Prop revolution
Turning its back on the 7E7 and A330, KLM has instead opted for an advanced four-engined "propfan" for its future long-haul equipment as revealed in this exclusive image taken in secret somewhere in the Netherlands. "This is the ultimate in ultra-high bypass technology," says Air Marshall Van der Schiphol. "Incidently, the flight controls are triple redundant - as you can probably tell by the tail feathers." Well...actually, this is the Dutch National Aviation Theme park Aviodrome's lovingly restored Lockheed L-749 "Connie" preparing, I think, for its 15min hop from Schiphol to the nearby Lelystad base for its forthcoming tour of the European air show circuit.
Reggie round-up
Take heart Kiwi nephews, your old Uncle may be getting on but he has not completely lost it. Recent reggie correspondence from a nephew in Zambia about two ZK registered Cessna's provoked furious emails from "outraged of Wellington, Hamilton..." and so on. Our helpful nephew just happened to be working in Zambia, from where he sent his observation about the appropriately New Zealand-registered floatplane ZK-WET and its non-float equipped compatriot ZK-DRY. Besides, you try and find something funny starting with 9J!
Meanwhile, here are a few more for you to ruminate upon. Nephew Markham Jackson recalls that on 25 December 1946 he was duty traffic officer for BOAC at Kano airport when two Ahhhh...Avro Yorks showed up appropriately registered G-AGOD and G-AGJC. On a very different note, Budgie News's very own special test daredevil Basil Vacuum now proudly displays behind his desk a certificate showing he has polled diesel-engined Cessna F-OKAF. So put that in your combustion chamber and smoke it.
Uncle Slam
A compendium of recent gems dredged from the bowels of the US Department of Defense:
Required: contractor to provide Pathological Waste Disposal for the USAF Air Education and Training Command.
Required: 1,485 live ring-necked pheasants for the paint ball storage area, 88th Airbase Wing Security Forces Squadron. "Cox shall have a minimum weight of 3 pounds and hens shall have a minimum weight of 2.5 pounds. 743 male pheasants (cocks) and 742 female pheasants (hens). The pheasants must be healthy and arrive in good condition." They certainly will not be leaving in good condition (sorry, couldn't resist that little addendum).
Stuck on you
And now we can reveal the development of the airborne equivalent of the limpet mine: the Velcro Bomb...
(From Defenselink) Contract Award: McDonnell Douglas Corp, Saint Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $7,794,734 firm fixed price contract modification to provide Joint Direct Attach Munition (JDAM).
Source: Flight International
