On FlightBlogger, John Croft posted a video about Boeing research into hybrid electric aircraft and asked: "Will Sugar Volt kill the turboprop?"

The DEW Line's Dave Majumdar was skeptical of the potential for a Boeing 787 military derivative, noting that "unlike the 707 and 767, which were purposely over-designed with extremely rugged airframes, the 787 has little in the way of excess structure".

On Hyperbola, David Todd responded to UK Space Agency boasts of double-digit growth in space revenues, saying the popularity of football broadcasts on satellite TV should be borne in mind. "A lot of this business is in the form of revenues from derivative interests," he wrote. "Sadly, satellite and launch vehicle manufacturing remains a very small business in the UK."


And the Image of the Day blog featured an "industrial-looking" Kamov Ka-32 (above).

Voting is now open for the 2012 Flightglobal Achievement Awards, and the shortlist is as strong as ever.

From your nominations we found the best that this industry has to offer, and now you have the chance to vote for your favourites and the winners will be presented with the award during the Farnborough air show.

This is a fantastic opportunity to vote for your aviation heroes, those people that stand out because of their contribution to aviation in any of these three categories - Leader of the Year, Aviator of the Year and Innovator of the Year . The Lifetime Achievement Award will be chosen by a select group from Flightglobal and announced at the event.

Last year at a ceremony in Dubai, legendary aircraft designer and founder of Scaled Composites Burt Rutan won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on numerous groundbreaking aircraft, most notably SpaceShipOne - the first, and to this day only privately-funded manned aircraft to escape the Earth's atmosphere.

Once again, as part of the Awards, we will also be naming the Boeing Engineering Student of the Year. Students can nominate themselves or be nominated by their professors. View the criteria and enter here.

On FlightBlogger, Stephen Trimble had the intriguing news "somewhere deep inside Boeing, a team of engineers is even now continuing to fiddle with the last decade's most high-profile conceptual aerospace flop", as a patent application posted online reveals "a new and improved Sonic Cruiser".

Pratt & Whitney's media day gave Trimble an excuse to update the Movie Monday series with a BBC documentary on Rolls-Royce. After all, the engine makers' joint venture means their futures "are tied closely together", reckons Trimble. Either way, the film enthralled him with its "revealing look inside the typically buttoned-up" British company.

And the Image of the Day blog carried a US Marine Corps shot of Boeing CH-46E Sea Knights on an exercise in the Philippines (above) - "like something straight out of Apocalypse Now", reckoned Dominic Perry.

The "Movie Monday" slot on FlightBlogger carried a clip of a documentary on the Lockheed SR-71, including footage of an "extremely rare television appearance", in 1975, by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, "camera-shy and interview-averse master aircraft designer and founder of the Lockheed Skunk Works".

On Asian Skies, Greg Waldron was intrigued by news that a British farmer may have located 20 or more Spitfires, buried in their original shipping crates, in Myanmar. "If the discovery turns out to be the real deal, it makes a fine counterpoint to Australia's decision last year to bury 23 F-111s beneath a landfill," wrote Waldron, noting "a very real concern with asbestos and other hazardous materials used in these old airframes". But, he asked, "in 2072, will Asian Skies write about a plan to dig up 23 former RAAF F-111s?"
On Image of the Day there was a Lockheed Martin shot of the in-flight refuelling of an F-35A configured with external weapons (above).

One more year, the Boeing Company and Flightglobal have launched the Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award.

Hurry up! because the deadline is fast approaching...you have only until the 21st of May to send your application!

This is a fantastic opportunity for bright students, at either graduate or undergraduate level, to take a step forward and stand out. Winners will be flown to the Farnborough Air Show 2012 and, on July 10th they are going to be presented the award at the Flightglobal Achievement Awards ceremony.

Who can enter?

For the first time this year, as well as the overall award, a special prize will be given to the best undergraduate submission, giving global recognition to those working on their first degree.

Undergraduate award - open to all students still working for their first degree in chosen specialism.

Postgraduate award - open to all postgraduates and those working towards further research qualifications.

Remember, this competition is open to any engineering student currently enrolled in a programme leading to a recognised academic degree such as BSc, MSc. or PhD.

You have until the 21st of May to submit your application, which must include:

A 500-word summary
A Curriculum vitae
Supporting material*

*Including but not limited to new patents or documented applications that have been adopted by industry, or published papers or research that have won recognition from academic, professional or industrial associations.

The 2012 Engineering Student of the Year and a companion will be guests of Boeing at the Farnborough air show. The award will be presented on 10 July 2012 as part of Flightglobal's Achievement Awards event. Boeing will arrange complimentary air travel, hotel accommodation and air show tickets for two people.

The judges may also, at their discretion, award a special distinction to the best undergraduate submission, separate to the overall winner. That person will be awarded a certificate and their details and citation will be included in Flightglobal's coverage of the award.

Students can nominate themselves or be nominated by their professors.

During a trip to Moscow, defence editor Craig Hoyle observed "a stark contrast between old and new", he wrote on The DEW Line. While its aerospace manufacturers have benefited from a rush of domestic orders, "elsewhere, Russia's former symbols of military might have been abruptly pushed aside".

At the capital's former airport Khodynka, for example, "there's a rather sad collection of ex-Soviet combat aircraft and helicopters still on the runway, the majority of them in poor condition or having been vandalised" (see above).

On the same blog, Dave Majumdar wondered why neither Lockheed Martin nor the Joint Strike Fighter programme office were at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space event - "strange, since the Department of the Navy 'owns' two of the three F-35 variants".


And on Hyperbola, Philip Hylands noted the maiden launch of India's Agni 5 missile (above).

Today marks the final switch off of our long-serving Air Transport Intelligence service, as it's effectively replaced by Flightglobal Pro.

ATI was first launched way back in 1997 (several years before Flightglobal even had a free-to-air website).

For many years there was no other service like it - partly a real-time news wire for the commercial aviation world, partly a comprehensive database on airlines and airports, and partly a collection of handy tools and datasets that help professionals within the industry do their jobs.

And like a true classic it very much stood the test of time, with the classic interface and approach to usability proving a winner over the years.

However, even classic cars need a retune every now and then, and by developing Flightglobal Pro, we've taken all the best bits of ATI and reworked them onto modernised interface.

The Pro Dashboard acts as your starting point for accessing the ATI (now Pro) news and data, with controls to perform searches and quickly find the information you need, set up and edit current email alerts, and access your account information.

Features:
 

• Latest news listings
• Quick news search
• Airlines, airports and MRO company profile search
• Quick fleet search
• Quick route search

For those ATI stalwarts that are using Pro for pretty much the first time, you may want to take a second to read the "Getting started on Pro" guide.
 
It gives you the first quick steps in finding your way around and helping you get on with the most common tasks.

There's also a set of FAQs, which go into a bit more detail about the various searches and profiles pages available within the Pro environment.

For those subscribers that would like a more personal touch to getting orientated, our customer support team are happy to talk you through any teething issues over the phone or arrange a free training session to help you get the most out of Flightglobal Pro.

Customer support contact details:

• Americas: +1 866 348 4503
• Europe and Middle East: +44 1788 564800
• Asia Pacific: +65 6780 4315
  
• Alternatively email prosupport@flightglobal.com

Stephen Trimble - now a curator of commercial aviation blog FlightBlogger, along with John Croft - sustained the Movie Monday series by posting (see above) a Wings of Russia Studio documentary on the nation's rich aviation history.



The DEW Line's Dave Majumdar drew attention to two Lockheed Martin videos: one of an F-35C (example shown above) making a high-speed pass, to the strains of "terrible music as always", and another of an F-35A conducting night aerial refuelling (see below).


 
"They have wisely incorporated a light so that the boom operator can see the receptacle clearly - something that had to be retrofitted to the first few production F-22 Raptors," wrote Majumdar.

On Hyperbola, Dan Thisdell linked to Astrium's animation of the Ariane 5 ME launching with a dual payload. And, picking up on a UK Ministry of Defence communiqué ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, a post on the Learmount blog set out "what to do if you are intercepted by a Typhoon", warning: "You better get it right."

Why does Norway want the Lockheed Martin F-35 so badly? The DEW Line's Craig Hoyle drew attention to an illuminating video posted online by the nation's defence ministry.



In a nutshell, plans to keep flying upgraded Lockheed F-16s - currently 47 As and 10 Bs delivered as far back as 1980, as recorded by Flightglobal's HeliCAS database - have been extended enough times now, with the last jets due to leave service in 2023, wrote Hoyle. Back in the day, that milestone was pegged for no later than 2018.

Our Image of the Day blog carried a shot (above) from the UK's Defence Images gallery on Flickr. It shows a Eurocopter Gazelle under an ominous sky at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, Canada.

On Hyperbola, David Todd noted that Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin is not amused by a public spat between senior executives involved in the nation's space programme.

The DEW Line's Craig Hoyle posted a Lockheed Martin shot of the first night-time in-flight refuelling sortie involving an F-35 (below).

The aircraft - flown from Edwards AFB, California by US Air Force test pilot Lt Col Peter Vitt - is shown alongside a Boeing KC-135 tanker.

Hoyle also rooted out a YouTube clip that shows aspiring attack helicopter pilots how not to do it. The video, purportedly of a non-fatal accident in Afghanistan on 6 February, additionally serves as testament to the Boeing's AH-64 Apache's robust design, although snow on the ground and pure luck may have contributed to the crew's survival.


John Croft also focused on a helicopter crash: his blog As the Cro(ft) Flies carried footage of a Bell AH-1F Cobra ploughing into the ground while being filmed for TV show Top Gear Korea. Fortunately, the pilot and mechanic onboard sustained only "minor injuries".