The World of Aviation

The American Helicopter Society has given its top design award to Eurocopter’s X3 hybrid demonstrator. The presentation of the group’s Howard Hughes award comes as Eurocopter prepares a US tour for the unusual rotorcraft, which it hopes to market for a range of civilian and military uses including long-distance search and rescue, border patrol, special operations,

Friday May 4 was long-serving Australian Aviation deputy editor and more recently sister-mag Australian Defence Business Review editor Andrew McLaughlin’s last day at Phantom Media. The team at Phantom Media wishes Andrew all the best, and thanks him for his hundreds of great stories, his knowledge and his enthusiasm. He will be missed.

A loose screw caused an iPhone 4 to spontaneously ignite just after a Regional Express flight landed in Sydney late last year, the ATSB has concluded. An examination of the iPhone, conducted at a “specialist facility” in the US, concluded that a small screw had been misplaced inside the phone’s battery bay, apparently during maintenance

Turboprop maker ATR has delivered its 1000th aircraft, an ATR 72-600 for Spanish airline Air Nostrum. The Franco-Italian company is coming off a record 2011 in which it sold 157 aircraft. High fuel prices have contributed to a resurgence in popularity for turboprop aircraft on regional routes, with ATR saying its aircraft accounted for more

Airbus Military’s A400M airlifter has received initial type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency as it moves toward first delivery expected by the turn of the year. The receipt of the Restricted Type Certificate is a step toward full civil type certification, which Airbus said it expects to receive by mid-year following the completion

Defence has released a tender for deeper maintenance of the RAAF classic F/A-18 Hornet fleet, with the new contract expected to take effect from April 2013. “This contract will provide all deeper maintenance requirements for the 55 single-seat and 16 dual-seat aircraft and associated systems. This includes operational fight trainers, computer‑based training systems, maintenance training