Photographer Brian Finke spent nearly two years traversing the friendly skies, following the life of flight attendants in the air and on the ground, from Delta and Hawaiian Air, to Hooters Air, Southwest, Air France, British Airways, Air Asia, and dozens more. His images of flight attendants waving, applying makeup and deboarding plans while smiling appear as if they were ripped from an advertisement in a glossy magazine. Here: Tiger Airways, Singapore, 2006. (Photo by Brian Finke/The Washington Post)

An air plane takes off from the airport as air traffic is effected by the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Frankfurt, Germany, March 16, 2020. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Air France airplane from Air France-KLM Group arrives at Princess Juliana international airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin at Maho Beach, Sint Maarten on February 12, 2023. (Photo by Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Following a large air raid by German bombers, local people, coming out of their air raid shelters found a bus standing on end in a large crater, in Balham, London, October 15, 1940. (Photo by AP Photo)

In this aerial photo taken on March 28, 2019 a hot air balloon flies over Putrajaya during the international hot air balloon festival in Putrajaya, Malaysia. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

An Israeli Air Force F-35 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli airforce pilots at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel December 29, 2016. (Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Bradley Hemmings and Jenny Sealey MBE pose for the camera with a Giant Iron Man on the set of Iron Man at the Greenwich and Docklands Festival in St Alfege Park on June 24, 2011 in London, England after they are announced by LOCOG as the Artistic Directors for the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)

South Korean Lee Jung-sook (L), 68, wipes the tears from her North Korean father Lee Heung-jong, 88, as they bid each other a sad farewell at a resort on Mount Kumgang, North Korea, 22 October 2015. About 390 South Koreans arrived at the resort two days ago for the first face-to-face reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in nearly 20 months. A second group of some 260 South Koreans will do the same for three days starting on 24 October. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA)