If you can stretch the budget go for the Sony digital range of camerras, such as the PC range. The original models are now quite cheap to pick up through clearing houses online and also there has been quite a price drop on the PC5e. The sony range have very good lenses (Carl Zeiss). Battery life is always an issue, indeed forget using the LCD viewfinder, better to use the eyepiece which will triple your shoor time. Also, and very importantly grab yourself a wide angle lens that converts the narrow field to what you would expect to see with your eyes. It makes the shots way more dramatic.

Digital is the way to go, the editing is much easier and there is very little loss in the process.

Of course you are always subject to conditions, a windy day with the sun directly ahead means you are shooting black planes to the soundtrack of a windtunnel. The backlit feature goes some way to resolve this but theres no substitute for good positioning. Also watch the digital zooms, on all types of camera there will be image loss and some distortion when following fast moving objects. Better to fill half or third a frame and let the camera do its best for you.