Aircraft 101
Budgie News: "Can we have a list of suppliers to complete our technical description of the new Junior Jet?"
Junior Jets: "Yes, of course. Do you need anything else?"
Budgie: "No thanks. Our technical artist has been to see you, our technical scribbler has interviewed your top engineers - I think we're covered."
Junior: "Ok. Just one more thing. You ought to know that the new jet has bigger engines and a much bigger wing."
Budgie: "Really? Glad you pointed that out!"
Slow news day
While the rest of the commercial aviation world struggles to deal with the Hairbrush-Megaplanes duopoly, it seems India still revels in the luxury of having a choice of three. According to a recent interview with a very senior executive at Hindustan Aeronautics, "manufacturers like Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas are not interested in manufacturing civilian aircraft with a seating capacity of below 100. But then there is going to be a rising demand in India for the smaller aircraft and this move will ultimately benefit HAL."
To check the latest we called up the still unhushkitted spokesman Douglas McBoffin who, sadly, has been mothballed in the desert for some time. "It's true...we're not interested in manufacturing civilian aircraft with a seating capacity of below 100, or of any size for that matter. Now kindly go away and leave me to work on this MD-11F proposal for Lufthansa!"
Uncle Roger's summer bookshelf (vol 1)
Actually not a book this time, but a fabulous set of DVDs from Fox Home Entertainment that are a "must-see" for anyone with a passion for space history and the Apollo programme. These two Spacecraft Film productions: Apollo 15: Man Must Explore and The Mighty Saturns: Saturn V, boldly go where no historical film has been before. Developed and produced by film historian Mark Gray, they include rare film and audio that, in some cases, has never been publicly released. The six-disc set Apollo 15 DVD contains a breathtaking amount of material covering everything from training and blast-off to splashdown and recovery, while the three-disc set Saturn V probably represents one of the most complete visual records ever made of a rocket programme - including footage from every launch and a documentary featuring the original engineering team. Total run time for the Apollo set ($89.98) equals early mission times at over 21h, while the Saturn set ($49.98) runs for over 9h. Both collections provide self-contained archives that can be dipped into at will, with gems turning up everywhere. The Apollo 15 DVD, for example, includes a computerised flyover of the landing site, revealing the true nature of the Hadley Rille area. Fox is also producing the DVDs in a zero region format, which apparently means it can be viewed on any system. Launches: Too numerous to mention Aborts: Some patchy quality Contact: www.foxhome.com/space or www.spacecraftfilms.com
Source: Flight International
