Rejected - but struggling to see why

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/images/rejected-images/2016-11/803306.jpg

Rejected for noisy sky and nose soft but I am struggling to see where, any help?

Sky is full of noise en contrast colouring. Nose is indeed a bit soft

are you zooming in to see that, as when i view at 100% on my screen there is no noise. Te image is only 1400 along the longest edge

Frankly speaking I do not see that much soft nose (I am with a small laptop right now), but the sky is indeed full of noise. You can see it in the normal picture, just as it is, but if you want to magnify it, then take a look in equalize mode (image - adjustments - equalize).

I do not know your workflow but maybe you are dealing with all the image at once in each step. My tip for you would be to work in layers and isolate the sky, give it only a nik define pass or a topaz denoise (or similar image softwares) and let the sharpness and other stuff (contrast, colors, levels, highlights/shadows or anything else you consider that should be changed) only for the aircraft and eventually its surroundings.

Thanks Ricardo, i will give that a try and see if can get rid of the noise, but i am really struggling to see it on my screen

If it can help, try perhaps to increase a little bit the highlights on your screen to see where the noise is.

My screen is calibrated (with a Spyder) and I either do not see any noise, but when turning the calibration off I can see some in the sky part of the picture.

Image is noisy in the sky and the nose certainly lacks some definition. Keep in mind that the only thing a calibration tool does is adjust the range of colors, not brightness or exposure. That's why the setup utility tells you to set contrast and brightness prior to calibrating.

I agree with the brightness or exposure but, correct me if I am wrong, calibration plays also a role on the black point and it is easier to see noise when the black is not "pure" black.

Adjusting the highlights was perhaps not the good advice ...