January sales?
Birdseed Airways chief executive Rod Eddington, asked why the airline might wait before buying either the A380 or 7E7: "We don't accept the manufacturers' urgings to 'buy now while stocks last'."
No shirking on the job
Gen Strike: "Is this true? Have all the aircraft operated by the US Air Force Academy been grounded over maintenance record-keeping discrepancies?" Capt Slog: "Yessir" Strike: "And who is the contractor?" Slog: "er....Doss Aviation sir!"
Shag against terrorism
Shagpile Aerospace - a leading supplier of award-winning flooring for aircraft - has apparently been selected to provide the carpet for a cabin simulator in the USA that will be used to train sky marshals. "We're in virtually everything that flies and now we're proud to be part of the war on terror," says chief executive "Tufty" McAxminster who adds: "We're not desperate for publicity, but we have to make the most of it when the spotlight shines on the fringes of the business..."
Classics on the move
Flourish those cheque books, shake those piggy banks! British aviation heritage is again calling for help to ensure the safety of surviving icons. In this case £20,000 is needed to get the (aaaah de Havilland) Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B in BEA livery in Heathrow to its proposed new home at Manchester airport. The Trident will be chopped up into razor blades if the money cannot be raised. For details visit: www.s4ssl.co.uk/trident/save-the-trident.htm.
Also calling for support is Brooklands Museum's mission to transport the first British production Concorde "Delta Golf" from Filton to Weybridge, Surrey. A fundraising effort is expected to get under way soon, see www.brooklandsmuseum.com for more details. Meanwhile, Birdseed's Alpha Alpha is about to be dismantled before its trip north to the East Fortune museum near Edinburgh, while sibling Alpha Bravo has been handed over to its new owner, airport operator BAA. Alpha Bravo will soon be parked near the runway 27R holding point awaiting departure to - alas - nowhere further than a future plinth near the new T5.
Source: Flight International
