December 2008 Archives

Flightglobal's not aversed to celebrating the the New Year with a glass of Sherry or two but where does one go to see in the New Year in style? Maybe a dinner party on an A380 "Flying Palace"? Or a Qantas First Class Airport Lounge (they won this year's World Airline Awards award in that category)

But just for the nostalgia, a few cocktails on-board this Super Connie Bar would come top of the list for us.

Interestingly, the bar no longer exists as The Museum of Flight in Seattle bought the aircraft from a Canadian called Catherine Scott, with plans to restore it (not to flight unfortunately) and exhibit it at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. You can read all about it here ... and there are loads of pics here for people interested in the move and the restoration ...

Honeywell use their Boeing 757-200 to test a regional/biz av jet engine.

More images from this test flight courtesy of Cupps on AirSpace ...

Continuing with the snow theme here a snap from the Flight Archives of an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy at Croydon Airport on 1st February 1928.

As seen in the AirSpace/Flight International front cover competition - here's a nice snowy snap of an Atlas Air 747-400F taking at a freezing cold Anchorage International Airport 

This picture was taken by and entered under the Majesty - Airliners in action category for this year's Flight International front cover competition.

To see more magnificent images look on AirSpace's photo page and see the range of images in the various categories our users entered into the competition. 

Pictured is a UPS Boeing MD-11 taking off from Anchorage International Airport. According to Flight's ACAS fleet database, UPS operate 38 MD-11Fs.

This iconic image Earthrise credited to NASA, was taken by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned voyage to the Moon.

Last month NASA invited the Apollo 8 crew back to talk about their achievements in a live tv programme.

See this image of Apollo 8 preparing for takeoff.

Earthrise was nominated in this year's 100 Greatest moments in aviation, but alas, lost out to Apollo 11 moon landing. 

Here is Flight's coverage of the iconic event...

Flight reported a "slight mishap" that occurred on 24 December to A.V. Roe's triplane.

"After making several good flights at Wembley Park Mr. A. V. Roe had a slight mishap on Christmas Eve, of which we are able to give a snapshot."

The article shows a before and after picture and reported that "Mr. Roe endeavoured to turn sharply, but as a result of some recent modifications in the steering arrangements, found it impossible to rectify the tilting movement quickly enough, and this caused the machine to fall, damaging one of the planes."

(Image courtesy Colin Parker/AirTeamImages)

Here is the actual aircraft used to transport two Pandas from China to Taiwan today. The aircraft registration is B-16408.

Ground crew loaded 450 kilograms (nearly half a ton) of fresh bamboo onto the aircraft, to keep the two "goodwill ambassadors" going for a week.

They are expected to be unveiled to the Taiwanese public during the Lunar New Year holidays which begin on 25 January, as visible symbols of rapidly improving ties with China, according to newswire AFP.

Flight reported back in June that "in a long-awaited political breakthrough, Chinese and Taiwanese carriers will receive a much needed boost with the launch early [in July] of regular flights between the two countries for the first time in nearly half a century."

And of course Flight's Airline Business recorded the event in the article China Taiwan flights takeoff...  

The people of Lockerbie and the relatives of the 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the town marked the 20th anniversary of the tragedy yesterday.

The Boeing 747 was blown up over the Scottish town on 21 December 1988, claiming the lives of everyone on the aircraft and 11 people on the ground.

A number of ceremonies took place in the town, and another was held in the chapel at London's Heathrow Airport.

See how Flight reported the Libyan terror attack...  

(Image courtesy Rex Features)

Our current featured photographer on AirSpace is Runlikehell who took this shot of an F-15 during a flight demonstration at Nellis

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's flight deck in New York's first winter snow of 2008.

Fresh details and images have emerged of an incident in which one of the Royal Air Force's Boeing CH-47D Chinook HC2 transport helicopters was damaged during an attack by the Taliban in Afghanistan last May. Read on..

(Image courtesy Crown Copyright)

Airbus's A320 flying testbed (F-WWBA) began another round of winglet flight-trials from Toulouse yesterday, this time equipped with a blended winglet designed by Aviation Partners (API). Read on...

Brazilian domestic carrier Azul  inaugurated Embraer E-Jet service from Viracopos airport in Campinas to Salvador de Bahia earlier this week.

The event marked founder David Neeleman's fourth airline launch. Neeleman helped develop WestJet and Morris Air before founding New York JFK-based JetBlue Airways. Read on.... 

AirSpace user Begemot provided our front cover image of a Russian air force Sukhoi Su-27 releasing flares at the 2007 Moscow air show and earned victory in our second annual photography competition.

• See some of Begemot's postings on our forum
• See some more images on AirSpace...

NASA has detailed its plans to spend at least $68 million until 2013 on the development of the largest rocket ever, its proposed Ares V cargo launch vehicle (CaLV) that will send the USA back to the Moon by 2020.

Taller and more powerful than the Apollo programme's Saturn V launcher, with a gross lift-off mass of just over 3.7 million kg (8.17 million lb), the 116m (360ft)-high rocket is limited by NASA's Kennedy Space Center vehicle assembly building's height. Read more...

And here's CBS News' report on the Boeing F-18 Super Hornet incident:

And this is what the street normally looks like:
View Larger Map

Switzerland has completed a 100-sortie series of test flights involving the three candidate airframes being considered to replace part of its Northrop F-5 fighter fleet.

Two Eurofighters provided by EADS underwent three weeks of testing. Read on...

Sorry! This image appealed to my puerile sense of humour. I discovered it among the entries in the Majesty - Airliners in Action category of our end of year front cover competition. 

And today is the final day to enter. The best image will be on the front cover of Flight International's 16th December issue and the winner will also receive a framed copy of that front cover plus £100 (GBP). 

Arik Air has received its first of three new Airbus A340-500s that will be used on services from its Lagos base to London, Houston and New York. Read on...

AirSpace: See a gallery of images of the Arik A340-500

BAE Systems has achieved the power-on milestone for the first of nine Nimrod MRA4s on firm order for the UK Royal Air Force. Read on ...

 Photo credit: Boeing/U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Oscar Espinoza

Manufacturing lines for the BellBoeing V-22 Osprey and CH-47 Chinook resumed production today after a five-day hiatus. Read more...

Here is an entry for in the Warbirds category for Flight International end of year cover competition. See more....