Marc Joel Atrero

Bell’s new twin certified Bell Helicopter’s latest light-medium twin, the 429 GlobalRanger, received its much anticipated certification from Transport Canada Civil Aviation and the FAA on July 1 – almost two and a half years after the prototype made its first flight. Bell completed 2300 hours of flight testing using five prototypes towards achieving certification

New DCP sets out Defence project priorities The 2009 Defence Capability Plan (DCP) was released at July’s Defence+Industry Conference in Adelaide. This latest version of the DCP differs from previous incarnations in that it will be updated annually, and that it only covers funding and project timeframes for four years instead of the decade-long plans

787 first flight delayed It wasn’t meant to be like this. At the Paris Airshow in mid June, Boeing senior executives seemed confident that the 787 Dreamliner, a project which has had as much developmental problems as it shows future promise, would indeed fly by the end month, with the project of that on track

Qantas announced on June 26 that it was deferring its order for 15 Boeing 787-8s by four years and is cancelling orders for 15 of the larger 787-9s. Qantas says that decision was not influenced by the latest first flight delay (see p18), noting it has been working with Boeing on the changes to its

Commercial Boeing Buys Vought 787 Business Following Recent Speculation, Boeing Announced on July 7 That It Had Reached Agreement With Vought Aircraft Industries to Acquire Its North Charelston, South Carolina Production Facilities Which Produce the Rear Sections of the Boeing 787. “integrating This Facility and Its Talented Employees Into Boeing Will Strengthen the 787 Program

Boeing rolls out the RAAF’s first ‘Rhino’ The first of 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets for the RAAF was revealed at a rollout ceremony at Boeing’s St Louis facility on July 8. The ceremony (really a curtain unveiling in a hangar as opposed to a rollout in the literal sense of the term) was attended by