What digital camera should I buy for an airplane?

Question

Hey,
I am looking to buy a new digital camera so that when I go flying I can take some pictures of my trips to show my friends and family. I fly small planes, and am usually 3000-6000feet away from the ground (in a Cessna 172S if it matters).
I have never owned a digital camera before, so Im not sure whats good and whats bad. I am generally looking to take pictures of everything I can see from the plane, which goes for miles (the scenery i guess?). I have been looking at a lot of different cameras, read hundreds of reviews, but there are so many options and I do not know what i need. I was wondering if I could get some help choosing the right one, or even getting a couple recomendations would be nice so i can look at them myself.
What I think I do need is image stabilization (the plane is kind of shaky sometimes), a lot of optical zoom, and compact. Im looking to sped around $200, but id go up to $300 if it was right (rather spend now than regret it later).
But you tell me
Thanks!

by the way, I am completely unexperienced with cameras, so a beginner one would make do, but I would like the camera to be capable of amazing pictures so I can learn more and get better results as I go. Im flying at the same time as I will be taking the pictures, so I dont really have time to set anything up properly so its pretty much point-and-shoot. It would be nice to have it able to take videos too so I can catch some landings. Ive been reading about the olympus SP-550 UZ lately, how are they for cameras, or even the specific model if anyone knows? I would still love to hear more suggestions on any camera. Thanks for the replies so far, they were great and informative, but a little out of my price range and experience level I think.

Answer 1

It might be kinda fun to buy a camera that has a wired remote trigger. Then you could strap your camera to the belly of your plane.