Porter County puts on a great air show every year that isn't stupidly packed with people, has an excellent array of flying stuff, and has seating available right on the flight line, which is a bonus. Though the selection of aircraft to see on the ground is modest, the flight demostrations are fantastic.

The Flugtag contest was new to Chicago this year, and I think it was a great hit. Sponsored by Red Bull, this contest features home built flying machines, that are supposed to take the distance record to win. They launch off a platform into Lake Michigan. Most are flops, and are meant more for show than flight. This great tradition originated in Austria and has slowly expanded around the world.

Every year throngs of people turn up for the Chicago Air Show. We've usually avoided the crowds by hanging out on Falke's roof, where we get a bird's eye view of what's going on. Though it's far from the lakefront action, we usually get buzzed by the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels, which is good enough for me! (btw.. most of these are a bit blurry, I was hand-holding a 300mm lens while trying to catch the action!)

Oshkosh, WI holds the biggest air show in America. This year's event was extra special, since it included Scaled Composites Virgin Global Flyer as well as White Knight and SpaceShipOne. I had to create two big sections because I shot almost 400 pictures at this awesome event!