Latest issue – March 2010/Issue 269

photo - Eurocopter	Military aviation
	NEWS UPDATE Super Sukhoi – Russia joins the 5th gen club, Andrew McLaughlin Russia’s long-awaited answer to the F-22 Raptor, the Sukhoi T-50, made its first flight on January 29 from Sukhoi/KnAAPO’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur facility in Siberia’s far east.
	NEWS UPDATE Naval helicopter decision looms, Andrew McLaughlin The battle to replace the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of 16 S-70B-2 Seahawks and the still vacant anti-surface capability left by the cancellation of the Seasprite is ramping up.
	INTERVIEW Getting the NACC – AVM John Harvey – Program Manager New Air Combat Capability, Andrew McLaughlin With Australia committing to an initial buy of 14 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters last November as a prelude to an eventual buy of up to 100, the New Air Combat Capability (NACC) office under the leadership of AVM John Harvey is ramping up its activities as it prepares to submit the RAAF’s first Partner Procurement Request (PPR) for the aircraft later this year.
photo - Air New Zealand	Commercial aviation & the airlines
	HUNTING PARTY Jetstar-AirAsia seal alliance as Tiger hits the boards, Ellis Taylor The race for low cost dominance in Asia took an interesting turn on January 6 with AirAsia and Jetstar announcing an alliance between the two carriers, coincidentally on the same day rival airline Tiger Airways launched its initial public offering.
	OPPORTUNITY SAIGON? Jetstar Pacific hits difficulties with Vietnamese authorities, Ellis Taylor & Gerard Frawley The smiles apparent at the launch of Jetstar Pacific in 2008 appear to have faded as the relationship between Qantas and the Vietnamese government appears to be turning from bad to worse.
	AVIATION WHITE PAPER Delivering the flightpath of the future?, Ellis Taylor “So it’s been almost two years work, and I think whilst circumstances change with aviation – it’s a fast moving industry – it’s an attempt to put the framework around the broad range of chapters that we have in headings of economy, safety and security, the community, consultation engaging, international – all of those issues all in one document to try to link them all as well in a coherent way, and I think it does that,” Transport Minister Anthony Albanese told Australian Aviation in an interview during early January.
	BREAKING THE MOULD Air New Zealand rethinks cabin interiors, Geoffrey Thomas For years the saying “if it happens in aviation it happens at Edwards” has not been challenged, with the famous test site northeast of Los Angeles the home of countless records for speed and altitude.
	ANTARCTIC EXPRESS Flying Australia’s Antarctic airlink A319 to the ice, Dan Colborne Eighty-one years ago a ski-equipped black Lockheed Vega took off from the sea ice on the Antarctic Peninsula on the first flight over the frozen continent. Its pilot, the then famous Australian adventurer Sir Hubert Wilkins, could never have imagined that one day a passenger jet would run a weekly service to a runway bearing his name carved out of solid blue ice on a large glacier.
photo - Carl Miller	General & recreational aviation
	AIRTEST Brazilian beauty – The Embraer Phenom 100, Bob Grimstead This is the Embraer Phenom 100. Pretty isn’t it? Moreover, I can assure you it flies even better than it looks.
	LOOKING THROUGH THE GLASS The Garmin G1000, Owen Zupp Cockpits have come a long way since the humble ‘turn and bank’ indicator and alcohol-filled P8 compass of a Tiger Moth.
	REDISCOVERING AFFORDABLE AVIATION Owen Zupp In the wake of the demise of yet another General Aviation (GA) flight school, one wonders what the future holds for the private pilot in Australia.
	Regular columns
	NOTAM Gerard Frawley, NEWSDESK Ellis Taylor & Andrew McLaughlin, WARBIRDS Dave Prossor, TRAFFIC Gordon Reid, ROTOR TORQUE Paul Sadler, DEFENCE UPDATE Andrew McLaughlin, FROM THE REGIONS Paul Tyrrell, RIGHT HAND SEAT Dave Prossor, DEBRIEF Doug Macdonald, YESTERYEAR Eric Allen, AERIAL AG Phil Hurst, CIVIL AIRCRAFT REGISTER UPDATE Tony Arbon, CONTRAILS Geoffrey Thomas.