PEGASUS IN FLIGHT (1990) by Michael Whelan, cover for the book by Anne McCaffrey

Here we have a clear reminder that Anne McCaffrey was a science fiction writer. Sure Michael painted some gorgeous dragons for the Pern books, but even those were works of SF.

Interestingly, this illustration is one of the rare instances when the publisher Del Rey dictated what they wanted on the cover. Michael worked from a brief overview of the story. He never read the manuscript before executing the painting!