Inbox

RAAF C-17 completes Antarctic winter airdrop

ngatimozart says: Really good capability to have. The next question to ask is will the possibility exist of being able to land the C-17 at Casey during the winter months? On another note a USAF C-17 flew into McMurdo from Christchurch today [June 8] for a midwinter supply flight. Apparently it is dropping off some personnel for McMurdo and returning some to Christchurch for the US National Science Foundation. No NZ Antarctic personnel changes are happening this month. This is now SOP after successful trials last year. Shows the versatility of the aircraft.

Air Canada arrives in Bris-bane

Peter says: Air Canada is also advertising this as the fastest way from Brisbane to New York. Interesting when they first talked about this route, YVR to BNE, it was only going to be three times a week with a 787-8 and then decided to go daily because of demand. They are putting the larger 787-9 on in Oct. Hope it works.

Foxtrot Chinooks undertake deck handling trials on board Navy LHD

BH says: It would be interesting to see the rotor assembly and removal process while underway on a windy, rolling and pitching deck…

RAAF investigating C-27J landing incident at Waco

Jason says: Oh dear, another delay to an already delayed program? Who said FMS was easy? Jan says: Jason. Three options were considered by Defence: C-27J (from Alenia), C-27J (FMS Joint Cargo Version intended for USAF and US Army) and C295. The C-27J JCA version IS an off-the-shelf US military version with all the extras we wanted in the product baseline. If we’d bought the C-27J direct from Alenia, it wouldn’t have been off-the-shelf with all the extras we would have added. Same applies to C295.

The C-27J JCA version was the best choice. The reality of comparing the C-27J and C295 in the same class is like comparing the C-17 and C-130. Physically and capability-wise they are not the same.

Qantas Group expands into Perth T3

Richard says: I’ve just flown through the newly refreshed terminals at Perth. QF has also upgraded T4 and it looks like new. A much improved experience. T3 is also looking the best it has since its heyday and is used like an overflow terminal for QF group. Mining and charter flights with rows of QF 717/F100s lined up in the early mornings and late evenings. It does manage all JQ flights but as their schedule isn’t great from Perth, one must feel for the retailers in T3 as during the day, it’s a graveyard – very quiet indeed.

‘East Coast Low’ reduces Sydney Airport to single runway operations

Geoff says: Remember when… Not so long ago when 07/25 was the poor relation and was closed…

Oh dear, another delay to an already delayed program?