Yesteryear

Approval has been received from shareholders EADS and BAE Systems to enable Airbus to begin making firm commercial offers to A350 launch customers.

Based on the A330-200 and A330-300, the aircraft would have greater use of composites, a new wing and engines with the 245-seat A350-800 offering a range exceeding 15,900km, and the extended fuselage 285-seat A350‑900 a range in excess of 13,900km, both in three-class configurations.

An order for 18 Boeing 777-300ERs valued at a US $4.

1 billion list price by Singapore Airlines has made it the largest 777 customer in the world with a total of 77 Boeing 777s.

Orders for the 777-300ER now stand at 104 including 13 purchase options.

Transport Minister John Anderson has announced a $24.

5 million expenditure to arrange for a Dornier 328 used in northern Australia for dedicated search and rescue support commencing in August 2005 after installation of direction finding equipment, surface radar and a forward-looking infra-red camera.

The aircraft will be provided by the AeroRescue Pty Ltd subsidiary of the Paspaley group and will be based in Darwin on permanent standby for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Australia, Canada and Italy have been invited to participate in the System and Development Phase of the program involving the Boeing 737 MMA (Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft).

The MMA would be the likely candidate to replace the RAAF’s existing Lockheed AP-3C Orions under the AIR 7000 program.

25 years ago

The first use of the Lockheed F-117A Stealth fighter bomber in a combat operation took place on December 20 during Operation Just Cause when two aircraft dropped their 2,000lb laser-guided bombs near the Panama Defense Force’s barracks located on the Rio Hato military reservation.

In another aspect of the operation, the largest night combat airdrop since the 1944 Normandy invasion saw USAF MAC units transport 9,500 troops from Pope AFB, North Carolina to Panama in less than 36 hours.

Aeroflot has joined IATA after many years, although the airline has a relatively small international operation given its size in terms of total passengers carried, route network and fleet size.

Out of a fleet total of about 3,000 aircraft, international operations utilise 28 Il-62s (passenger), 17 Il-76s (freight), 16 Tu-154Ms, 15 Il-86s, 11 Tu-154Bs, eight Tu-134s and four Tu‑154s (freight).

A team which recently conducted a three week search of Nikumaroro and nearby McKean Island in the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati was unable to discover any positive evidence to solve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed Model 10 Electra in the Pacific on July 2 1937.

They did find a metal cigarette case inscribed with what appeared to be a map of the Hawaiian Islands and several other items.

Fred Noonan who was Earhart’s navigator was a smoker with Hawaiian Island links.

The Boeing Board of Directors took the formal decision on December 8 to offer the Boeing 767-X to airlines.

If orders are received permitting a launch, the aircraft will be designated the Boeing 777, a twin-aisle jet transport with a new wing and fuselage wider than the 767, Airbus A330 or McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fitting in between the 767-300 and 747-400.

50 years ago

The Lockheed SR-71A reconnaissance version of the A-11 had its first flight from Air Force Plant 42 Palmdale, California on December 22 flown by Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland.

The aircraft, powered by two 32,500lb afterburning Pratt & Whitney JT11D-20B engines, is believed to be capable of reaching speeds over Mach 3.

The last example of Handley Page Hermes in service, Air Links Ltd’s G-ALDA, was retired on December 13 and will be scrapped at Southend, Essex.

Operation Barrel Roll was launched by the USAF on December 14 using tactical fighters to attack the Ho Chi Minh Trail communist supply route in Laos.

The development of the Lockheed CX-HLS heavy logistics transport for the USAF was approved by President Johnson on December 22.

Max Conrad established a new world nonstop record for an aircraft in its category when he landed his Piper Twin Comanche at St Petersburg, Florida on December 26 after a 12,678km (7878.

26 miles) flight from Cape Town.

Handley Page is converting a number of Victor B.

I and B.

IA aircraft into three-point inflight refuelling tankers for RAF Bomber Command with the first aircraft, XA918, already completed at the company’s Park Street, Hertfordshire factory.

Each tanker with a flight refuelling Mk 20 pod under each wing and a Mk17 unit in the rear of the bomb bay will be able to refuel a range of aircraft from English Electric Lightnings to turboprop transports.

A joint announcement has been made by General Dynamics and Rolls-Royce of a Dart-Convair modernisation program for twin-engined Convair-Liner aircraft worldwide.

The conversion gives a 50mph increase in cruising speed and 1,800lb lift in payload.

Other airlines are looking at the kits for their Convair 240, 340 and 440s.

There are about 1,000 Convair-Liners in service.