The World of Aviation

The ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau)’s final report from its investigation of the explosion of an oxygen bottle on a Qantas Boeing 747-400 in 2008 has highlighted the improbability of such an event occurring again. Despite the bottle never being recovered, “the ATSB’s investigation has proven successful in highlighting the improbability of the failure event,

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a US$3.5 billion contract for the fourth Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP 4) batch of 31 F-35 JSF aircraft. Under the contract, the company will manufacture 10 F-35As for the USAF, 16 F-35Bs for the US Marine Corps, four F-35Cs for the US Navy and, despite that country recently changing

Virgin Blue was Australia’s most on time domestic airline in October, the first month in 2010 for which it has been able to claim that honour from Qantas. Virgin Blue achieved an on time departure rate of 85.8 per cent in October, up from 79.1 per cent in September, while the percentage of Qantas’s flights

The USAF’s effort to replace its 45+ year old KC-135 fleet with 179 new tankers under the KC-X program has suffered another blow with confirmation a decision has been delayed from November 2010 until “early” 2011. It has also been revealed that USAF officials accidentally sent each of the two rival bidders, Boeing with its

The US Congress has approved a US$60 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia. The deal, which includes 84 new F-15S fighters, upgrades to 72 F-15Ss already in service, 70 AH-64D Apaches, 72 UH-60M Black Hawks, 36 OH-6 Little Bird helicopters, and thousands of advanced weapons and sensors, is one of the largest ever single arms

Two RAF Harrier GR.9s visited Dunsfold Park aerodrome in the UK on November 18 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first untethered hover by the Harrier’s prototype, the P1127. The 50th anniversary visit was attended by more than 100 special guests including two of the original test pilots, Duncan Simpson and John Farley. The