Although I’ve never taken photographs of planes, I can’t think of a circumstance in which it would be difficult to check exposure with the histogram? It’s not too different from photographing birds in flight.
You don’t say what tone your plane is and what colour your sky is? When thinking of planes I tend to think of a predominantly white plane against a blue sky, which would be fairly easy to check. A dark plane against a white sky, a white plane against a dark sky; both would be fairly straightforward also, I think.
In simple terms, if the plane were white, you’d expect to see spikes to the right of the histogram, but not up against the right edge, as this would represent overexposure. This would hold true whatever the colour of the sky. If the plane were black, you’d expect to see spikes to the left of the histogram, but not up against the left edge, as this would represent underexposure. Over or underexposure are both probably impossible to detect from the image alone.
Of course there are circumstances where you may ideally want to include detail in both white and black areas, which may prove impossible. This problem exists whatever method of analysis you use, but using the histogram allows you to make a well-informed decision about what to sacrifice. This all assumes that the plane hasn’t flown off while you do your calculations!
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