight 'nine-ship' (the term used to describe nine aircraft in close formation) during a training flight in the clear Mediterranean skies. They return to this stretch of Cypriot coast each Spring to complete their rigorous winter schedule before the UK's air show display season.
    Red_Arrows288_RBA.jpg
  • A young boy wearing ear-defenders and dressed in a child's miniature red flying suit is perched on a metal crate of flight spares belonging to the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team. Joshua Lewis is the son of one of the team's electricians Corporal Dave Lewis, and they are both at RAF Scampton in Lincolshire to wave goodbye to the departing Hawk jet aircraft who are leaving for their winter training ground at Akrotiri, Cyprus. Other team-member families have come along to see these famous red aircaft. Most of the team leave the UK for a six-week stint, refining their evolving air display routines and manoeuvres in the clear Mediteranean skies. Pilots and ground support crew will be away from loved-ones and their absence is one of the toughest aspects of RAF frontline personnel - and aerobatic squadrons.
    Red_Arrows260_RBA.jpg
  • Squadron Leader Duncan Mason of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, strides out across a gloomy, rainswept 'apron' at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. Squadron Leader Mason will fly up to 6 times daily during winter training ,when weather permits, learning new manoeuvres. Wearing winter green flying suits, their day is spent flying and de-briefing. Mason  wears a green flying suit with anti-g pants and helmet on with its pilot number. He is being greeted by a member of the team's support ground crew who outnumber the pilots 8:1.  The engineer wears a fluorescent yellow tabard and stands politely by the waiting aircraft on the 'line'. He has already prepared it for flight and helps with any technical issues that may arise.
    Red_Arrows015_RBA.jpg
  • Flight departures information boards in landside Departures area newly-opened London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 building.
    heathrow_terminal_five-09-17-03-2008.jpg
  • Fire fighters attend to the broken fuselage of a British Midland Airways Boeing 737-400 series jet airliner which lies on an embankment of the M1 motorway at Kegworth, near East Midlands Airport, on 9th January 1989, in Leicestershire, England. On the night of 8th January 1989, flight 92 crashed due to the shutting down of the wrong, malfunctioning engine. Attempting an emergency landing, 47 people died and 74 people, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries. The aircraft's tail snapped upright at ninety degrees and here were most of the passenger fatalities. The devastation was hampered by woodland and the fire fighters are attempting to rescue survivors or extract those killed in this air disaster that proved one of Britain's worst.
    kegworth_crash-08-01-1989.jpg
  • A newly-recruited Nepali boy stares through the window of a Nepal Airlines airliner during his flight from his Himalayan homeland to the UK where his 2-year training for the British Army will begin, on 16th January 1997, in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is leaving behind his family for England where the British army is to make him a fully-trained soldier in the Gurkha Regiment. Some 60,000 young Nepalese boys aged between 17 - 22 (or 25 for those educated enough to become clerks or communications specialists) report to designated recruiting stations in the hills each November, most living from altitudes ranging from 4,000 - 12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas. Only 160 of the best boys succeed in the flight to the UK. The Gurkhas training wing in Nepal has been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)
    gurkha_selection05-16-01-1997.jpg
  • A bird in flight against the distant background of a landing hot air balloon in a West Bank village of the modern city of Luxor, Nile Valley, Egypt.
    egypt404-07-03-2016.jpg
  • Using ladders and ropes during a rescue operation, Fire Brigade crews enter the floodlit broken air frame of a British Midland Airways Boeing 737-400 series jet airliner which lies on an embankment of the M1 motorway at Kegworth, near East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire, England. On the night of 8th January 1989, flight 92 crashed due to the shutting down of the wrong, malfunctioning engine. Attempting an emergency landing, 47 people died and 74 people, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries. The aircraft's tail was snapped upright at ninety degrees. Here perished most of the passenger fatalities. The devastation was hampered by woodland and the fire fighters are attempting to rescue survivors or extract those killed in this air disaster that proved one of Btitain's worst.
    kegworth_crash01-08-01-1989.jpg
  • Using ladders and ropes during a rescue operation, Fire Brigade crews enter the floodlit broken air frame of a British Midland Airways Boeing 737-400 series jet airliner which lies on an embankment of the M1 motorway at Kegworth, near East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire, England. On the night of 8th January 1989, flight 92 crashed due to the shutting down of the wrong, malfunctioning engine. Attempting an emergency landing, 47 people died and 74 people, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries. The aircraft's tail was snapped upright at ninety degrees. Here perished most of the passenger fatalities. The devastation was hampered by woodland and the fire fighters are attempting to rescue survivors or extract those killed in this air disaster that proved one of Btitain's worst.
    RB_124-08-01-1989.jpg
  • LCD flight instruments in the glass cockpit of the 787 Dreamliner (N787BX) at the Farnborough Airshow. On its first flight outside of the US during its testing programme, the newest airliner in the Boeing aviation family, has arrived at the air show for a few days of exhibitions to the aerospace-buying community and the trade press. Later the public will have the chance to see this jet up close too. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long range, mid-sized, wide-body, twin-engine  jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 330 passengers, depending on variant. Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction
    farnborough_airshow90-19-07-2010-1.jpg
  • RAF fighter pilots prepare for sortie flight at crew briefing room RAF Wittering.
    Red_Arrows487_RBA.jpg
  • A computer-generated astronaut lies down on board a space flight on Virgin Galactic's  SpaceShipTwo's,  unveiled as a replica model during Wired NextFest at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York. Under construction by Burt Rutan in Mojave, California and looking more like '2001 A Space Odyssey,' than future everyday holidays, SpaceShipTwo is a re-usable orbiting vehicle that will become an important tool for Man's leisure time in space when affordable commercial space tourism starting in 2009/10. Aboard the space vehicle will be 6 passengers, each paying $200,000 for the 40 minute flight to 360,000 feet (109.73km, or 68.18 miles) and to experience 6 minutes of weighlessness. From these circular portholes, astronauts will see 1,000 miles having taken off from the new Spaceport America, New Mexico. .
    baker_virgin12.jpg
  • Using ladders and ropes during a rescue operation, Fire Brigade crews enter the floodlit broken air frame of a British Midland Airways Boeing 737-400 series jet airliner which lies on an embankment of the M1 motorway at Kegworth, near East Midlands Airport in Leicestershire, England. On the night of 8th January 1989, flight 92 crashed due to the shutting down of the wrong, malfunctioning engine. Attempting an emergency landing, 47 people died and 74 people, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries. The aircraft's tail was snapped upright at ninety degrees. Here perished most of the passenger fatalities. The devastation was hampered by woodland and the fire fighters are attempting to rescue survivors or extract those killed in this air disaster that proved one of Btitain's worst.
    RB_022-30-04-2008.jpg
  • Dr Safaa Elagib Adam reads documents on the journey by air to the firstever international Conference on Womens' Challenge in Darfur. Seated in a chartered Russian Antonov aircraft during flight to Al Fasher (also spelled, Al-Fashir) where women from remote parts of Sudan gathered to discuss peace and political issues. The short flight saves her a hazardous five-day drive by road, known for extreme acts of violence by rebels and Janjaweed soldiers.
    sudan041-23-05-2009.jpg
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