Whenever possible I use ISO 100 simply because of the lack of noise, if the day is a little darker than I will push the ISO 200 as you can still get useable images (with minor extra tweaks in PS). However, when taking flying shots, you're best off not going higher than 200 ISO as the noise begins to be a issue from 400 and on. I use my 10d in Aperture Priority. I set this at my lens largest aperture setting to ensure that as much light can reach the camera as possible. However if I want more than just the central subject to look in focus than I will go for a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field. Exposure wise, if it's a really bright day with the sun behind me I go for a minus half underexposure just to deepen the blue sky a little and reduce slight over exposure which the camera can be tricked into doing. If it's a grey day I go a full stop over-exposure mostly, I don't go any more because you use shutter speed the more you over-expose (the opposite when you do under-exposure).
When it comes to shutter speeds for takeoff pics I like to go down to 1/125th as long as I have some background. Idid this for the below shot of an Alpha Jet but I don;t advise you try it until you're familar with the camera as it can be very fustrating as you do get a lot more poor shots than good.

For props in flight I go up to either 1/250th or 1/350th whilst I just set the aperture at it's largest possible for jets flying.
It didn't help that the pictures seemed brither at the LCD on my camera, than when you actually see them on screen...
Don't rely solely on the LCD to make decisions, it can be deceptive, as you've discovered it does make things look brighter and it can hide details that would otherwise change your opinion on a photograph.
Hope some of that made sense and maybe helped

Last edited by F3Hadlow on Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.