- Defence training: A special report on the new-look route to becoming a UK military pilot
- Inquiry blocked: How US sanctions held up a Swedish probe into an Iran Air A300 engine failure for months
- Webbies winners: We award aviation's most effective internet sites and online marketers in our annual awards
Recently in Flight International Cover Category
- Aero India show preview: Big tuns target aviation's most dynamic market
- Neuron on track: Europe's unmanned combat concept begins to take shape as Saab hands over fuselage
- Full speed: Eurocopter accelerates high-performance X3 development despite certification concern
- Is the J-20 a Ruse or reality?: Has China come up with a true modern fighter? Follow the latest on the J-20 here.
- Grounded: Russian authorities ban all Tu-154B flights after fatal fire on Kolavia trijet as it prepared to taxi
- Room on top: All-premium upper deck with lie-flat seats key to Korean Air plan for most spacious A380s yet. See our A380 seating comparison chart here.
- Forecasts 2011: What will make news this year? We take a crack
- Staying put: Southern charm fails to entice Hawker Beechcraft from its Wichita home of nearly 80 years
- Indian fighters: Delhi signs deal with Russia to develop its own version of Sukhoi PAK FA combat aircraft
We also had category winners, including best photos for sleek jets, old flyers, general stars, and "best of the rest". We'll feature those photos in the coming days.
We wouldn't leave you without reading material for the holidays, and this week's cover articles include how Airbus is more restrained with its market outlook than Boeing, but is keeping faith in its A380 aircraft. We also have a feature on flying props in the Arctic.
We also look at common threads across nations. Budgetary pressures have influenced nations around the world over the last year in how they operate their existing military aircraft and seek to acquire more capable and cost-effective replacements.
We look at Lockheed Martin's F-35 programme, which Lockheed says is on track despite ongoing challenges. We ask if it can still deliver the dream.
On the cover (below) is a photograph from Lockheed Martin of the first two F-35A flight test aircraft.
- Big spenders: Our report of last week's Middle East Business Aviation show in Dubai
- Korea trouble: Rising tension on the peninsula could push South Korea to accelerate fighter fleet upgrades
- To neo - or not?: Banks and lessors are underwhelmed by Airbus and its A320 re-engining plans
Even before the Apollo space programme of the 1960s put a man on the Moon, a fledgling NASA was conceptualising a reusable spacecraft for manned flight. Work on the Space Shuttle began in earnest in the 1970s, with the first of four test flights in 1981, followed by operational missions beginning in 1982. Now, more than 30 years later, the Space Shuttle is tentatively scheduled to be retired from service in 2011 after 135 launches - and countless changes to the way the world sees space, aerospace and the Earth itself. As the programme prepares to close, we look back across its lifespan - at how the spacecraft itself conceived, its contributions to aerospace and what might come next for manned space exploration. We even fly along on the de-orbit and final approach path the orbiter will take on its last trip home.
Contents
- Armchair astronaut: We "fly" in the Space Shuttle simulator
- History: How it was conceived
- Schedule: Waiting for Discovery
- The future: After the Shuttle
- Alternative fuels: Growing signs of a bio power breakthrough
- Caught in the net: Israeli company turns microlight into UAV to tackle growing problem of illegal fishing
- Getting hotter: GE gets to grips with threat to high-pressure turbine blades of rising engine temperature
You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.
Will Airbus and Boeing bend to pressure to replace popular aircraft in the narrowbody market and fend off challenges from Bombardier's CSeries and China and Russia? Widebody programmes have advanced, while older types have faded and problems remain for ultra-large types. Weak demand is handicapping Ilyushin and Tupolev, but cargo conversion providers are optimistic. Read our report here.
Undoubtedly the aircraft on everyone's mind is the 787 Dreamliner--which possibly faces a new set of delays--and the aircraft's departure from the Farnborough airshow is depicted on the cover. Photo credit to Boeing.
- Joined-up plans: Lockheed Martin bids to adapt JSF systems for F-22
- 2020 foresight: Delta delays 787 deliveries to next decade, putting initial schedule behind 12 years
- AUSA 2010: Bells aims to outfox rivals with upgrades to Kiowa Warrior, as US Army reviews operations
You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.
- World airliners part one: Our airliner programme appraisal takes temperatures in the regional sector. With Russian and Japanese projects progressing, competition is heating up for jet manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer. Smaller emergent types have met cool receptions, notwithstanding STOL twin-prop revivals. Elsewhere, conversions are giving ageing aircraft an Indian summer, but it is unclear what turboprop revamps will bring. Read more here.
- Cutting verdict: Belt-tightening UK axes Nimrod and Harrier as long-awaited defence review is finalised
- Dawn of raider: Silkorsky looks to woo armed forces with light tactical S-97 helicopter based on X2 technology
You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.
- Goodbye paper: Our special report on the next generation of electronic flight bags
- Typhoon alert: Eurofighter vows future radar and weapon systems will give it edge in key Asian countries
- NBAA first news: Why Honeywell crystal ball gazers predict a strong recovery for business aviation
You can subscribe to Flight International here or here for the digital version.

Recent Comments