One was shot from the flightdeck of an Airbus A320 descending to Bhutan's Paro airport, "widely believed to be the most difficult approach in the world" as the runway, at 7,300ft, is surrounded by 18,000ft peaks.

FlightBlogger also posted his photos of Lufthansa's first Boeing 747-8 flying in Everett.

Our Image of the Day blog carried a Lockheed Martin shot (above) of the 11th C-5B aircraft inducted to the C-5M Super Galaxy production line, and on Asian Skies Greg Waldron noted Boeing's dig at the Lockheed Martin F-35 in the title of a Singapore briefing on "the balanced and evolutionary approach to fighter design versus the challenges of fielding a 'revolutionary' design affordably and on schedule

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On Ariel View, Arie Egozi noted that the Israeli air force has stepped up its joint exercises with NATO members' militaries.

Since the Gaza flotilla raid lost it a partner in Turkey, it has built "working relations" with Romania and Greece. "NATO is not mentioned... but it is clear that 'mutual interests' are in the background," wrote Egozi.

A post on space blog Hyperbola pondered whether the US Air Force would use Boeing's X-37B minishuttle to spy on China's Tiangong 1 station. Verdict? "Maybe - but not yet."

On The Green Wing, Kirsty McGregor delved into a report by law firm Holman Fenwick Willan to list precisely what the emissions trading system requires airlines to do between now and April 2013.

On defence blog The DEW Line, Stephen Trimble noted Northrop's next-generation airliner concept, a response to a NASA request. "It's the first airliner optimised for radar cross section!" wrote Trimble.

"That's one way for airlines to get around slot restrictions at LHR."

Our Image of the Day blog featured a shot of Greek air force Northrop Grumman F-16s, Israeli air force Boeing F-15s and an Israeli Boeing 707 tanker flying in the Middle Eastern nation in November (above) (credit IAF Magazine).

Five Greek F-16s took part in a five-day exercise that included practice dogfights.

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From Nashville, Tennessee, Stephen Trimble updated his military blog The DEW Line with a clip of Alton Romig - the new chief of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works - fielding a question on the possibility of a sixth-generation fighter.

A stroll past the window display of Iran Air's London office inspired news editor Dominic Perry to add a photograph of a Boeing 727 bearing the carrier's 1970s livery to the Image of the Day blog.

Asian Skies had shots of the Taiwanese air force's newly arrived Martin B-26 Marauder.

And on Ariel View, Arie Egozi noted the Israeli civil aviation authority's decision not to allow virtual airlines, sealing the fate of El Al's charter subsidiary Sundor.

"The conversation does not touch on the tactic of price as a weapon in a sales battle," wrote Ostrower. "Fuller continually emphasises the technical merits of the aircraft as its selling point."

On his military blog The DEW Line, Stephen Trimble invited visitors to predict airpower's winners and losers in 2012.

On Asian Skies, Greg Waldron assessed an Institute for National Strategic Studies report on China's quest for advanced military aviation technologies - and decided it "does a good job balancing the pros and cons of buying technology overseas, developing it at home, and acquiring it through espionage".

Crucially, the jet-powered, stealthy unmanned air system has an internal weapons bay.

"With the Avenger, the USAF's 'classified customer' will have an aircraft that can drop 900kg (2,000lb) bombs," wrote Stephen Trimble.

"Note to the underground residents of Natanz and Qom: GBU-24 penetrator bombs weigh about 900kg."

FlightBlogger noted the rollout of the first Boeing 787 to be delivered to JAL.

On Asian Skies, Greg Waldron recalled his tour of a RAAF Airbus KC-30A: "The remarkable thing was not how much has been changed to convert the aircraft to a tanker, but how little."

As the Cro(ft) Flies recalled how a Canadian squadron used an AgustaWestland AW101 "Cormorant" to rescue a hiker.

Don't forget to get involved in the Webbies 2011 where you can vote for or nominate your favourite websites. There's a new category of Best Mobile App,  

We launched the annual Webbies to find the best aviation resources on the internet. The awards, in their fourth year, include several new categories, such as best mobile app. The deadline for entries is 13 January.

See the new categories and enter now 

FlightBlogger Jon Ostrower continued his unrivalled Boeing Commercial Airplanes coverage, focusing this week on the deal with unions to ensure the 737 Max is made in Seattle.

Aviation safety is the subject of entries from John Croft on his general aviation blog As the Cro(ft) Flies, and from David Learmount on his eponymous blog.

Croft praises the robustness of the Air Tractor after a crash in which the pilot survived and was quoted as saying: "If I'd had been flying anything else, I'd have been dead."

Learmount bemoans the lack of risk awareness among sections of the helicopter community in a blog accompanied by real-time video of a low-altitude accident on an Auckland construction site, in which the chopper was torn in two but from which the pilot walked away, albeit shakily.

That, complete with extra question marks, is the marketing pitch of Skydive Las Vegas, which gives clients the chance to be thrown out of a Pacific Aerospace P-750 XSTOL turboprop.

Our intrepid Flightblogger Jon Ostrower took up the challenge. "The anticipation of the jump is harder than the jump itself," he said.

"The cold cabin, the rushing wind and lack of conversation provide the soundtrack for a swirling mind.

At some point, I just accepted the next events of my life were in the control of others."

And his post-jump reaction? "When can we go again?"

Elsewhere in blogs, Asian Skies recorded the "dismal fate shared by 23 former Royal Australian Air Force F-111s".

"The fuselages of the iconic aircraft were last week buried in an Australian landfill, outraging the sensibilities of the nation's aviation geeks," wrote Greg Waldron.

Mary Kirby signs off as Runway Girl with an uncensored blog post. She writes: "I am extraordinarily grateful for all the opportunities provided to me by Flightglobal - the ability to write for its esteemed magazine and online titles, to jump behind the shaky camera and in front of the (unforgiving) high-def camera, and to bounce around the aircraft static displays at some of the world's greatest air shows.

"More than anything, however, I am grateful for having been afforded the autonomy to write this blog uncensored."

Why not take advantage of a seasonal discount of 20% at the Flightglobal Image Store, which houses a whole host of modern and vintage images.

Check out the different categories to make it easier to find what you're looking for:

Iconic Front Covers / Women In Aviation / World War II - 1939-45 / Cutaways Pre 1914 / 1930s Civil / 1930s Military / Post WWII / Experimental Prototypes /Air Races and Modern Aircraft Flight Collection

And don't forget to enter the Flight International Front Cover Competition where your winning image could grace the final issue of the magazine in 2011. Closing date 5 December.  

Safety expert David Learmount posted to his eponymous blog a clip of a rotorcraft crash in New Zealand, commenting that it "demonstrates why helicopters have a high accident rate relative to fixed wing.

Making a sound decision about whether or not to operate [in a given space] entails understanding the principles of risk management, but most pilots are not trained in it."

On Asian Skies, Greg Waldron shared a finding from the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules media flight in Dubai.

"When the C-130J is unloading cargo in a hot landing zone, the pilot can feather the aircraft's propellers while keeping the engines at a high power rating. This means the guys rushing to unload are not blanketed by dust while they work, yet the aircraft can still take off quickly if necessary."

Honoured in front of VIPs at an awards ceremony held at Dubai's prestigious Al Badia Golf Club, the awards were presented to the great and good in the aviation industry.

The winners of Leader, Innovator and Aviator were selected and voted for by the users of flightglobal.com and generated more than 4,000 votes.

The fourth - for Lifetime Achievement - was a special award from the publisher of Flight International and the Flightglobal family of products,  was awarded to aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, who also spoke at the event about his long and distinguished career.

Also announced at the star-studded event was the winner of the sixth Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award, which was chosen by a distinguished panel of current and former senior engineers at Boeing.

The winner was Noël Bakhtian, who is closing in on a PhD focused on supersonic retro propulsion - which may be the key to resolving entry problems posed by the Red Planet

The event was sponsored by Boeing, Bombardier, AJW Aviation and Ascend, and hosted by Flight International editor Murdo Morrison.

More details on each of the winners and information on all the runners up can be found at flightglobal.com/awards11.

For all the latest news and views from the Dubai air show, visit our dedicated show page.

As the Cro(ft) Flies carried a piece that followed up on John Croft's YouTube post about the landing crash of a militarised Air Tractor AT-802U variant in October 2010, and on a just-published NTSB preliminary report about the Uvalde, Texas crash of a turbine AT-402 - from which, miraculously, the pilot walked away with no injuries.

Croft's conclusion? "I would not like to be a participant in an aircraft crash, but if I were forced to do so, I'd want to be riding in an Air Tractor."

Croft also posted video from the first flight of E-volo's manned 16-rotor electric multicopter in Germany last month.

And on Ariel View, Arie Egozi labelled the Taxibot being developed by Airbus and Israel Aerospace Industries "a revolution in aircraft ground movements".

• Hall maps: The maps of the different halls allow users to tap on individual stands and chalets to bring up exhibitor details
  
• Static map: The static map will be updated as soon as the final static plan is released (likely to be a couple of days before the show starts). Tapping on individual aircraft will bring up details specific to that aircraft.
  
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