“We Own the Night”…But Not For Much Longer Pacific Wings’ UK correspondent, Peter Cooper, visited Holloman Air Force Base on the eve of the F-117A’s retirement from active service. He profiles the aircraft and says farewell to a true modern classic. Lords of the Cub—a Personal Account of the Journey to a PPL in the Cub A long family association with the much-loved ...

Gulfstream Aerospace has announced the introduction of an all-new range-topping business jet: the Gulfstream G650. The G650 will offer the longest range, fastest speed, largest cabin and the most-advanced cockpit in the Gulfstream fleet. It will be capable of travelling 7,000 nautical miles at 0.85 Mach or 5,000 nautical miles at 0.90 Mach, and have a maximum operating speed of ...

At the beginning of 2008, The Minister for Transport Safety, Hon Harry Duynhoven, launched the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) Aviation Network in Wellington. Fundamental to the Network is the NMIT’s Diploma in Aviation Science. The Minister said that along with the 11 aviation providers around the country, what the NMIT had created was unique. He said that the Aviation ...

Rhett Ross, the new president of Teledyne Continental, has said that his company is planning to “aggressively develop” a diesel or heavy-fuel engine for certification in late 2009 or early 2010. Ross says that Teledyne Continental would like to ground demonstrate a prototype of an engine—probably in the 300-hp range—later in 2008 or early 2009. He suggested that this size ...

Lawyers in the US who are suing Comair for damages associated with the crash of Comair 5191 in August 2006 have persuaded the court to allow them to use reports from the airline’s voluntary reporting system as part of their case. ALPA-I, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Flight Safety Foundation have opposed the court decision. The Comair programme, called ASAP ...

Two New Zealand aircraft engineers have been found guilty of manslaughter for the death of a helicopter pilot who died when a tail rotor component in his Robinson R22 failed as the helicopter was about to land; a passenger aboard the helicopter survived the crash. The pilot had just uplifted the helicopter from the engineers’ company where it had undergone ...

“The night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4). Maybe once, but since the advent of the mighty F-117A Nighthawk, night is the time when a special breed of men—and their machines—come into their own. Pacific Wings’ UK correspondent, Peter Cooper, visited the US Air Force’s 49th Fighter Wing on the eve of the Stealth Fighter’s retirement. It’s hard to ...