The Japanese Ground Self Defense Force has chosen Enstrom Helicopter Corporation to supply the next generation of training helicopters for the JGSDF Pilot Training Program. The program calls for the first evaluation helicopter to be delivered in 2010, with a total of 30 aircraft to joipn the program by 2014.

This year’s Heli-Expo 2010 at Houston has been good news for American Eurocopter, with significant major orders from the law enforcement and emergency services sector.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has entered into the first option year on the Light Enforcement Helicopter (LEH) contract, placing an order for a further six AS350B3s. This is the second order on the LEH contract that was awarded to American Eurocopter by the Department of Homeland Security in July 2008.

Hawker Pacific has signed up a sale worth close to US$3 million for seven diamond flight training aircraft, building on its successful 14-aircraft (almost $5m) deal with Massey University last March.  Six new single Lycoming-powered Diamond DA-40 four-seat trainers and a twin-engined DA42L, also Lycoming powered, will join the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW Aviation) fleet during the first quarter of this year.  The six DA-40s will be powered by the 180HP Lycoming IO-360-M1A Avgas engine, and the DA42L360 by two counter-rotating versions, also of 180HP… READ MORE

“It’s probably the premier warbird air show, certainly in Australasia,” asserts Peter Pring-Shambler, who has attended almost all Wanaka Easter events since the event’s 1988 inception.  That description is generous because Peter’s Chief Engineer at Temora Aviation Museum, where he looks after a fleet of fourteen vintage aircraft from Tiger Moth to Spitfire, Vampire, Meteor and Sabre, as well as two bombers – a Lockheed Hudson and a Canberra.

When Bob Phillips and David Thomas were organising the highly successful “Oshkosh Express” charter flights to the USA, they once had 298 pilots on board their chartered Qantas 747. The pilot who landed the aircraft at Oshkosh’s Wittman Field admitted to feeling a bit intimidated by 297 spectators taking an interest in the quality of his landing.   For this year’s Oshkosh event in June Bob and Marya Phillips, the folks who now run Avtours, have again booked a whole Boeing 747-400 and its 367 seats are filling up fast. This time their Jumbo will be in Air New Zealand colours and flying from Auckland, with two Air New Zealand B767s feeding Australian passengers into it from Melbourne and Sydney.

Hawker Beechcraft has attained both FAA and EASA certification of the latest addition to the Hawker range, the Beechcraft King Air 350i.

What does the lower-case “i” stand for? Serves us right for asking! According to HBC it stands for “intelligent; innovative; impressive; invaluable; iconic; ideal.”

Hawker Pacific’s Senior Vice President, Aircraft Sales & Flight Services Group, Tony Jones said the new model has already attracted a lot of interest from potential customers in the new certifications, which bring the 350i one step closer to availability within the region

Two of Australia’s leading aerospace companies will become part of the US $6.3 billion Mumbai-based multinational …

If you’re driving in NSW and you see a Cessna 206 with a cargo pod, better either slow down or accelerate to around 140 KIAS.  We’ve had quite a few entertaining calls from industry cynics following a TV program last night in which the NSW Police announced they’d be using their C206 to patrol the state’s highways. Here are some of their comments:

It’s all about putting a smile of the faces of kids who often don’t have much to smile about. Australian pilots and owners are bringing happiness into the lives of children and their families who face a serious illness or extreme adversity, and the movement is growing beyond all expectations.  It’s a once-a-year event. FunFlight Australia, a non-profit organisation set up especially for the purpose, arranges fun flights for these children in co-operation with local aero clubs and owner/pilots, and the whole operation is conducted with great care and underlying professionalism.

A CareFlight medical evacuation aircraft operated by Pel-Air Aviation ditched in darkness close to Norfolk Island last night without apparent injury to crew or occupants.  The purpose-equipped medical retrieval Westwind twinjet, carrying a sick passenger from Apia (Samoa) to Melbourne had made several approaches to land at the…

Gippsland Aeronautics (GA) is negotiating with a potential equity partner as it prepares for expansion into new markets.  Airvan also now has Argentinean certification, with a demonstrator now sold to its distributor Aerotec in Mendoza, Argentina.  Co-founding director George Morgan says that although the equity deal is not yet over the line, the new potential partner is a large overseas multinational which has equity in companies all over the world, and which specialises in technologies.  The Latrobe Valley based manufacturer has won certification for the turbocharged variant of its eight-seat utility GA8 Airvan in Europe and the USA, and is already building a prototype turboprop GA10…

Channel Seven and the ABC are reporting that Victoria had refused a Russian government offer of two advanced water-bombing jet aircraft on “Black Saturday,” which come as no surprise to frustrated bush fire fighters.  But in 1997 help was closer at hand although it was almost ignored. In that year five major fires broke out, including a cluster of fires in the Dandenong Ranges that caused three fatalities, destroyed 41 houses and burnt 400 hectares.

A new “aeropark” development at Goulburn NSW has won local government approval, and will be offering general aviation businesses a secure and affordable relocation within two hours of Sydney. Its developers now plan for construction to commence early next February for completion in March 2011.

A world war two P-40 Kittyhawk fighter was seriously damaged yesterday when its undercarriage partially collapsed as its owner-pilot was attempting to land at Mareeba,Queensland. The aircraft was being flown by its owner Mike Spaulding, a Cairns property developer and director… Read full article

Mooney Airplane Company’s latest product, the M20R Ovation 2 GX (glass cockpit) has now won global certification status following European Aviation Safety Administration (EASA certification.  The long-range single-engine piston aircraft cruises at a top speed of 190 knots (ktas) at its 20,000 feet service ceiling, or for longer reach it offers an incredible 1,860 nm range at a cruising speed of 173 ktas (320 kph).

New technology developed originally for military intelligence-gathering will soon allow Firefighters and fire-threatened residents to access real-time information on the position, intensity and direction of advancing fires.  The lack of that information and resulting confusion have now been exposed as weaknesses in fire management strategy, as witnesses at the Royal Commission into Victoria’s bush fires recount their terrifying experiences.

The Singapore Flying College (SFC) and Aeromil Pacific have signed a purchase deal on five new Cessna Citation Mustang jets for STA’s advanced pilot training facility at Sunshine Coast Airport, Maroochydore. The super-economical six-seat Mustangs will progressively phase out SFC’s present fleet of four Learjet 45s, forming the future of advanced training at the college into the next decade.