“Real airplanes have round engines,” says a popular pilots’ bumper sticker. Anyone with aviation in the blood knows that it is radials the sticker is referring to and not jet engines (and any aero-Philistine who tries to suggest that jets are also round is likely to be stoned or pilloried). Radial engines epitomise the “golden age” of romantic aviation—an ...

I recently spent time in New Zealand with a group of Hong Kong Helicopter Club members and their families. We all very much enjoyed our seven-day stay from 16–23 March, most of which we spent at Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand. Wanaka is a truly unbeatable location for cross-country and real mountain flying training, with Mount Aspiring and ...

In his opening speech at this year’s Airbus Technical Press Briefing (TPB) in Toulouse, Airbus’s CEO, Tom Enders, made it clear that despite the difficulties Airbus had faced over the past year, he believes the company is on exactly the right track to rectify outstanding production ramp-up difficulties and industrial/HR issues.

“In an era where we need to grow ...

On 3 June, International Business Wales and Technium UK announced that TracPlus Global had been selected as the overall winner of the 2008 International Technium Challenge.

In the May issue of Pacific Wings, it was announced that TracPlus Global had been selected as one of sixteen finalists for the final stage of this major international technology competition.

The sixteen ...

In June, both Airbus and Boeing announced separate major initiatives and cooperative efforts with other aviation industry participants to thoroughly investigate sustainable biofuels for future aviation use.

On 15 June, Airbus announced its partnership with Honeywell Aerospace’s UOP (a biofuel technology developer), International Aero Engines (IAE) and JetBlue Airways to pursue development of a sustainable second-generation biofuel. Then, on ...

New Zealand born Ray Webster, co founder and recently retired CEO of easyJet, will tell his story on how he helped change the face of international air travel when he addresses a celebration dinner to be held at Wigram by the Canterbury Aero Club on September 20th to mark its 80th anniversary.

A man with qualifications and experience ...

Radial Renaissance.

Since the advent of the jet, many true aviators have been mourning the virtual demise of the radial engine. Grieve no more, fellow radialists! As Rob Neil discovered, Melbourne’s Rotec Engineering is leading a global radial revival with its own remarkable “roundies”.

Sounds Even Better.

When Pacific Wings profiled Sounds Air in 2004, the future of ...