As the first UK-funded launcher technology programme in 22 years begins, Flightglobal.com can reveal secret US government interest in the British Aerospace 1980s' HOTOL spaceplane - and the reasons behind that reusable rocket's cancellation. Continue reading...
Hotol in the Flight archive - Hotol fights for life including a cutaway drawing (1989)
The first prototype of Serbia's delayed Utva Lasta-95/Lasta 3 piston trainer made its first two flights from Batajnica air base on 5 February, flown respectively by test pilot Lt Col Salko Hadžić and Maj Saša Gruba. Continue reading....
Japanese start-up Fuji Dream Airlines has taken delivery of its first aircraft.
Embraer says in a statement Fuji Dream took delivery of its first aircraft, an Embraer 170, during a ceremony in Brazil. Continue reading...
Dassault Falcon has announced that its Falcon 7X recently received approval for arrivals and departures at London City Airport (LCY), London, England.
See more images of a Falcon 7X taking off from London's City Airport in a gallery on AirSpace.
Rescuers have yet to clarify any casualty figures after a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol.
To celebrate Virgin Atlantic's 25th birthday Sir Richard Branson has gone off on a world tour on his own airline and invited Flightglobal's Victoria Moores and Stefan the pilot.
The two are twittering their way around the world in eight days with the Virgin Group entrepreneur complete with news, blogs and images on each leg of the journey.
Find out more about the itinerary which shows where Victoria and Stefan have been, where they are now and where they're headed next.
Keep up to date during this week to find out what Victoria is up to at Victoria's Virgin Adventures. See blogs and videos...
Image courtesy AirTeamImages, taken by Keith Blincow in 1988.
The Airbus A320 flew for the first time today back in 1987. Have a read of David Learmount's article on what it's like to fly the thing in June of that same year.
Initial inspection of Virgin Atlantic's long-haul Airbus fleet, after a fire emergency on an A340-300, has found a number of aircraft missing wiring-protection components in the area of their on-board bar units. Continue reading...
John Glenn became the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth in Mercury Atlas 6.
William Hines, a Flight International reporter wrote: "The flight of Mercury-Atlas 6 culminated in success a lengthy series of misfortunes and delays. It had been hoped by US Government leaders that the first American manned orbital flight would occur in the same year as the first by Soviet spacemen."
Both images are courtesy of Rex Features.
Electronics group Thales has launched a modular simulator system and is to enter the airline training service provision market.
This is an image of the Skylon, a concept for an unmanned spaceplane. Reaction Engines is the company behind the idea.
More information to follow on Hyperbola, technical editor Rob Coppinger's blog.
Airbus Military has released images of its A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) in Indian Air Force colours as the contest to supply the country with six additional tankers approaches a conclusion.
EADS subsidiary Airbus and Russia's United Aircraft (UAC) responded to a tanker request for proposals (RFP) in 2007 and industry sources say a selection is expected by the end of this year. UAC is offering a more advanced version of the Ilyushin Il-78 tanker, of which India already operates 12.
Here's a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor on the ramp at Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma at sunrise. The image was uploaded to PalmsRick own user gallery on AirSpace.
Picture credit: Airbus
Airbus has devised its A350 production plan to enable output levels of up to 10 aircraft a month, with the final assembly line capable of ultimately delivering up to 13 a month. Continue reading...
Southwest Airlines has unveiled SI One, a Boeing 737-7H4 registered N922WN, easily distinguished by the lady painted livery.
SI stands for Sports Illustrated, and it features on its livery the not at all unpleasant sight of model Bar Refaeli.
Daher-Socata has delivered the 500th TBM single-engined turboprop since the aircraft entered service nearly 20 years ago. Continue reading....
Embraer subsidiary ECC Leasing has sold a second ERJ-145 regional jet to Brazil's federal police department.
The 50-seat pre-owned aircraft is scheduled for delivery in the first half of the year - three years after the Brazilian police took delivery of the first type.
The aircraft will be used for a range of missions, says Embraer, including the transport of officials, and border control missions to combat drug trafficking and terrorism.
The current economic environment, coupled with the difficulty securing financing for aircraft, has resulted in the "bottom half of the [business aircraft] market falling out", says Richard Aboulafia, vice-president for analysis at the Teal Group. Continue reading...
Picture credit: Spirit Aerosystems
The US Air Force has signed deals to extend production of its Boeing C-17 and upgraded Lockheed Martin C-5 strategic transports for at least one more year. Continue reading...
When the Legacy 600 was launched in 2000, it would have been easy to dismiss Embraer's first foray into the business jet market as merely an opportunistic adaptation of its prolific ERJ-135/145 regional jet series.
Since then, however, Embraer has built the Legacy into a full line of capable super-midsize business jets.
This image of a CF-18 Hornet is pic of the week for the current issue of Flight International, out tomorrow...
The photographer is AirSpace user runlikehell - take a look at his other images in his own gallery.
Flightglobal has obtained the first pictures of a new larger tail for Cessna's Model 162 SkyCatcher, a change made after the loss of the prototype light sport aircraft last September during a power on spin. Continue reading and see the older design...
The US Navy has selected four companies to participate in a four-year, $430 million competition to design a next-generation jammer (NGJ) pod for the Boeing EA-18G Growler (pictured) and Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Continue reading...
"Laker Airways (owned by Sir Freddie Laker) was formed in 1966", so says Flight's World Airlines Directory entry in the issue dated 3 April 1982, "to operate inclusive tour and ad hoc passenger charter services.
"Scheduled passenger services, vigorously marketed as Skytrain low-fare walk-on flights, began in September 1977 after lengthy legal battles and by 1981 served New York from London (Gatwick) and Manchester, Los Angeles from Gatwick, Manchester, and Prestwick, and Miami and Tampa, Florida, from Gatwick."
Following a deteriorating financial situation, the airline ceased operations on February 5, 1982, and went into receivership and performed its last flight today in 1982.
This image of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was taken by AirTeamImages photographer Keith Blincow at Gatwick Airport in July 1981.
Picture credit Hindustan Aeronautics
Aerospace companies from Brazil, China, Japan and Russia lead the way in development and production of 21st century aircraft - can Indian companies step up as well? Continue reading this feature within the India special report....
Read more of our India Special Report in time for next week's Aero India.
Picture credit - Chris Waythomas, courtesy Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey
Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory are using data gathered from daily aircraft flights over Mount Redoubt, along with information from other sensors, to try to determine whether and when the volcano is going to erupt.
The volcano, located about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, is expected to erupt within days or weeks causing enormous clouds of ash which may pose a danger to aircraft.
"It's a very severe hazard because jet engines run at a very high temperature," says geologist Michelle Coombs. "And once that silica-rich ash gets ingested into the engine, it can remelt and coat the insides of the engines and freeze up those engines."
According to our pdf archive, the day after the 1989 eruption of Redoubt, a KLM Boeing 747 flew into an ash cloud near Anchorage and all four engines stalled. The pilot was able to relight two of the engines and brought the aircraft down safely at Anchorage.
To discover more about this image and more, take a look at our historical 1930 civil aircraft gallery.
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