PG13

Operation Christmas Drop exercise, conducted with US forces, delivering food, clothing and toys to outlying communities in the Marshall Islands. “Extra fuel is useful during forward arming and refuelling point (FARP) operations, where the crew land and offload fuel to another aircraft, vehicle or storage tank,” Commander Air Mobility Group AIRCDRE William Kourelakos said.

OEM News

Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth says he expects orders for the airframer’s in-development 777‑8X large widebody to start coming in once the first 777-300ERs near retirement age. “The 777-8 is really about the replacement for the 777-300ER,” Tinseth told Australian Aviation in mid-October. “And we’re not going to see that replacement cycle for that aircraft until we get into the next decade. So even though the -8 has lagged the -9, at the end of the day I think we have great opportunities, especially as the 777- 300ERs start hitting 20 to 25 years in terms of their age.” As at the end of October, there were 326 orders for the 777X family of aircraft with 53 for the 777-8X and the remainder the larger 777-9X.