The World of Aviation

The F-35 program achieved its 2015 delivery target of 45 aircraft, the F-35 Joint Program Office has announced. Forty-four of the jets were delivered from prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility, while one jet was delivered from the Cameri production line in Italy. The delivery of 45 F-35s – the milestone aircraft was a

Safeskies President Emeritus Peter Lloyd has made a tandem skydive over Canberra to celebrate his 95th birthday. The December 15 jump from 14,000ft was Lloyd’s fourth in a series of birthday jumps which began in 2000 with a tandem skydive to celebrate his 80th birthday. Lloyd, who is now blind, was attached to jumpmaster Paul Smith, who was making his

The US Department of State has approved the possible sale of three more Boeing CH-47F Chinook helicopters to Australia. The potential Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program deal, which is valued at US$180 million and includes related equipment and support, would take the Australian Army’s fleet size to 10 aircraft. Boeing said it delivered the seventh CH-47F for Army

The Douglas DC-3 is still going strong 80 years after its first flight took place on December 17 1935. The first DC-3s were built for American Airlines and featured either eight sleeper berths (called the Douglas Sleeper Transport) or a standard configuration of 21 seats. The DC-3 proved one of aviation’s most successful programs, with about

Transport Canada has certified Bombardier’s CS100, clearing the way for the manufacturer to deliver the first aircraft to launch customer Swiss in the second quarter of 2016. The CS100 concluded its flight test program in November 2015, some two years and two months after the aircraft program’s first flight on September 16 2013. During that

A RAAF KC-30A tanker transport has completed inflight refuelling trials with a US Air Force F-16. The seven flights from Edwards Air Force Base, between December 3 and 15, saw the KC-30A conduct 444 ‘contacts’ with the F-16, offloading over 25 tonnes of fuel, and are a key element in achieving conditional clearance for the tanker transport to