Private jet broker and management company JetSuite welcomed its first customer, aircraft designer Burt Rutan aboard the first commercial Phenom 100 flight in California yesterday.
May 2009 Archives
Airbus celebrates the 40th anniversary of its first aircraft programme the A300 to today. It is also the anniversary of the Franco-German agreement which launched its first ever aircraft programme, the A300.
Picture credit: AirTeamImages/Tobias Rose
The French Minister of Transport, Jean Chamant and the German Minister of Economic Affairs, Karl Schiller, signed an agreement for the joint-development of the A300 aircraft, a first European twin-aisle twin-engine aircraft for medium-haul air travel during the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget.Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO in a statement said: "40 years ago the commercial jet aircraft market was entirely dominated by the US industry. Giving the go-ahead for the A300 was a bold strategic decision.
"The pioneering spirit of our engineers as well as Airbus' continuous strive for innovation and international cooperation have made us a global market leader and at the same time a symbol for successful European cooperation. «New standards. Together» - this is our guiding principle and from now on our new tagline that will keep us ahead".
More on the A300 in the Flight archives -
Indian Airbus - 9 day tour of first A300 prototype
Airbus A300 into service and a few months later was published: Airbus in action
Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-based national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has signed a three-year deal to be the official shirt sponsor and partner of Premier League side, Manchester City FC.
Pictured above: Etihad Airways cabin crew with (left to right) Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council; Mark Hughes, Manchester City FC nanager; Manchester City FC chief executive Garry Cook and Etihad Airways' chief executive, James Hogan.
Flight recorded the death of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland a week after the event.
It wrote: "With the passing of [de Havilland] British aviation loses a name that has been prominent in its annals since the very earliest days."
Picture credit - Fligthglobal/Barbara Cockburn
Continue reading Flight's report of the death of this aviation pioneer and take a look at Flight's "appreciation of DH" published a week later.
Have a look at a gallery of images taken at the de Havilland Aircraft Centre, more images in the Heathrow Trident Collection Gallery and see if you can spot de Havilland Aircraft at the RAF Museum in Hendon, London like the Gipsy Moth pictured.
British Airways may have dismantled the Boeing 777-200ER which crashed at London Heathrow in January last year but the aircraft features in the latest update to Google Earth. It's shown de-identified, with its vertical fin detached, just north of the runway 27L threshold - the scene of the accident - with the damage to its wings and engines clearly visible.
This recent survey of Heathrow also shows a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 parked at stand 301, on the southern side of the airport, with boarding bridges docked to its upper and lower decks.
Aurora Flight Sciences' unmanned aircraft SunLight Eagle flew on 12 May. The solar-powered, 34.7m (114ft) wingspan, 75kg (165lb) UAV became airborne at New Mexico State University's Physical Science Laboratory Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center at Las Cruces airport.
A colleague and I thought this looked similar to the Gossamer Condor? What do you think?
For more on the Gossamer Condor and the Kremer Prize in Flight's PDF archive
ING Renault F1 team's aero testing ground is the Imperial War Museum (IWM), Duxford, UK.
Duxford's runway provides perfect conditions, say those at the IWM, for the ING Renault F1 Team "to carry out its aero tests with its 2009 challenger, the R29, to optimise the aerodynamic package and extract maximum performance from the new aero regulations."
The ING Renault F1 Team will conduct its next aero test on the runway at Imperial War Museum Duxford on 27 May. If you plan on going, why not share your images on AirSpace?
In response to Aimee Turner's post in her Future Proof blog about the hoverfly's inspiration for an aircraft's wing... I found a feature in Flight's PDF archive on the evolution of the Etrich "Taube" monoplane.
The article, published in February 1915 explains that the different types of Etrich machines are designated by the names of various birds, "owing to the fact that the planes are wing-shaped.
"As a matter of fact, this design does not derive its origin from the bird, but from the seed-leaf of the Zanonia palm, which possesses remarkable gliding properties when dried."
All rise! Fascinating case in play at London's High Court where a consultant has recruited m'learned friends to wring $10 million in commission from Saudi Arabia, after claiming she was stiffed on an Airbus A340 sale to Libya's Colonel Gaddafi.
Daad Sharab insists she held a phone call with a gentleman who had an Airbus and a Boeing and wanted to sell one of them - and that he would pay commission for "effecting an introduction" to Gaddafi and arranging a deal.
Gaddafi, it seems, took a liking to the Airbus and the court heard that a deal was arranged whereby Sharab would be able to keep the balance if she negotiated a price above $110 million. Since the Libyans eventually agreed to cough up $120 million, Sharab is chasing a fair-sized cheque, but the chap flogging the aircraft denies he owes the lady a bean.
Given that this fellow is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, purchaser of the world's only private A380 and number 22 on the Forbes rich list, doubtless there are a few by-the-hour lawyers hoping this saga will churn through the legal system at geological speeds.
(If you're reading this, Colonel, the case notes are here, and pay attention to paragraph 12.)
The passengers of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 had to be evacuated on Tuesday when the tyre caught fire when landing at Houston Airport. The firefighters had to put out the flames as people were being removed from the aircraft through the emergency shute but nobody sustained any injury
We have created a gallery dedicated to the significant historical moments in the 100 year history of the Paris Air Show, with over 100 images of aviation's premier show taken from the Flight archives.But we need your help!
These images have been taken from our archives but unfortunately do not have specific data about the aircraft and the year. With this in mind we thought it would be an interesting challenge to test your aviation knowledge by allowing you to help us pinpoint the exact circumstances/subjects in these images.
All you have to do is simply comment underneath the photo (you need to be signed up member of AirSpace to do this) with the correct details and we can update the rest.
So what do you get for doing this?
Well for one you can be the pride of AirSpace, helping us to collate the best and most exclusive historical images from the history of Paris. But more than that, we will pick out the best 5 contributor's to win an old limited edition Flight International Pen, which have on them such iconic aircraft as a Gulfstream and Boeing 747.
Picture credit: CSU Archv/Everett/Rex Features
The Hindenburg was the largest commercial dirigible ever built but on this day 72 years ago the hydrogen filled airship spectacularly burst into flames when it touched its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. There were around 100 people on board yet the disaster killed 36 passengers.
In this video we see the flammable craft burst insto flames and people on the ground run for their lives.
The commentator was expecting a safe touchdown but you'll hear the horror in his voice as he describes the accident as "the worst catastrophe the world has ever seen". Watch the rest of the video to hear what witnesses experienced.
Hindenberg started a scheduled service--consisting of ten return flights during the summer over this route between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, in 1936. Flight reported that the cause of the accident was the ignition of a mixture of free hydrogen and air.
Flight reported in its 14 May 1936 issue: "A record for the North Atlantic crossing by an airship has been made by the Zeppelin Hindenburg, which took 61 hr. 38 min. for the 4,381-mile Friedrichshafen-New York trip."
- See inside the Hindenburg
In October 1910 dirigibles had only been in the air "both literally and figuratively" in the course of the past few weeks which inspired Flight to focus on the aircraft's failures and successes.
The pilot of a single-engine Cessna was able to walk away after its crash landing was cushioned by a bunch of portable toilets near Tacoma, Washington:
You could say it was a bit of a crappy landing (I thank you!!)
You've seen the Martin jetpack in action. Now see levitation flight which uses water as its jet propulsion medium.
JetLev's device has a fly-by-wire digital throttle control. The website says that the nozzle's angles determine allocation of thrust between lift and propulsion (forward, neutral or reverse); differential nozzle deflection generates yaw moments; and weight shifting from side-to-side generates roll moments.
The site has more information on the device's technology and where you thrillseekers can get hold of one.
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