An Industry Runs Out Of Ideas The drought of new aircraft programmes is getting worse. Very few manufacturers are now planning to build new aircraft, either civil or military. The 1992 edition of the Observer’s Book of Aircraft had just two entirely new types (compared with the previous year’s edition): the Yak-141 and the Eurofighter

The Ruschmeyer R 90-230 Rg At last, after nearly a hundred articles and ten years of writing, I have been given a truly new production aircraft to evaluate! And what an aircraft! This classy, fast and remarkably quiet four seat retractable boasts excellent flying qualities, a good range and many carefully thought out detailed innovations.

Bare, Webbed Feet Required Deep blue skies, crystal clear water, a slight breeze, sunshine, good times, relaxed easy flying over sandy beaches before splashing cleanly in for a gentle landing. Just a few of the images people associate with warm weather seaplane flying. Sometime it is. Mostly it’s not. This content is available exclusively to

Record Qantas Profit Qantas has posted a record operating profit of withdrawal of three major carriers on the trans Pacific routes over recent years, realised, though the full benefits may not be shown for another twelve to eighteen $301.8 million for 1993/94, in the crucial Qantas claims it is achieving “only marginal profitability”. James Strong