The four current NASA pilots who can operate the modified 747 are ex-military aviators who split their time flying other planes including zero-gravity aircraft and T-38 supersonic jets.

MSN: What it's like to fly a plane carrying shuttle - Technology & science - Space | NBC News

The symbol of the test-pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert, where Mr Armstrong spent years testing military jets, flying the X-15 at 4, 000mph to the very edge of the atmosphere, is a slide rule over a stylised aircraft.

ECONOMIST: Neil Armstrong

Small drones, such as flying cameras, are already available worldwide, and non-military surveillance were recently introduced to track poachers in the remote Indian state of Assam.

BBC: Google chief urges action to regulate mini-drones

The Syrian military denied there was any weapons convoy and said low-flying Israeli jets had crossed into their country over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to bomb a scientific research center near Damascus.

NPR: Syria Threatens Retaliation For Israeli Airstrike

Military surveillance aircraft scoured the battlefield -- from the lowest-flying aircraft such as the Army's Hunter and the Marines' Pioneer, to the Predator, to the higher-flying Global Hawk and U-2 -- and on up to the information-gathering satellites.

CNN: Analysts: War provides 'textbook case'

Flying at subsonic speed, the needle-nosed jet flew without passengers on Saturday from a military air base in Istres, near Marseille, and landed at Paris' Orly Airport.

CNN: Concorde compensation deal near

Large air shows like those feature pilots pulling seemingly death-defying maneuvers in all manner of aircraft from biplanes to jets, precision formation flying, skydivers jumping from planes and, of course, screeching military jets pulling high-G maneuvers.

WSJ: Dark clouds hang over air shows after budget cuts