F-35 for Portugal: Rubio Makes His Pitch to Replace the F-16
Share this story Diplomats usually leave the sales talk to the manufacturers. Not this time. At a joint press conference in the Palácio das Necessidades in Lisbon on 8 October, a reporter asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio which jet Portugal should buy to replace...
Airbus Beluga and BelugaXL: Why Airbus Flies Its Wings in a Whale
Share this story On the morning of 29 January 2026 a fat white airliner with a cockpit where its chin should be made a low pass over the Airbus wing factory at Broughton in North Wales, swung round and landed for the last time. It had flown in from Bordeaux. Over the...
Touch-and-Go Landings and the Traffic Pattern, Explained
Share this story Watch a training airfield on a busy afternoon and you will see the same thing again and again: an aircraft settles onto the runway, the wheels touch, and instead of slowing down, the engine roars and it lifts straight back into the air. A minute or...
KLM Starlink Wi-Fi: Free Internet on Long-Haul Flights From 2027
Share this story KLM celebrated its 107th birthday with a present for its long-haul passengers. On 8 October 2026, the Dutch airline announced free, high-speed Wi-Fi powered by Starlink on its intercontinental flights, in every cabin, starting in mid-2027. The catch...
Brazil-Built Gripen E Flies: Embraer’s First F-39 Takes Off
Share this story At 10:21 on Tuesday morning, according to Air Data News, a single-engine fighter with the number 4109 on its tail rolled down the runway at Gavião Peixoto, in the interior of São Paulo state, and climbed away. On the face of it, it was a routine first...
First German F-35 Lands at Ebbing to Start Luftwaffe Training
Share this story Shortly after lunchtime on Monday, 5 October 2026, an F-35A wearing the Iron Cross of the German Air Force touched down at Ebbing Air National Guard Base in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and taxied under a ceremonial water arch. The flight from Lockheed...
IFF Explained: How Military Jets Tell Friend From Foe
Share this story On a radar screen, every aircraft looks much the same: a blip. It might be a friendly fighter coming home, an airliner, or an enemy bomber. Get it wrong one way and an enemy slips through. Get it wrong the other way and you shoot down your own people....
Germany Eyes GCAP: Berlin Explores Britain’s Sixth-Gen Fighter
Share this story Four months ago, Germany walked out of FCAS, the sixth-generation fighter it was supposed to build with France and Spain. Now Berlin is quietly looking at the other side of the Channel. According to Politico, German and British officials have begun...
Crash Axe Explained: Why Every Airliner Carries One in the Cockpit
Share this story Airport security will confiscate a pocket knife, a pair of long scissors or a corkscrew with a blade. Yet behind the locked cockpit door of almost every airliner you board, there is an axe. It is not a secret and it is not a loophole. Aviation...
Poland’s FA-50GF Fighters Enter Combat Duty After Three Unarmed Years
Share this story For almost three years they were trainers with nothing to fire. On the evening of 2 October 2026, Poland’s Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that the country’s FA-50GF light fighters had finally entered combat duty,...
Recent Comments