Marc Joel Atrero

If you were a wealthy industrialist or film star looking for an executive aircraft in the mid-1930’s your choices were somewhat limited. J Paul Getty acquired the Spartan Aircraft Company in 1935 and soon contracted James B Ford, a renowned aircraft designer of the period, to design a new ‘Standard Seven’ – a low wing

Virgin Atlantic CEO Steve Ridgway There are few stronger brands in world aviation than the Virgin name. Locally Virgin Blue has grown rapidly over the last decade to become Australia’s number 2 airline, built on the youth-ful, anti-establishment irreverence of Sir Richard Branson’s global Virgin brand. But in the airline world those principles were first

The challenges of operating the F-111 On the eve of the F-111’s withdrawal from service, the commander of ACG, AIRCDRE Mel Hupfeld, the outgoing commanding officer of 6SQN, WGCDR Micka Gray, and senior engineering officer (SENGO) of 6SQN, SQNLDR Peter O’Donnell spoke to Australian Aviation about what it’s been like to fly against, to fly

F-111 in RAAF service When F-111C A8-125 callsign ‘Sabre Two’, crewed by FLTLT Andrew ‘Klo’ Kloeden and 6SQN commanding officer WGCDR Michael ‘Micka’ Gray, touched down on Amberley’s Runway 33 at 1.22pm on December 3, it brought to a close more than 37 years of RAAF F-111 operations. The event was witnessed by current and

The QF32 catastrophic uncontained failure The catastrophic uncontained failure of Qantas flight QF32’s number 2 Rolls-Royce Trent 972 engine after takeoff from Singapore on November 4 was almost of Titanic scale. A380-842 VH-OQA was the first of Qantas’s Airbus A380s – the largest, most powerful commercial jet in the world. This content is available exclusively

Perth Airport unveils new major extension plans In a long overdue move Westralia Airports Corporation (WAC), leaseholder of Perth Airport, is to spend $500 million over three years on new terminals and services so that the airport can handle growth fuelled by the resources boom and low cost airlines. Work will commence in 2011 on