If you want decent in-flight shots you MUST have two things. A decent zoom and a way to lock the focus at infinity. For the zoom you want a 10x OPTICAL zoom, digital zooms are useless. You can get away with a 6 or 7x optical but a 10X is prefered. If you can't lock the focus you will never get a picture in focus with a non-SLR type digital camera. They all focus too slowly. I have shot thousands of pics for magazine articles and have tried numerous cameras. I now use a Canon D-300 and the 70-300mm lens but this outfit is over $1K. I got great results with the Minolta Dimage 5 but that is now long out of production. I have looked at several cameras for a cheap backup Camera and I would be inclined to go with the Fuji 5100 right now if I had to. It's in the price range you want, it takes good pictures and it has both the zoom and fucus lock you need to get good in flight shots

TFLG