Jim Tweto, Gone at 68

Alaska State Troopers reported on 17 June 2023 that noted bush pilot, television personality, aviation executive, and long-time Alaska resident Jim Tweto (68) lost his life in an as-of-yet poorly understood aircraft accident in the vicinity of Shaktoolik, Alaska—a coastal settlement of some 251 residents approximately 110-nautical-miles east-southeast of Nome.

Indian Air-Carrier Commits to 500 A320 Family Jets

On 19 June 2023, Airbus announced IndiGo had placed a firm order for a staggering five-hundred A320 narrow-body airliners—thereby setting the record for the largest single-purchase agreement in commercial aviation’s 109-year history. To date, IndiGo has ordered 1,330 Airbus aircraft—in so doing earning the distinction of being the world’s largest operator of A320 family jets.

Long-Lived Messerschmitt Offers Earliest Flying Example of the Infamous Axis Fighter

One of the earliest intact BF-109s is up for grabs from Platinum fighter sales, with a solid pedigree and low owner history to boot. The 1938 Messerschmitt BF-109E-1, marked 6*88, started its career with the Condor Legion in Spain, flying with their Air Force through 1950. It was discharged from official SAF service then, flying as a trainer through 1958 as the Spaniards transitioned to their own license-built Hispano Buchón.

Twenty-Day Ordeal Ends Well

On Friday, 16 June 2023, the United States Coast Guard and the crew of the merchant vessel Baker Spirit cooperated in the rescue of a mariner stranded on the open South Pacific Ocean some 1,210-nautical-miles north of the French Polynesian island nation of Tahiti. An Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules located the imperiled mariner after being given his last known position by the Coast Guard’s Tahiti Rescue Coordination Center facility.

Autumn in Lakeland

Autumn 2023 will see the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) convene a Flight Instruction Safety and Business Summit at Lakeland, Florida’s SUN ‘n FUN campus. The 24 through 26 October event will host current and prospective Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs) and feature addresses and presentations set forth by flight training luminaries, aviation industry advocates, government representatives, and media. By way of invitation, NAFI president Paul J. Preidecker penned an open letter reading in part: “On behalf of all of us at NAFI, I want to invite you to join us for this important gathering. The NAFI S

FY2023 Aviation Bonus Program offers $50,000 for Eligible Officers

Military aviators eyeing separation got another data point to consider before filing their paperwork - a $50,000 bonus aimed at keeping the USAF's investments in the service. The bonuses come under the Legacy Aviation Bonus Program, which builds off the previous bonus with a bump from its previous monetary cap of $35,000 per year up to $50,000 per year.

Of Airplanes on and Under the Roof

Recently, a rarely-performed hybrid work of music and avant-garde theater was performed at McMinnville, Oregon’s Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. The composition, titled One-Thousand Airplanes on the Roof, was written in the 1980s by composer Philip Glass and staged in the vast shadow of Howard Hughes’s colossal Hughes H-4 Hercules—better known throughout the wide world as the Spruce Goose.

Pilot Requested A Lower Altitude From Air Traffic Control (ATC) Due To Encountering Ice

On June 2, 2023, at about 0907 Central Daylight Time, a Vans RV-7, N977RV, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident in Gibbon, Nebraska. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) data revealed that the airplane departed Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC), Denver, Colorado, at 0610 and proceeded direct toward Red Oak Municipal Airport (RDK), Red Oak, Iowa. The pilot filed an instrument flight plan. About two hours after departure from BJC, at an altitude of 15,000 ft mean sea level (msl), the pilot requested

Aero Linx: Christian Pilots Association of Alaska, Inc. Christian Pilots Association of Alaska, Inc. is composed of aircraft owners who are using their gift and skill as pilots and their own aircraft to share the Gospel message with those in "Bush Alaska" where over 100 villages have no pastor or Christian witness.

Radar Contact Lost Used by ATC to inform a pilot that the surveillance data used to determine the aircraft's position is no longer being received, or is no longer reliable and radar service is no longer being provided. The loss may be attributed to several factors including the aircraft merging with weather or ground clutter, the aircraft operating below radar line of sight coverage, the aircraft entering an area of poor radar return, failure of the aircraft's equipment, or failure of the surveillance equipment.

“Reliable personnel forecasts allow the Air Force to continue executing the warfighting mission. Our experienced aviators are uniquely qualified to succeed in a combat environment and these incentives are necessary to maintain that talent and competitiveness with our pacing challenge.” Source: Maj. Gen. Albert Miller, Air Force Training and Readiness director, discussing the news that military aviators eyeing separation got another data point to consider before filing their paperwork - a $50,000 bonus aimed at keeping the USAF's investments in the service.