The World of Aviation

Europe’s air safety regulator has ordered urgent inspections on nearly a third of the Airbus A380 fleet after a second set of cracks were found in the wings of the superjumbo jet. The order followed a disclosure by Airbus that it had found cracks the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) termed “more serious” than the

The Australian Army has suspended flying operations for its Sikorsky S-70A-9 Black Hawk trooplift helicopters following the identification of a number of fractured bolts during a routine maintenance check. Acting Director General Aviation COL Stephen Evans said the suspension – which took wffect from January 19 – was to ensure safety, and is consistent with

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has made its first night flight, Lockheed Martin has announced. F-35A AF-6 took off from Edwards Air Force Base at 5.05pm on January 18, landing after sunset at 6.22pm, with the jet, flown by Lockheed Martin test pilot Mark Ward, flying a series of straight in approaches in twilight and

Cessna’s Citation Ten, an improved development of its popular Citation X business jet, made its first flight on January 17. The two hour flight, which operated from Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport, assessed aircraft stability and control, the autopilot and autothrottle system, engine operability and avionics operation. “It took a significant amount of work by a large

QantasLink has unveiled a Dash 8 Q400 featuring a special livery to promote the 40th anniversary of the Tamworth Country Music Festival. The Q400, VH-QOI, features a large golden guitar and the music festival’s 40th anniversary logo, and was revealed at a launch event in Sydney yesterday. Tamworth is the birthplace of QantasLink predecessor Eastern

ATSB investigators have finished collecting data on the November 2010 explosion of a Qantas A380 engine and have moved on to analysis and writing a draft report on the incident. Findings from the report are not likely to be released to the public until the second half of the year following a 60 day consultation