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  • Pilots of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team watch other aviators' display flying during airshow. Officer pilots of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, lean against the nose of their Hawk jet before themselves flying their own air display. 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.
    Red_Arrows670_RBA.jpg
  • Squadron Leader Dunc Mason of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team instructs new manoeuvres to others.  <br />
Flt. Lt. Dave Mason shows the finer points of an aerobatic manoeuvre in the crew briefing room. They will soon be putting this formation into practice in the air of their RAF Scampton airspace. Using magnetic models of Hawk jet aircraft Mason 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.
    Red_Arrows476_RBA.jpg
  • We see the head and shoulders of a man in military uniform who stands motionless beside the American flag.  he is at a graduation ceremony for United States Air Force pilots who have just passed a week-long survival courseheld at the Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington. Its highy-trained personel conducts a survival, escape and evasion course which combat pilots and air crew need to pass before rejoining their units for real-time warfare. Conducted, in hangars and the surrounding forests, it forms part of an extensive physical and psychological assessment of young aviators on active service. In the future any one of them may be shot down behind enemy lines and need to use the lessons passed-on here to help facilitate their rescue by US forces. One pilot who passed this course in 1991, himself a Spokane-born boy, was F-16 pilot Scott O'Grady. He put his skills learned here to the test while evading Serb forces before being airlifted to safety and a hero's Presidential welcome.
    RB-0164.jpg
  • In pouring rain, United States Air Force pilots stand like canmouflaged statues in the undergrowth near Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington. They are listening to a USAF survival instructor giving them advice about another challenge they are about to face, a few hundred yards ahead in the woods, so they listen intently in the saturatedconditions. They stand motionless, green figures in a green maze of foliage, wearing waterproof cagoules covering their backpacks which are shiny as the rain trickles down. They look like hunchbacks of the forest. The week-long survival course is held at the military facilities around Fairchild where the Air Force conducts a survival, escape and evasion course which combat pilots need to pass before rejoining their units for real-time warfare. This part of the lecture is held in the forest and forms part of an extensive physical and psychological assessment for young aviators on active service. In the future any one of them may be shot down behind enemy lines and need to use the lessons passed-on here to help facilitate their rescue by US forces. One pilot who passed this course in 1991, himself a Spokane-born boy, was F-16 pilot Scott O'Grady. He put his skills learned here to the test while evading Serb forces before being airlifted to safety and a hero's Presidential welcome.
    RB-0163.jpg
  • New first year pilots of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team discuss new manoeuvres at RAF Scampton. Flt. Lts. Jezz griggs and Matt Jarvis discuss the finer points of an aerobatic manoeuvre recently taught in the crew room. They will soon be putting this formation into practice in the air of their RAF Scampton airspace. Using two scaled model Hawk jet aircraft Griggs 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.
    Red_Arrows608_RBA.jpg
  • Pilots of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team shelter under Hawk wing during airshow rain shower. Sheltering from a rain shower at the Kemble Air Day, some pilots of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, gather beneath a full-scale model of a Hawk jet aircraft. Dressed in red flying suits, the pilots have been signing PR autographs and distributing team brochures to some of their many fans before the deluge which sent the public undercover to seek shelter. Their leaning curve is steep, even for these accomplished fast-jet aviators who had already accumulated 1,500 hours in fighters but within the team, their main purpose is to forge a link between the RAFand potential recruits plus the general public.
    Red_Arrows203_RBA.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.
    Red_Arrows452_RBA.jpg
  • Two pilots of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team enjoy a moment of release during a stressful display season. In a brief moment of light-hearted banter, the officers joke around in the crew room at their UK base at RAF Scampton. Otherwise, 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.
    Red_Arrows746_RBA.jpg
  • A moon-walking NASA astronaut model stands in the middle of two terminal escalators - as an airline pilot glides past at Miami International airport. As the state from where all the Apollo moonshots were launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida is proud of its space race heritage. Like US astronauts of that era, the airline pilot may be an ex-military aviator too now flying commercial aircraft from hubs like Miami and across the US.
    airport_astronaut01-10-01-2003_1.jpg
  • Pilot of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team performs a pre-flight check before training flight. Flt. Lt. Si Stevens of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, walks around his  Hawk jet at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire. He will fly up to 6 times daily during this winter training, when weather permits, learning new manoeuvres. Wearing winter green flying suits, their day is spent flying and de-briefing. Stevens wears a green flying suit with anti-g pants and helmet on with its pilot number. He is being followed 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_Arrows087_RBA.jpg
  • Single pilot of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team walks out to his Hawk aircraft before a display flight to Jordan. In the mid-day heat, Flt. Lt. Jez Griggs is a member of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team. Here he walks out alone to his aircraft, which is lined up with some of the others jets at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus before flying out to Marka in Jordan for the first display of the year. The Red Arrows arrive each April to fine-tune their air show skills in the clear Mediterranean skies and continue their busy display calendar above the skies of the UK and other European show circuit. We see Griggs carrying his flight bag and life-vest. He paces confidently across the bright 'apron' dressed in his famous red flying suit that the Red Arrows have made famous since 1965. He is alone and striding confidently towards the matching red eight Hawk airplanes.
    Red_Arrows167_RBA.jpg
  • Four RAF fighter pilots of the 'Red Arrows', Britain's Royal Air Force aerobatic team stand on their home airfield at RAF Scampton after another hard day of winter training sorties (flights). The four swap banter with others before a post-flight debrief. Holding their helmets and wearing heavy boots, anti-g-pants and life vests these men form an elite squadron with the RAF but have accumulated over 1,500 flying hours in fast jets with experience in theatres of war. After three years in the Red Arrows they return to frontline and instructing duties. Since 1965 the squadron have flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries. During a forthcoming calendar of appearances at air shows and fly-pasts across the UK and a few European venues they are an important recruiting tool for future personnel – of pilots and ground-based trades.
    Red_Arrows611_RBA.jpg
  • Pilot of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team relaxes in hotel after their Bastille Day flypast over Paris. After arriving back on the ground and their Paris hotel, the British officer and his team has ended France's Bastille Day parade. They were chosen by the French authorities to close the fly-pasts. British armed forces paraded in the historic parade for the first time. Under blue skies on a perfect summer day, the squadron lined up in their classic fly-past 'V-shape' called 'Big Battle', following the straight line of the Champs Elysees then eastwards over the Parisian suburbs. Personnel from four British military units were present and French Air Force jets performed their own fly-past to open the parade, while the British Hawk jets of the Red Arrows had the honour of completing it.
    Red_Arrows465_RBA.jpg
  • Two RAF fighter pilots listen to a pre-flight-briefing by the leader of the 'Red Arrows', Britain's Royal Air Force aerobatic team whose elite ranks these two men want to join. The candidates are with others and are in Cyprus during the team’s training programme to be tested though only three new members are selected each year. They will have accumulated over 1,500 flying hours in fast jets with experience in theatres of war. If successful, they will spend three years in the Red Arrows then return to frontline and instructing duties. Since 1965 the squadron have flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries. During a forthcoming calendar of appearances at air shows and fly-pasts across the UK and a few European venues they are an important recruiting tool for future personnel – of pilots and ground-based trades.
    Red_Arrows299_RBA.jpg
  • Officer pilots of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, lean against a wing of their Hawk jet in a pre-flight briefing while a member of their ground crew positions some wheel chocks. It is mid-day and the officers are deep in conversation with the RAF roundel emblem is on the jet aircraft. 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_Arrows177_RBA.jpg
  • Official publicity portrait for the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team in mid-day glare at RAF Akrotiri. In the mid-day heat, all members of the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team, stand at ease and we see the back of one of the squadron's official photographers head, looking into the viewfinder of his camera to record an official photograph immediately on PDA Day at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. PDA (or 'Public Display Authority'), is when they are allowed by senior RAF officers to perform as a military aerobatic show in front of the public - following a special test flight when their every move and mistake is assessed and graded. Until that day arrives, their training and practicing is done in the privacy of their own airfield at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, UK or here in the glare of Akrotiri.
    Red_Arrows168_RBA.jpg
  • Members of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team gaze out of respective windows during helicopter ride. The crew are travelling between Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands where the team are about to perform another of the air shows they appear at. Since 1965 the squadron have flown over 4,000 shows in 52 countries. During a forthcoming calendar of appearances at air shows and fly-pasts across the UK and a few European venues they are an important recruiting tool for future personnel – of pilots and ground-based trades.
    Red_Arrows715_RBA.jpg
  • Pilots of the Red Arrows, Britain's RAF aerobatic team gather in hotel after their Bastille Day flypast over Paris. After arriving back on the ground and their Paris hotel, the British officers meet wives and girlfriends after ending France's Bastille Day parade. They were chosen by the French authorities to close the fly-pasts. British armed forces paraded in the historic parade for the first time. Under blue skies on a perfect summer day, the squadron lined up in their classic fly-past 'V-shape' called 'Big Battle', following the straight line of the Champs Elysees then eastwards over the Parisian suburbs. Personnel from four British military units were present and French Air Force jets performed their own fly-past to open the parade, while the British Hawk jets of the Red Arrows had the honour of completing it.
    Red_Arrows463_RBA.jpg
  • Two film crews record a USAF United States Air Force aviator, in training during week-long survival course held at the Fairchild Air Force Base, Spokane, Washington, on 6th August 1995, in Spokane, Washington, USA. The course is aimed at highy-trained personnel conducting a survival, escape and evasion course which combat pilots and air crew need to pass before rejoining their units for real-time warfare. Held in hangars and the surrounding forests, it forms part of an extensive physical and psychological assessment of young aviators on active service. In the future any one of them may be shot down behind enemy lines and need to use the lessons passed-on here to help facilitate their rescue by US forces. One pilot who passed this course in 1991, himself a Spokane-born boy, was F-16 pilot Scott OGrady. He put his skills learned here to the test while evading Serb forces before being airlifted to safety and a heros Presidential welcome.
    USAF_media-04-01-2020.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_1.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_1.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 precautions 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 rain clouds in the gloomy Lincolnshire sky.
    Red_Arrows005_RBA_1.jpg
  • Two businessmen pass-by a slogan about the future of the aviation industry written on a red hoarding at Britain's Farnborough Air Show, Hampshire, England. "What aviation needs is a giant leap forward" it says on a deep red background, next to a door that has also been covered in the primary colour. A pole vaulter is about to leap across the picture to prove the giant momentum needed to spring aviation into the future. The Air Show is one of Europe's premier aviation show events, attracting global companies selling aerospace equipment and enthusiasts who watch daily flying displays. It is seen as a thermometer for current innovation and future trends.
    farnborough_air_show16-14-07-2008_1.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert sit the remains of a Boeing airliner and a US Navy fighter jet and engines stacked  at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world’s retired civil airliners and military aircraft are 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 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_graveyard07-16-03-2008_1.jpg
  • A French Dassault-Breguet Mirage military jet interceptor/fighter stands on a pedestal in the Place de la Concorde, Paris during an aviation display weekend along the Champs Elysées. Passers-by seem oblivious to this celebration of French aviation as they walk through the Parisian square, the scene of public executions during the revolution. The Mirage seems to be climbing off its platform and up into the cloudless summer afternoon sky as a young child sits on top of his father's shoulders and passengers in a city bus seem trapped behind the windows. Its is a scene of incongruous moments, a surreal appearance of frightening military technology amid the calm of a public place. 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_corbis28-15-09-1998_1.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_1.jpg
  • Fading, graduated light of the arid Sonoran desert shows the remains of airliners at the storage facility at Mojave, California, their silhouettes forming a line of aviation's by-gone era. Because of age or a cooling economy they 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-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_corbis41-15-08-1998_1.jpg
  • A lone passenger gazes out from the departure lounge at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport terminal to where airliners are parked. It is late evening and blue light outside makes the orange interior look warm. Designed by Paul Andreu, Charles de Gaulle became a symbol for airport modernity - a Le Corbusier concept of rail stations and ‘autodromes.’ Charles de Gaulle’s role as airport and rail station fuses into one, thus becoming an ‘Aérogare’ where trains and planes whisk the new world traveller of the late ‘60s, away beyond an ever-extending horizon. From here, the Air France Concorde crashed on the aviation employment town of Gonesse on July 25th 2000. 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_corbis30-27-07-2000_1.jpg
  • Joining with the elite 'Red Arrows', Britain's prestigious Royal Air Force aerobatic team on the far left, are the smoke trails of forty leading European display aircraft: Spanish Patrulla Aguila; Italian Frecce Tricolori; French Breitling Jet Team and the Swiss Patrouille Suisse. All flew together in the clear, blue alpine skies on a spectacular fly-past at the Payerne Air 04 show, Switzerland. The two-day festival at the Swiss airfield is home of the Swiss Air Force who host the cream of international aerobatic display flying every September to 275,000 spectators over a weekend. European display teams and air forces gathered to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Swiss military aviation. Flying on the far left here, the Red Arrows have performed over 4,000 shows in 52 countries since 1965.
    Red_Arrows673_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
  • 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
  • A family of three members covered with aviation and aerospace badges and knitted-plane jumpers during the bi-annual aerospace industry expo at the Farnborough airshow in southern England. Eccentric and obsessive, the family members look odd and ill-at-ease with their matching jumbers and adorned with dozens of collectable badges and pins loved by aviation groupies.
    farnborough11-06-01-2003_1.jpg
  • In the terminal at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy airport, Paris France, the peace of the airport chapel looks like a Star Trek-style place of worship, typical of the new airport experience pushed upon in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Short stools and padded benches line the intimate space in the satellite building. Designed by Paul Andreu, Charles de Gaulle became a symbol for airport modernity becoming an ‘Aérogare’ where trains and planes whisk the new world traveller of the late ‘60s, away beyond an ever-extending horizon. From here, the Air France Concorde crashed on the aviation employment town of Gonesse on July 25th 2000. 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_corbis31-24-07-2001_1.jpg
  • Now an overgrown, mildew-ridden farm shack in woodland in Seething, Norfolk England, this wall mural was once one of the barracks housing 3,000 young World War 2 bomber crews so was probably painted by a young aspiring artist and aviator with the 448th Bomb Group, a fleet of bombers based in England from November 1943 to July 1945. The picture depicts a confrontation between US Air Force B-24 Liberators, a P-51 Mustang and probably a German Dornier. There are hairline cracks in the plaster but the yellow hue of the hand-painted wall is largely intact despite damp conditions in the shed. There are however, other artistic details now faded. 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_corbis18-05-10-2000_1.jpg
  • The nose detail of a de Havilland Comet in the colours of the long-defunct airline Dan Air is seen in profile at the Imperial War Museum's Duxford airfield, Cambridgeshire, England. The British de Havilland Comet first flew in July 1949 and is noted as the world's first commercial jet airliner as well as one of the first pressurized commercial aircraft. Early models suffered from catastrophic metal fatigue and the aircraft was redesigned. Here, the nose structure is held together with rivets that sit askew of the aircraft skin making it aerodynamically unfit to fly. It remains however, one of the classic and iconic designs in the history of commercial aviation. 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_corbis15-12-12-1997_1.jpg
  • A female passenger leans forward with head in hands amid the busy terminal at Chicago O'Hare Airport, Illinois, USA. Fellow-travellers in the background appear unworried, waiting for their respective flights in a calm manner. The lady in the foreground's body language however, suggests fatigue and distress and perhaps a fear of flying. 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_corbis52-10-11-2000_1.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_1.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_1.jpg
  • Posing in the open doorway of an Airbus A319CJ Business jet, four female cabin crew members wear the uniforms of Qatar Airways whose airline has made a public relations stop at the Farnborough Air Show to publicise this new model of executive service. Airline stewards and stewardesses are nowadays more commonly referred to as cabin crew or flight attendants. They stand close together with broad grins showing their varied ethnicity. Middle-Eastern airlines generally recruit men and women from western Europe, Asia, Australasia and the Indian sub-continent dependent on routes and aircraft type. 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_corbis24-23-07-2002_1.jpg
  • During a lull in activity, a Boeing 747 is swathed in engineering gantries during a major check (maintenance schedule) at the British Airways Heathrow base in London England. As if in a hospital ER several metres off the ground, yellow struts surround the aircraft's forward nose section and the first class windows along the white fuselage allowing mechanics, engineers and avionics specialists unimpeded access to every element of the air frame. Neon tubes illuminate the hangar that houses flying machines which are serviced here between transcontinental commercial passenger flights. 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_corbis20-17-11-2000_1.jpg
  • Spectators watch an air show at North Weald in Cambridgeshire, England. A man films a lone aircraft that banks across the summer sky. The enthusiast's blue denim jacket is almost fully-covered with aeronautical badges which depict various foreign military aerobatic teams, including the Swiss, Norwegian and German squadrons, whose emblems have been stitched into the fabric. Plane spotters form hardcore groups of aviation pilgrims. Logging and photographing flying machines, they follow air displays across their own countries and the calendars of other European festivals that attract hundreds of thousands. 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_corbis10-12-05-1997_1.jpg
  • Young and older aviation enthusiasts look through a rack of modelling kits during an airshow at Biggin Hill in Kent, southern England. Packets of scaled models of all types - in particular, British Spitfires and Mustangs) are on display for the buyer to browse during the hours before the flying displays commence at this small airfield north of London.
    plane_spotters01-29-07-2002.jpg
  • Like a huge caged animal in a zoo, the cockpit section of a Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet is perceived peering over the barbed-wire perimeter fence at London's Heathrow airport between engineering schedules and more transcontinental flights. Two fluffy cumulus clouds are stacked vertically above the hump of the airliner's nose to form three white blotches of the same tone. This major hub is mainly for British Airways operations, one of the three busiest airports in the world. When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world’s population. 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_corbis14-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • Detail of images of Russian aviation at the Farnborough Air Show, England. Russia's deputy prime minister told his country's defence delegates to withdraw from the Farnborough International Airshow and return home after being snubbed by the British government over the Ukraine conflict. Dmitry Rogozin, who heads Russia's defence sector as deputy prime minister, said: "I recommend our delegation to wind up its participation in the show and return home."
    farnborough_air_show66-14-07-2014_1.jpg
  • A delegate passes Russian aviation images at the Farnborough Air Show, England. Russia's deputy prime minister told his country's defence delegates to withdraw from the Farnborough International Airshow and return home after being snubbed by the British government over the Ukraine conflict. Dmitry Rogozin, who heads Russia's defence sector as deputy prime minister, said: "I recommend our delegation to wind up its participation in the show and return home."
    farnborough_air_show62-14-07-2014_1.jpg
  • Sheryl is an Airport Ambassador Volunteer at Dallas Fort Worth, Texas and stands for a portrait at the foot of some escalators in the main terminal. She sports a straw hat saying 'Ask Me' in red and a name badge with her job title although she comes to the airport to assist strangers at her city's airport, hoping her good nature and charitable efforts will help uncertain travellers find their way. Also on her jacket is a the phrase 'Proud to be Drug Free .. Airport Narcotics Task Force.' '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_corbis56-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • A United Airlines ramp agent stands in the terminal building of Chicago O'Hare airport before continuing his airside shift, dispatching and communicating with his operational airline colleagues. The man stands with hands in pockets wearing his company issue fluorescent safety jacket with reflective materials important on the ramp, in the company of dangerous vehicles and running aircraft engines. Ensuring the smooth arrival and departures of flights across America and the rest of the world, he is a key member of the airline at its O'Hare 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_corbis55-10-11-2000_1.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_1.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_1.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_1.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_1.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_1.jpg
  • A gentleman Sky Cap stands in front of the terminal building at Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, California, USA. Wearing his red waste-coat, ID badge and cap he holds the handle of the baggage trolley with which he assists passengers to offload their belongings and guides them to the check-in counters inside. The man has a greying beard and sunglasses against the glare and is an eager helper to those struggling with heavy travel possessions. On the ground are stencilled the words 'Passenger Loading Only' referring to where departing travellers might seek help with baggage. There are armies of workers across the world keeping airlines and airports running 24/7. 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_corbis47-10-11-2000_1.jpg
  • A visitor to Oshkosh Air Venture, the world’s largest air show in Wisconsin USA, stands by an A-10 Thunderbolt Tank Buster or Warthog. Wearing a t-shirt depicting a Cherokee Indian and a Bald Eagle, the tourist awaits family as aviation enthusiasts climb steps to the aircraft's cockpit. The Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft designed to provide close air support of ground forces by attacking tanks, armoured vehicles, and other ground targets. It has also been involved with British friendly fire incidents in Iraq. Close to a million populate the mass fly-in over the week, a pilgrimage worshipping all aspects of flight. 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_corbis46-29-08-1998_1.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Arizona desert, a complete set of main landing gear undercarriage stands upright amid a field of similar items from airliners at the storage facility at Davis Monthan, Tucson. Here, the fate of the world’s retired civil airliners is decided by age or cooling economy. Cannibalised for still-working parts or recycled for scrap, their aluminium is 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 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_corbis42-15-08-1998_1.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sit the remains of Boeing 747 airliners 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_corbis40-15-08-1998_1.jpg
  • In mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert sits the gutted remains of a Lockheed Tri-Star 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 the sleek curves. Elsewhere, Jumbo jets, Airbuses and assorted Boeings sit abandoned in the scrub minus their bellies, legs or wings like dying birds. 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_corbis39-15-08-1998_1.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_1.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_1.jpg
  • Empty chairs and open Bibles, all bathed in yellow artificial light make this airport chapel in Frankfurt am Main, Germany a European modernist haven from the chaos of global air travel; an escape from delays, terrorism and overall fears of flying. Predominately Christian with small corners for Muslim believers, the new modernism at Frankfurt/Main reflects a strong European tradition of functional design – far removed from the drab, dourness of many similar American facilities. 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_corbis32-19-10-2000_1.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_1.jpg
  • Behind railings that honoured American aviator Wilbur Wright at the annual Le Mans air show, France, seven spectators gaze upwards to a clear sky where a lone but unseen aircraft performs in front of the French crowd. Wright made 110 flights at Le Mans and nearby Auvours in 1908 and his legacy for French and global aerospace lives on at events like this where a replica of his Wright Flyer was also exhibited. It is a bright summer's day and the blue sky has vapour trails left by a previous display pilot's jet engine. A prominent British Union Jack flutters on a pole and the words 'invites' (for invited guests only) are printed on to sheets of paper. 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_corbis27-20-07-1998_1.jpg
  • Virgin Chairman Sir Richard Branson performs in front of the media during a publicity launch of Virgin Atlantic's new Airbus A340-600 which is parked behind the business tycoon during the Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire, England. He stands on one leg in a typically eccentric aviation-owner balancing trick. Behind him near the aircraft's nose a Virgin 'babe' echoes his outstretched arms while flying the British Union Jack flag. Farnborough centres its presence on big aerospace business to the tune of $40bn in orders and industry leaders like Branson, Boeing and Airbus parade their brands and announce new orders throughout the week-long display. 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_corbis26-23-07-2002_1.jpg
  • A Rolls-Royce turbofan has been fixed to the exterior of the company’s sales stand at the Farnborough Air Show in Hampshire, England. The British-owned company have been making aircraft engines since 1914 at the start of the First World War, in response to the nation's needs, Royce designed his first aero engine – the Eagle. Modern airliners have the Trent engine's technology embedded in its power plants and Farnborough is a major showcase for its many designs. Here, their chalet has a mocked-up garden feature complete railings and the turbine blades attached to the wall above. 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_corbis25-23-07-2002_1.jpg
  • In a farmer's tool shed, a painted mural depicting B-24 Liberators sweeping over the cracked brick wall of what was once an officers’ mess at the WW2 Wendling airfield, Norfolk England. Below this scene of heroic military might, young officers flying Liberators of the 392nd Bomb Group gathered before and after raids into Germany from November 1943 to July 1945. The runway is now partly covered by a turkey farm and this building is now full of car and tractor parts. 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_corbis19-05-10-2000_1.jpg
  • Like a huge caged animal in a zoo, the cockpit section of a Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet is perceived peering over the barbed-wire perimeter fence at London's Heathrow airport between engineering schedules and more transcontinental flights. Two fluffy cumulus clouds are stacked vertically above the hump of the airliner's nose to form three white blotches of the same tone. This major hub is mainly for British Airways operations, one of the three busiest airports in the world. When asked what is his favourite building of the Century, architect Sir Norman Foster offered the 747 the Jumbo has since carried 2.2 billion people: 40% of the world’s population. 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_corbis14-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • A father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. 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_corbis13-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • Stacks of cigarette cartons are piled up in a display of duty free goods at Bahrain International airport . Camel Filters are featured more prominently here to suggest the importance of desert Gulf States like Bahrain in the global market. Bahrain is a key hub airport in the region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements. It is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. Duty free merchandise such as tobacco, jewellery, perfumes and electronics are big business here, favouring cheaper import duties and currency rates. 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_corbis09-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • On a hot night at Bahrain International Airport, a Boeing airliner is about to be pushed backwards and start its engines. Two airport agents wearing traditional Arab dress stand patiently high up on the air bridge (that joins the aircraft fuselage during its turnaround time), several metres above ground level, ensuring no last-minute problems occur before departure. This Gulf State is, a key hub airport in the region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements. It is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. 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_corbis08-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • An airport worker employed by SABTCO guides an arriving Airbus onto its stand at Bahrain International Airport. The man carefully encourages the slow-moving flying machine using his illuminated sticks alerting the pilot in control of this commercial airliner to an exact stopping place after its taxiing from the runway. It is another hot day in this Gulf State, a key hub airport in the region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements. It is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. 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_corbis07-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • A Bahrani aircraft mechanic stands beneath the giant nose wheel assembly of a Being airliner at Bahrain International Airport. Wearing a red headset, he can communicate by cable with the pilots high up in the aircraft's cockpit as a vehicle pushes-back the flying machine onto the taxi-way before starting its engines and departure. It is another hot day in this Gulf State, a key hub airport in the region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements. It is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. 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_corbis06-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • The main nose wheel of an Airbus is parked on a stand at Bahrain International Airport. The names of other Airbuses and Boeing 737 types are also written on the concrete to allow exact distances for expandable air bridges and other airfield vehicles to connect and service these similarly-sized commercial airliners. A key hub airport in this region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf, Bahrain is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements. It is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. 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_corbis05-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • An aircraft cleaner from Kathmandu, Nepal, stands in white overalls with his bucket and mop on the tarmac at Bahrain International airport. It is another hot day in this key hub airport in this Gulf region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the major hub for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements and is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. Gulf states also rely on the workforces from south-Asia such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh whose wages are often low and harsh living conditions compared to local nationals and tourists who enjoy superior accommodation. 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_corbis04-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • A Bahrani baggage-handler employed by SABTCO pauses during his shift at Bahrain International airport. Having loaded luggage and cargo into the hold of an Egyptair Airbus, he sits looking hot and tired on the company’s conveyor belt awaiting last-minute additions to the manifest before its imminent departure for Cairo, across the Mediterranean. It is another hot day in this Gulf State, a key hub airport in the region, providing a gateway to the Northern Gulf. The airport is the home for Gulf Air which provides 52% of overall movements and is also the half-way point between Western Europe and Asian destinations such as Hong Kong and Beijing. 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_corbis03-21-04-2001_1.jpg
  • Waiting for an airshow display to commence, an aviation enthusiast family huddle in the cold at Mildenhall, a US Air Force base in Suffolk, England. Waiting for live TV coverage of the proceeding aerobatics to start, the people look miserable by their body language - hands thrust deep in pockets on this chilly afternoon and garden chairs providing welcome seats at the edge of the runway.
    plane_spotters05-10-01-2003.jpg
  • An airshow aviation enthusiast adorned with badges enjoy aerobatic activity above their heads at Biggin Hill, Kent, England. As a helicopter banks tightly to the right, other groupies film something else to the left from the public areas during the many varied flying displays  at this small airfield north of London that saw action as an important airfield during the WW2 Battle of Britain, a location for the "Operations Room" for the Operation Crossbow V-1 flying bomb defences.
    plane_spotters03-29-07-2002.jpg
  • An aviation enthusiast eats an ice cream during an airshow at North Weald in Essex, southern England. Slurping on the melting ice cream, the odd-looking man wearing an anorak looks to unseen aircraft parked alongside the public areas during the hours before the flying displays commence at this small airfield north of London.
    plane_spotters02-10-01-2003.jpg
  • Two heads wearing aviation caps seen just over the striped wings of a WW2-era P-51 Mustang fighter plane during the world's largest aviation airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, at Oshkosh Air Venture, the world’s largest air show in Wisconsin USA. 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. The event is presented by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), a national/international organization based in Oshkosh. The airshow is seven days long and typically begins on the last Monday in July. The airport's control tower is the busiest control tower in the world during the gathering
    oshkosh_airshow05-07-01-2000.jpg
  • In fading afternoon sunlight, after the mid-day heat of the arid Sonoran desert are the remains of TWA Boeing 747s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliners which sit as if in a take-off queue at the storage facility at Mojave airport, 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-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.
    mojave_jets02-15-08-1998.jpg
  • Looking at International Arrivals of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-20-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Looking at practice baggage of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-07-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Looking up to the Fast Bag Drop facility Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-05-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Looking up to the Nokia information screen and 40m high roof of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-04-17-03-2008...jpg
  • Looking up to the Nokia information screen and 40m high roof of Heathrow airport's Terminal 5. Designed by architects Richard Rogers Partnership the controversial building opened with chaotic scenes on 27/3/08. British Airways passengers faced baggage disruption after a 6 year construction project that has seen the British public divided over the role of commercial aviation. At a cost of £4.3bn, the project was Britain's longest planning inquiry which lasted four years but finally employing a total of 60,000 workers. 30,000 square metres of glass in walls; 80,000 tonnes of steel were used - 17,000 in the roof alone; 5,000 doors, 800 toilets, 20,000 power sockets and 1,700 miles of cable; 60 new aircraft stands, including 14 for the Airbus A380; 13km of tunnels were bored for the state-of-the-art baggage handling to handle 12,000 bags per hour.
    heathrow_terminal_five-01-17-03-2008...jpg
  • French aviation enthusiasts at an airshow at Le Mans in norhtern France watch aerobatics overhead - in front of a scaled replica of The Flyer, the first powered aeroplane by the American Wright Brothers. The Wright Flyer is the first successful powered aircraft, designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it for the first time on December 17th, 1903 for 12 seconds over 120 feet near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S. Today, the airplane is exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. though many scaled copies exist at similar events such as this.
    french_airshow01-29-07-1998_1.jpg
  • A Russian Mikoyan employee stands alongside a Malaysian air force officer examining the seller's business card during the bi-annual aerospace industry expo at the Farnborough airshow in southern England. We see the seller as a man in brown jacket with hand on hip, looking unimpressed and bored while the officer in full dress uniform peering at the card intently, carrying his shopping bag containing information from other manufacturers around the aviation fair. Farnborough is organised by Farnborough International Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ADS Group Limited (ADS). According to the organisers, the 2012 Farnborough show attracted 109,000 trade visitors over the first five days, and 100,000 public visitors on the Saturday and Sunday. Orders and commitments for 758 aircraft were announced, worth US$72 billion.
    farnborough09-29-07-2002_1.jpg
  • Boeing executives meet Korean Airlines officials at an evening event during the bi-annual aerospace industry expo at the Farnborough airshow in southern England. While handshakes and grins outwardly show the aviation business deal, both client and customers are happy to have concluded this deal between important aviation partners. As of June 2013, the Korean airlines aircraft fleet consisted of 146 planes - of which 117 were Boeing and just 29 Airbus.
    farnborough03-02-08-2000_1.jpg
  • Boeing executives meet Korean Airlines officials at an evening event during the bi-annual aerospace industry expo at the Farnborough airshow in southern England. While handshakes and grins outwardly show the aviation business deal, both client and customers are happy to have concluded this deal between important aviation partners. As of June 2013, the Korean airlines aircraft fleet consisted of 146 planes - of which 117 were Boeing and just 29 Airbus.
    farnborough02-02-08-2000_1.jpg
  • A businessman hurries past a gient Boeing advertising poster during the Farnborough Air Show, England. The poster shows Boeing staff smiling towards the viewer whi;le standing in front of a 737 airliner, specially adapted for business and corporate use, rather than for just economy and premium passengers. The wokforce seem overjoyed to work for this American aircraft manufacturer, grinning to the man who is rushing past their smiling faces without the slightest interest. Farnborough is a world aviation and aerospace trade fair held every two years in Hampshire, England. 2008 will be the 60th year for exhibitors like Boeing to demonstrate and showcase their airliners to the world's aviation industry.
    boeing01_1.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
  • 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 father supports his son on his shoulders as a giant four-engined airliner passes directly overhead, about to land at London's Heathrow airport, England. Seen from a low angle, we see the graphic cruciform shape of the aircraft as it screams past two powerful airfield landing lights that help guide arriving aircraft to the runway. The backlit scene is largely monochrome apart from the boys red t-shirt and yellow-faced watch which are lit by flash, underexposing the overcast sky. Prior to 9/11, British airport authorities and police tolerated plane spotters near runway fences but with heightened terrorist alerts, these enthusiasts are told to move on or face arrest. 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_corbis13-17-08-1997_1.jpg
  • MD902 Explorer helicopter from the Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust takes-off beneath  commercial airliner overhead after emergency flight to Kings College Hospital in south London. Sharing airspace with both general and commercial aviation, the HEMS helicopters that service the capital need to be under control of local air traffic rules and regulations, making for a safe environment for different aircraft to operate in - separated by set altitude distances.  They may appear to be close but scale and perspective makes it look closer than they actually are. (KSSAAT) fly state of the art Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) aircraft operating 365 days a year, out of their base at Marden in Kent and Redhill in Surrey. They're capable of delivering our crews anywhere in our region in 20 minutes flying time, attending over 20,000 missions
    air_ambulance11-16-05-2014_1.jpg
  • A lone propeller-driven aeoplane banks right into evening skies during the world's largest aviation airshow at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, at Oshkosh Air Venture, the world’s largest air show in Wisconsin USA. 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. The event is presented by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), a national/international organization based in Oshkosh. The airshow is seven days long and typically begins on the last Monday in July. The airport's control tower is the busiest control tower in the world during the gathering
    oshkosh_airshow08-07-01-2000.jpg
  • Outside Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, during the turnround of a British Airways jet aircraft, the refueller’s heavy fuel nozzle is plugged into the airfield's underground reservoirs to pump some 109 tons of Jet A1 aviation fuel flowing at a rate of 3,000 litres a minute, to be uplifted into the wing tanks of a Boeing 747-300, a typical quantity of extra fuel for this aeroplane bound for Los Angeles. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport1592-20-08-2009_1.jpg
  • A close-up detail of teenage words, written in marker pen on a young person's arm in the departures concourse of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5. Holding the handles of her baggage trolley that has an open bag in which we see some possessions, the girl displays the words 'I (heart) love you' and the name of Kentin Bisou. It may be a declaration of true love or just a teenage prank before an adventure starts from this aviation hub. From writer Alain de Botton's book project "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" (2009).
    heathrow_airport619-15-07-2009_1.jpg
  • A Supermarine Spitfire awaits refuelling with Avgas 100LL fuel at Farnborough International Airshow media launch. The pilot is the air show's Flight Operations Director Rod Dean who stands on the wing of this old WW2 warbird fighter of the British Royal Air Force and the refueller man has unhooked the nozzle from the bowser and hauls it across the concrete towards the aircraft. Hazardous and flammable signs are on the truck's rear. Avgas 100LL is a fuel designed for piston engines and is the most commonly used aviation fuel, dyed blue for easy visual identification. 100LL, spoken as "100 low lead", contains a small amount of tetra-ethyl lead (TEL), a lead compound that reduces gasoline's tendency to spontaneously explode (detonation or "knock") under high loads, high temperatures and high pressures - perfect for aerobatic performance flying.
    farnborough_spitfire06-12-05-2010_1.jpg
  • Boeing employees beneath company 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_airshow77-19-07-2010-1_1.jpg
  • The grand unveiling of Eurofighter (now called Typhoon) the fighter jet built by a consortium of European nation aerospace companies. With VIPs and special military guests to celebrate this success of the aviation defence project, the flags of contributing countries hang above at a hangar at the BAE Systems factory at Warton, Lancashire, England. The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies. Its maiden flight took place on 27 March 1994 watched by VIPs from UK industry and military.
    eurofighter_launch1-27-03-1994_1.jpg
  • A dlegate inspects the interior of an open cargo/baggage hold in the belly of a Ukranian airlines Embraer 190 airliner at the Farnborough Air Show, UK. In July 2011, 349 Embraer 190 aircraft (all variants) are in airline service, with 170 orders. The Farnborough International Airshow is a seven-day international trade fair for the aerospace industry and held every two years in mid-July at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, England known as the home of British aviation, held since there since 1948. The show is usually attended by more than 1,300 exhibitors and 150,000 trade visitors.
    embraer_19002-09-07-2012_1.jpg
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