Whoever wrote those song lyrics "it never rains in southern California" had it wrong (trivia answer below)... I fought rain for the first hour and a half of a three hour drive from San Diego CA to Yuma, AZ.  Why was I there?  I'd heard that the Marines' Weapons and Tactics Instructor's course (WTI for short) offered some great photo opportunities of Marine aviation units, including an exciting helicopter ... Read More

At the annual symposium for International Society for Aviation Photography, more than 150 aviation photographers gathered in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Friday this included a visit to Nellis Air Force base, one of the nations largest bases. Watch this fantastic video put together by George Lepp in HD which was recorded with his Canon 7D. You can see yours truly...Joe Kates at 1:25 standing up under the nose of this ... Read More

The Miramar Airshow for 2010 was an experience unlike any other airshow I have attended for Photorecon for two reasons.  First, I was invited to attend the Media Flight Day on Thursday (the day before the airshow officially began) and second I was able to secure a seat on the Blue Angels C-130 “Fat Albert” during Sunday’s airshow. Arriving at MCAS Miramar Thursday for the media flight day, I had ... Read More

From Admiral Mike Mullen: The U.S. Navy celebrates 235 years of service to the nation Oct. 13. Two hundred and thirty five years ago, Continental Congress passed legislation to fit out “two swift sailing vessels” with ten guns and eighty crewmen creating the humble beginnings to what would become the United States Navy.  We celebrate this day as the Navy’s Birthday every year, honoring a tremendous legacy of service, sacrifice and ... Read More

James is an Oscar-winning composer for such legendary films as Avatar, Titanic, Braveheart, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Field Of Dreams, Glory, and Legends Of The Fall. The list goes on and on. As luck would have it, besides music, James loves to fly. Even more important, he loves Mustangs, their thundering Merlin engines, and formation aerobatics… imagine ... Read More

The Horsemen love the Mustang. Imagine that! They love it for all the same reasons you do. This segment took quite awhile to edit. It is very simple but they wanted to make sure that it captured the essence of how they feel about this magnificent machine. Hopefully they did it justice... they certainly poured their hearts into it. ... Read More

One of my 2010 Reno National Championship Air Race and Air Show highlights was being there when a young pilot named Bernie Vasquez soloed in a P-51. I was out on the ramp when I saw the “Jelly Belly” #44 P-51 taxi in and shut down.  As soon as the plane shut down, I saw a crowd of people form up around the aircraft.  It was obvious to even me ... Read More

Top secret Iran hostage rescue mission aircraft. YMC-130H were three modified Lockheed Hercules Aircraft for Top Secret "Operation Credible Sport", for second Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt. One of the measures considered for a second hostage rescue attempt in Iran was a project to develop a "Super STOL" aircraft, to be flown by Combat Talon crews, that would use a soccer stadium near the US Embassy as an improvised landing field. ... Read More

Reno 2011 (September 14-18) is less than a year away and I am ready for my second Reno National Championship Air Race and Air Show experience!  Reno 2010 was my first time covering an air race.  My experiences at Reno this year were nothing short of incredible.  As a first timer attending the Reno Air Races, I thought I would share a few of my experiences. I was fortunate enough ... Read More

The Reno Race that Almost Wasn’t… By Mark Hrutkay The National Championship Air Races at Reno in 2010 did something they never did in the past and that was to cancel the final races in several classes.  There always seems to be some wind at Reno and on Sunday, there was a lot.  The winds were hitting 30kts at Stead Field. The problem showed up as the Silver Unlimited Heat racers were landing.  ... Read More

A few of our best photographs from this years races.. ... Read More