Vecihi Hürkuş: The Pilot Who Built Turkey’s First Aircraft
On 28 January 1925, a young Turkish pilot climbed into a small biplane he had designed and built himself, took off, flew for fifteen minutes and landed. It was the first flight ever made by an aircraft built in Turkey. Later that same day, he learned he had been...
E-4B Nightwatch: Inside America’s Doomsday Plane
Every so often, a white Boeing 747 with a hump on its back turns up at a regional airport, flies a few approaches and leaves. Local TV stations ask what it was. Most recently, News On 6 asked that question in Tulsa at the end of September. The answer is always the...
Visual Identification: Why Fighter Pilots Needed Eyes on the Target
Modern fighters carry missiles that can hit a target they will never see. Radar finds it, a data link tracks it, and a missile covers the last 50 or 100 kilometres on its own. Yet for most of the jet age, one of the most important rules in air combat has been...
Austrian Military Pilots to Fly Airbus A320s for Austrian Airlines
Many air forces share the same problem. It spends years and a small fortune turning a young officer into a military pilot, and then an airline offers that pilot a better salary and a calmer life. Austria has decided to stop fighting the airlines and share its pilots...
AMCA First Flight Set for 2028: India Names Its Stealth Fighter Deadline
India has been talking about its own stealth fighter for well over a decade. Now it has a date. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh says the first prototype of the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) is targeted to fly in September 2028. Speaking at the NDTV...
Pope Leo XIV Blesses Rafale Pilots Escorting His Air France A321
Most passengers get a window seat and a view of the wing. On Monday morning, 28 September, the passenger in the Air France A321 from Lourdes to Metz got the cockpit, a radio microphone, and two Rafales flying about 50 metres off the nose. Pope Leo XIV was on the last...
Turkish Pilots Start Eurofighter Typhoon Training at RAF Coningsby
Turkey will not receive its first Eurofighter Typhoon until 2030. Its first Typhoon pilots, however, are already in Lincolnshire. On 27 September, the Royal Air Force announced that two Turkish Air Force pilots have started conversion training with 29 Squadron at RAF...
Iva MANPADS: Mystery Shoulder-Fired Missile Appears in Russian Service
Russian state television wanted to show viewers how the army protects the skies over Rostov. It ended up showing the world a weapon nobody can quite identify. In a report aired on the Russia-1 channel, soldiers from a mobile fire group of the 51st Air Defence Division...
Hürkuş-II Enters Turkish Air Force Service: First Two Trainers Delivered
On Monday, 28 September, two Hürkuş trainers flew over the Turkish Aerospace (TUSAŞ) plant at Kahramankazan, outside Ankara. On the ground, officials signed them over to the Turkish Air Force. With that, the Hürkuş-II became the first of a new generation of home-built...
USS Eisenhower Mishap: Two Navy Aviators Eject During Carrier Landing
At about 6:18 p.m. on Monday, 28 September, something went badly wrong on the flight deck of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. A jet was coming aboard during recovery operations off the coast of Virginia. Moments later, both of its aviators had ejected. Search and rescue...
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