The Dutch government summoned Russia’s ambassador on November 18 after the Russian foreign ministry rejected as “scandalous” the life sentences handed down to three individuals found guilty of shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. Judges in The Hague found two former Russian intelligence officers and a Ukrainian separatist responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 in 2014 with a missile, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers.
Russia has refused to extradite the three convicted men, Russians Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy and Ukrainian Leonid Karachenco, all of which the court found belonged to a separatist group in eastern Ukraine sponsored by Russia. The court found another defendant, Oleg Pulatov, not guilty of the charges.
Dassault’s“extra widebody” Falcon 6X, scheduled to enter service in mid-2023, is now in its final stage of flight trials. The company recently completed a world tour of Falcopn 6X S/N 4 to showcase the aircraft’s maturity and reliability, as well as its cabin.
Dassault has equipped the 6X with technologicaladvancements that make it efficient and pleasant to fly for the pilot and passenger, but the airy cabin is what will attract most customers. It has 1,843 cubic feet of volume and 30 windows, plus a skylight over the entryway. We got a look inside S/N 4.
A crew of two pilots—AIN editor-in-chief Matt Thurber and aviation marketing/communications veteran Jeff Miller—supported by a team of wildlife experts, FBOs, air traffic controllers, and two aquariums flew an endangered Olive Ridley sea turtle from Seattle Boeing Field to San Diego International Airport for turtle rescue charity Turtles Fly Too. This was the first U.S. West Coast mission for the turtle-rescue organization.
With Thurber flying right seat and monitoring the turtle, Miller piloted the flight of the turboprop single Jetprop DLX (a turbine-converted Piper Malibu Mirage), starting at his home base in Sun Valley, Idaho. Miller flew to Portland International Airport on Saturday afternoon; then the two pilots departed Sunday morning for Boeing Field.
San Diego FBO Crownair Aviation has dealt itself a royal flush over the past two years, with the opening of its new facility and the acquisition of a former competitor that more than doubled its footprint at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (KMYF).
The company has been at KMYF for the past 71 years, with its current ownership involved there since 2008. According to president and general manager Ray Richmond, Crownair presented an offer to the city to upgrade the FBO terminal back in 2010, and after a slow approval process, finally moved into the newly-built facility in January 2021.
Electric propulsion startup Evolito is accelerating efforts to power new aircraft with axial-flux technology that it claims will deliver motors with exceptional power density suitable for a variety of fixed-wing and VTOL applications.
The UK-based company was spun out from a company called YASA in July 2021 to harness aerospace intellectual property from the company before its automotive activities were acquired by car-making giant Mercedes-Benz. Evolito is now backed by venture capital groups B-Flexion and Oxford Science Enterprises.
Australia has selected the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules for its Project Air 7404 Phase 1 requirement, the country’s Department of Defence announced on November 1. The purchase will now progress towards gaining government approval next year.
Air 7404 Phase 1 is part of an effort to recapitalize the tactical airlift fleet, which currently relies on the 12 stretched C-130J-30s that entered service in 1999 and which fly with No. 37 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force at RAAF Richmond in New South Wales. The smaller Leonardo C-27J Spartan is operated by No. 35 Squadron at RAAF Amberley, Queensland.
UK software developer Signol has saved Virgin Atlantic Airways some 1,000 tonnes of fuel over a six-month period with the help of a proprietary app designed to “nudge” pilots into flying more efficiently, according to the London-based startup. The behavioral economics and data science app—adopted by Virgin Atlantic last December—gives pilots individual feedback on their operational tendencies to encourage them to reduce fuel usage while complying with fuel management and flight safety standards.
A three-year deal between Virgin Atlantic and Signol follows the success of an initial study in which pilots reduced CO2 emissions by 24,000 tonnes over an eight-month period, resulting in $6.1 million in savings.
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