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January 31, 2022
A SIGNED COPY
OF TIM PEAKE’S
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
LIMITLESS*
Peake performance
From cockpit to capsule – Britain’s
astronaut preps next trip to orbit

T H E PA S T, P R E SEN T A N D F U T U R E O F F L I G H T

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Inside France’s
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01

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Welcome
T
o this day, I can still see the iconic
image of UK astronaut Tim Peake
smiling and throwing a thumbs-
up to the camera aboard Soyuz
TMA-19M that was broadcast to the world
as he launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur
Cosmodrome on December 15, 2015.
It was incredible to watch a new era of
the space age unfold as the first British
European Space Agency astronaut hurtled
towards the International Space Station
(ISS). By the time he and his crewmates,
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and
NASA's Tim Kopra, had broken “the surly
bonds of earth”, to quote the words of
John Gillespie Magee Jr, Tim Peake had
become a household name.
As some of you may know, I’m learning
to fly – I wrote this Welcome having just
landed after my first solo night flight. A
couple of minutes or so before putting pen
to paper, I was downwind watching the
lights of surrounding towns and villages
float serenely under the aircraft – it was
delicately spellbinding. With a strange
silence enveloping the cockpit as the purr
of the engine quit on shut down, I recalled
a quote from Tim shortly after he returned
from his historic mission to the ISS: “It is
Main photo: In the words of Tim Peake: “It is impossible to look down on Earth from space and not be mesmerised by the fragile beauty of the
planet” Inset pic: On December 15, 2015, Soyuz TMA-19M breaks away from Baikonur Cosmodrome’s Site 1/5, the very same launch pad that the
first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, blasted off from 55 years previously. Both images European Space Agency
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
impossible to look down on
Earth from space and not be
mesmerised by the fragile
beauty of the planet.”
How right he was! While I
watched the Earth float by
from the heady altitude of
1,000ft, Tim experienced
it from a height of some
400km! But how is it, as Tim
says, that “a little ginger kid
from West Sussex ended up
in space?” Well, we have the
answer and it really does give
me great pleasure in sharing
just some of his story in this
issue of Aviation News.
While we have barely
scratched the surface of Tim
Peake’s awe-inspiring life and
career, Aviation News have
a signed copy of his quite
incredible autobiography
Limitless to give away! For
your chance to win it, simply send us News due on sale February
an email with your name and address 17, 2022. Good luck!
to aviation-news@keypublishing.com I hope you enjoy the issue.
by January 31, 2022. The winner will be Jamie
announced in the March issue of Aviation Editor-Aviation News
3
 p18

Contents
Features
14 COP that!
With more than 25,000 delegates and 120 world leaders descending
on Glasgow for COP 26 resulting in an influx of movements up and
down the UK, Aviation News shares images of some of the aircraft

17 From cockpit to capsule

Nick Spall considers the aircraft, spacecraft and personal adventures
that have played a part in UK astronaut Tim Peake’s quite incredible
career as he prepares for a possible second trip to space

26 Red Tail legacy

With the USAF’s ageing fleet of Northrop T-38 Talons being readied
for retirement, Tom Kaminski provides a timely update of the type’s
replacement, Boeing’s T-7A Red Hawk

34 Beluga turnaround
There is no missing the massive BelugaXL. Mark Broadbent profiles
this distinctive airlifter and learns about the intricate process of loading
and unloading Airbus’s unique in-house transport jet

44 Night CAP
In the first of a two-part feature, respected Cold War fast jet pilot Ian
Black reveals his thoughts and fears as he prepares for a nocturnal
Combat Air Patrol through the war-torn skies of Bosnia

52 Greener flying
Aviation is under pressure to clean itself up and reduce emissions.
Mark Broadbent reports on the carbon off setting projects in the UK
involving General Aviation and display teams

76 Making waves
Exercise Cormoran-21 brought together the French Navy and Army
in a historic, high-intensity, amphibious wargame of a size never
undertaken before. Babak Taghvaee reports

Subscribe and Save

A subscription to Aviation News offers great savings on the cover
price. See pages 74 and 75 for details.

We are happy to report that, at time of going to press, production and dispatch of our
magazine is not affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Should this change,
we will continue to update you as best we can. Some postal services may be delayed.
You can keep in touch with our latest updates and see what we are doing to keep
distribution as normal as possible by visiting www.keypublishing.com/FAQs`
January 15, 2016: European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake during
his historic spacewalk to replace a failed power regulator and install
cabling on the International Space Station. See page 18 ESA-NASA

p26

p34

4 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Regulars
6 Headline News
Beechcraft Denali takes to the air, Rolls-Royce’s electric Spirit of
Innovation breaks records, Syrian MiG-29 Fulcrums fire air-to-air
missiles, Airbus’s highest density A330 delivered and more

8 Military News
The monthly review of military matters

10 Civil News
The stories behind the headlines of the latest commercial news
from around the globe

12 General Aviation News

This month’s goings on in the world of General Aviation

13 Preservation News
Catch up on the heritage news of the moment

58 Did you know?

How did Portuguese wet-lease specialist Hi Fly make history and
land one of its Airbus A340s in Antarctica?

62 At the fence
A collection of aircraft and movements caught worldwide by the
Aviation News community

64 Airport Movements
A round-up of notable aircraft seen at UK airports

68 Airbase Movements
A selection of the most interesting aircraft to visit the UK’s air bases

70 Register Review
The latest amendments made to the UK, Irish, Isle of Man and
Guernsey registers

p76

p52

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 5
HEADLINE NEWS
Speedy Spirit
Rolls-Royce claims that its all-electric Spirit
of Innovation – G-NXTE, a modified Sharp
Nemesis NXT designated the Electroflight
NXTE – has set three new world records
for electric aircraft during recent flights
from MOD Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.
Noted air racing, aerobatic and warbird
pilot Steve Jones was at the controls for
the aircraft’s record-breaking flights, with
Rolls-Royce submitting flight data to the
Malaysian Hawk replacement underway
Malaysian Minister of Defence
Hishammuddin Hussein revealed to the
country’s government on November
25, 2021, that it has started evaluating
proposals to replace the Royal Malaysian
Air Force’s ageing fleet of Hawk Mk
108/208 light-attack and lead-in trainer
aircraft. The announcement comes in light
High-density
A330 for
Cebu Pacific
Philippine low-cost airline Cebu Pacific
has taken delivery of its first of 16 Airbus
A330-941neos (new engine option) on
November 29 as it begins its widebody fleet
modernisation programme.
The aircraft, RP-C3900, is configured with
459 seats in a single-class layout, making
it the highest density A330 ever built. The
carrier will operate the jet on trunk routes
6 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
(FAI), which claims that at 15:45hrs on
November 16, 2021, the aircraft reached
a top speed of 555.9km/h over three
kilometres, smashing the existing electric
aircraft airspeed record by 213.04km/h.
According to Rolls-Royce, in further runs
“the aircraft achieved 532.1km/h over 15
kilometres – 292.8km/h faster than the
previous record – and broke the fastest
of a fatal accident involving a Hawk Mk
108 on November 17 that killed one crew
member and injured another.
Hussein noted that the government
had invited international contractors to
submit proposals to replace the Hawk
Mk 108/208s under the Light Combat
Aircraft/Fighter Lead-In-Trainer (LCA/FLIT)
Cebu Pacific’s first A330neo RP-C3900 departs Toulouse for the carrier’s Manila hub on
November 29 Airbus-H Gousse
within the Philippines and the rest of Asia, as
well as on longer range services to Australia
and the Middle East. With an order book
Steve Jones flying the Spirit of Innovation
from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire in
November 2021 Rolls-Royce-John Dibbs
time to climb to 9,842ft by 60 seconds
with a time of 202 seconds, according to
our data. We hope that the FAI will certify
and officially confirm the achievements of
the team in the near future.”
During these record-breaking runs, the
aircraft clocked a maximum speed of
623km/h which, according to Rolls-Royce,
“we believe makes the Spirit of Innovation
the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle.”
programme. With current plans calling for
36 airframes across two batches, Hussein
stopped short of disclosing the types
currently being evaluated in the process.
However, Malaysia has previously shown
interest in Korea Aerospace Industries’ FA-
50 Golden Eagle, Italy's M-346FA Master,
and Boeing's T-7A Red Hawk.
of more than 1,800 aircraft at the end of
October 2021, the A330 remains the most
popular widebody family aircraft of all time.
 Croatia formally
signs for Rafale
After selecting Dassault’s Rafale F3-R
as the winner of its Multi-Role Fighter
Aircraft programme, the Croatian
government officially signed an
acquisition agreement on November 25.
Valued at €999m, French Minister for
the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, hailed
the deal as “a strong act for defence [in]
Europe.” Croatia announced on May 28
that it would purchase 12 second-hand
Rafale F3-Rs from France to replace the
Croatian Air Force and Air Defence’s
ageing fleet of eight Soviet-era
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis-D/UMD
Fishbeds. The Rafale will be sourced
from the French Air and Space Force,
before being upgraded to F3-R standard
and handed over to Croatia.
Parly added that these airframes will
“be replaced by new planes, which will
be ordered from 2023.” The first six
Rafales are scheduled to be delivered
in 2024, followed by the remaining six
airframes in 2025.
Textron flies
prototype Denali
The prototype Beech 220 Denali, N220BT,
completed its first flight from Textron
Aviation's Wichita, Kansas facility on
November 23, 2021.
Previously known as the Cessna Denali
and Textron ‘Single Engine Turboprop’
(SETP), the Denali enters the competitive
single-engined turboprop market – the
same sector as the highly successful
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Syrian pilots fire air-to-air missiles
This screengrab shows a Syrian Arab
Air Force MiG-29 taxiing at Tiyas
carrying a pair of R-73 short-range
air-to-air missiles – NATO reporting
name AA-11 Archer Zvezda TV
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian
Federation’s Zvezda TV channel reported
on November 15 that the Russian Air Force
was training Syrian MiG-29 pilots in how
to use air-to-air missiles from Tiyas Military
Airbase in central Syria.
Maxim Aleksanin, a Russian squadron
commander, said: “An important stage in
the training of any pilot is the launch of
guided air-to-air missiles. For the first time,
Syrian pilots used R-73 [NATO reporting
name AA-11 Archer] guided missiles from
In flight: the prototype Beech 220 Denali, N220BT, airborne on November 23, 2021 Textron
Pilatus PC-12, of which almost 1,900 have
been built. The first flight lasted 2 hours
and 50 minutes, with the Denali reaching
15,000ft and attaining a speed of 180kts.
The aircraft is expected to boast a cruising
speed of 285kts.
The low-wing Denali, which has a
standard six-place cabin (nine seats in its
MiG-29 aircraft. In the future, we plan to
improve the tactics of conducting close
and long-range air combat in order to
prevent provocations in the skies of Syria,
as well as near its borders.”
Footage accompanying the report,
showed a pair of Syrian MiG-29s (3431 and
3436) taking off carrying R-73s. The report
also noted that the Syrian Arab Air Force
has suffered significant losses in recent
years and its operational aircraft can now
be “counted on one hand”.
high-density configuration), is powered
by a new-generation 1,300hp General
Electric Catalyst turboprop, which offers
exceptional fuel economy and can burn
sustainable fuels. Boasting a range of 1,600
miles and featuring a Garmin 3000 avionics
suite, Textron expects certification and first
deliveries in 2023. Rod Simpson
7
MILITARY NEWS

Indonesia signs for A400Ms

Indonesia signed for two Airbus A400M Atlas
multirole tanker and transport platforms
on November 18, making the country the
type’s 10th operator and the third export
customer. While the value of the deal and
timeline were not disclosed, European
defence giant Airbus revealed the contract
will become effective in 2022 and includes
a comprehensive maintenance and training
support package.
A digital rendering of an A400M in TNI-AU
markings. Indonesia’s order follows on from
one placed by Kazakhstan for two aircraft in
September Airbus Group
Airbus said the A400M will provide the
Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) with “the
perfect platform to deliver large and heavy
loads into remote areas and multiplying its
airpower projection thanks to reliable aerial
refuelling capabilities”.
Indonesia's Minister of Defence, Prabowo
Subianto, noted the type will become “the
cornerstone for human assistance and
disaster response missions”. Indonesia also
signed a letter of intent for the acquisition
of four additional airframes, with Subianto
stating the nation is exploring with Airbus
future A400M developments, including
firefighting capabilities, as the object of
additional orders.

In brief... Smart livery for Polish AW101

THE USAF awarded US aerospace and
defence giant Lockheed Martin a near US$11
billion contract on November 5 to upgrade its
F-22 Raptor fleet. This huge indefinite-delivery,
indefinite-quantity deal for the F-22 Program
Office’s Advanced Raptor Enhancement and
Sustainment, or ARES, program will cover
up to a decade’s worth of sustainment and
modernization for the fifth-generation fighter.

KEY-Jamie Ewan

Bound for the Polish Navy, Leonardo AW101 ZR286 was seen flying from the firm’s Yeovil site in
Somerset on November 25 wearing a smart three-tone grey camouflage. One of four ordered
as part of a US$430m deal inked in April 2019 as Poland works to replace its ageing Soviet-
designed helicopters, ZR286 is the second airframe to fly, but the first painted in full colours.
The first example is scheduled for delivery to Poland by the end of this year Chris Gilligan

IN A statement on November 11, Turkish

Aerospace Industries (TAI) announced it has
built and integrated its first directional infrared
countermeasure (DIRCM) system into an Airbus
A400M tactical airlifter; the aircraft is 54+35 of
the Luftwaffe. With a 7% share in the A400M
programme, the DIRCM is TAI’s first design-to-
build contribution.
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com with your submissions.
Niger orders TAI’s Hürkuş
Turkey’s Directorate of Communications
confirmed on November 19 that Niger
has become the first foreign customer
for the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)
Hürkuş (Free Bird) two-seat, low-wing,
single-engine, turboprop training/ground
attack platform.
While officials have not disclosed the
quantity or variant ordered, TAI’s CEO
Temel Kotil revealed said in an interview
in April 2021 that the company was very
close to exporting 12 Hurkus-Cs, which
boast a close air support role. The first
aircraft is due for delivery in six months.

8 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Supersonic SAF
under development
US aerospace company Exosonic, which
was awarded a United States Air Force
(USAF) contract to develop a supersonic
UAV demonstrator with “adversary air
mission potential” in early October
2021, has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with carbon transformation
company Twelve to work cooperatively
to expand Twelve’s sustainable aviation
fuel (SAF) to be 100% compatible with its
supersonic jet engines. Signing took place
on November 17, 2021.
Support and funding from the USAF
have allowed the California-based start-
ups to accelerate their efforts through
Slovenia opts for Spartan
Slovenian Minister of Defence Matej
Tonin and his Italian counterpart, Lorenzo
Guerini, signed a government-to-
government contract on November 1,
2021, for a single Alenia C-27J Spartan.
Valued at €72m, the deal includes training
crews and maintenance in Italy.
Expected for delivery in early 2023,
First Qatari Typhoon flies
The first of 24 Eurofighter Typhoons bound for the Qatar Emiri Air Force as part of a £5bn deal
between Qatar and BAE Systems signed in December 2017 undertook its maiden flight from
BAE Warton, Lancashire, on November 24, 2021. Piloted by a BAE Systems Test Pilot using the
callsign 'Tarnish 10’ the jet – ZR505, seen here returning to Warton – remained airborne for just
over an hour. Deliveries are expected to start in 2022 Ian Lane
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Under development to replace operational
aircraft being used as near-peer adversary
fighters, plans call for Exosonic’s supersonic
UAV to be powered by supersonic compatible
sustainable aviation fuel Exosonic
independent small business innovation
research (SBIR) contracts sponsored by the
Air Force Research Laboratory. Norris Tie,
CEO and co-founder of Exosonic, said:
“We look forward to working with Twelve
to include their fuel in our quiet supersonic
airliner and across all of our supersonic
UAV product lines. Exosonic must be
sustainable from day one. This partnership
is a great start to that vision.”
Slovenia is the type’s seventh European
operator following Italy, Bulgaria, Greece,
Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.
It is likely the aircraft will replace the
LET L-410UVP-E Turbolets currently
operated by the Slovenian Armed Forces
as part of the nation’s 2019 White Book
of Defence.
In brief...
ON NOVEMBER 12, 2021, the Spanish Ministry
of Defence signed a contract for the acquisition
of three Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker
Transport aircraft (MRTT). The aircraft, acquired
from flag carrier Iberia, will be converted by
Airbus at Getafe, Spain. Under the agreement,
the first jet was expected to be handed over in
its transport configuration in November before
being converted to MRTT standard in 2024.
The first ‘full’ MRTT is scheduled for 2023, with
the third during 2025.
Airbus
THE FIRST six of 12 Yakolev Yak-130 Mitten
advanced jet trainers ordered by the Vietnam
People's Air Force during 2019 in a contract
worth US$350m have been delivered to
Phù Cát Air Base. Expected to join the 940th
Aviation Training Regiment, the Russian-built
jets will replace the Aero L-39Cs, which are
currently in service
FOLLOWING SPECULATION on social media
that Spain was actively looking to procure up
to 50 fifth-generation Lockheed F-35 Lightning
IIs, a spokesperson from the nation’s Ministry
of Defence announced on November 9 that
Spain has no interest in the type and is solely
committed to the Future Combat Air System
(FCAS) it is pursuing with France and Germany.
THE FIRST production Boeing T-7A Red
Hawk advanced jet trainer is taking shape at
the firm’s St Louis, Missouri, facility with the
airframe entering the final phase of assembly
prior to the beginning of ground tests. Boeing
expects the aircraft to take to the air by the end
of the year. At the time of writing, another four
examples have entered the assembly flow. For
more on the T-7, see page p26
ON NOVEMBER 8, 2021, South Korean
aircraft giant Korea Aerospace Industries
(KAI) revealed it had been awarded a US$360
million, three-year contract from Iraq to
support and maintain its air force’s fleet of
KAI T-50IQ Golden Eagle advanced trainers
operated by the 204th Training Squadron at
Al Shaibah
WITH THE first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning
IIs (19-5473/LN and 19-5474/LN) bound for the
recently activated 495th Fighter Squadron
‘Valkyries’ at RAF Lakenheath spotted flying
in the US, the base has announced the unit’s
first jets will arrive on December 15, 2021.
With plans to field 24 examples of the fifth-gen
platform, the ‘Valkyries’ will be the first USAF
Lightning II squadron to be based in Europe
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com with your submissions.
9
COMPILED BY MARK BROADBENT CIVIL NEWS

Airbus’s new freighter twin

Airbus launched an A350 freighter at the
Dubai Airshow in November 2021, with
lessor Air Lease Corporation signing
an agreement for seven examples. The
manufacturer said the A350F would
be “the most efficient and sustainable
aircraft on the freighter market today.”
Airbus noted that the A350F will burn
20% less fuel, offer 11% more cargo
volume and carry three tonnes more
payload than Boeing’s 777F. The new jet
will also offer the same cargo volume as
the 747F, but will burn 40% less fuel and
produce lower carbon emissions.
In response, Reuters quoted Boeing’s
senior-vice president of commercial
sales and marketing, Ihssane Mounir, as
saying the manufacturer was currently
The Airbus A350F freighter’s service entry is
scheduled for 2025 following flight testing
and certification Airbus
in “advanced discussions with a number
of customers” about launching a 777X
freighter, which would go head-to-head
in the air cargo market with Airbus’s new
rival model.

A whale of a
transporter
An ambitious French developer is planning
to develop an airship for ferrying cargo.
The Flying Whales LCA60T is a large
capacity, rigid airship specifically designed,
the company said, “for wood longshoring,
freight and exceptional transport markets.”
Intended for point-to-point transfers of
heavy/oversized loads at low operating
costs, it said the LCA60T will “for the first The LCA60T’s first flight is planned for 2024 FLYING WHALES
time in aviation history, [enable operators] to
load and unload up to 60 tonnes of freight LCA60T at the end of 2024 and introduce it revealed it envisages a fleet of “150 airships
in hover flight.” Flying Whales plans to fly the to service early in 2026. A recent statement for the first ten years of production.”

Retro Jordanian unveiled Conversions

at Gatwick
US aviation giant Boeing plans to open a
737-800BCF (Boeing converted freighter)
passenger-to-freighter conversion line
within its London-Gatwick maintenance,
repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in 2022.
Its first work will be on 737s destined
for Icelease, which signed up for 11
conversions at the Dubai Airshow. Boeing
will open two more 737-800BCF lines at
In celebration of the country’s centennial, on November 14 Royal Jordanian Airlines revealed KF Aerospace’s MRO centre in Kelowna,
Airbus A321-231 JY-AYV to the world wearing a retro Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines livery. British Columbia, Canada in 2023.
Established in 1963, the Middle Eastern nation’s former flag carrier was rebranded as Royal Boeing is creating the lines in response
Jordanian in 1986. The commemorative aircraft was unveiled during an event at the airline’s to demand for more cargo aircraft given
Queen Alia International Airport headquarters in Amman, with the jet flying its first service global e-commerce growth.
(RJ111 to London-Heathrow) in the colours the following day Royal Jordanian

10 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Back to the old routine
The 2021 Dubai Airshow between
November 14-18 was the first of the ‘big
three’ industry shows (including Paris
and Farnborough) with a trade exhibition,
static aircraft and flying displays since
the COVID-19 pandemic began. Large
deals were announced, reflecting rising
optimism about civil aviation’s prospects
post-pandemic. Airbus’s sales included
Indigo Partners ordering 255 A321neo-
family aircraft for its low-cost carrier family,
including 75 A321neos and 27 A321XLRs
for Wizz Air. Boeing secured 72 737 MAX
orders from Indian LCC start-up Akasa Air.
Atlantic
efficiency
F-WMIL trailed F-WXWB by around 1.6 nautical miles during the transatlantic flight Airbus
Two Airbus A350s flew from Toulouse-
Blagnac in France to Montreal’s Trudeau
International Airport in Canada to evaluate
a method of aircraft flying relatively close
together for long-haul journeys that
could save airlines fuel and reduce CO²
emissions; A350-900 F-WXWB led the
pair, with -1000 F-WMIL trailing behind.
An Airbus statement noted that control
systems positioned F-WMIL “safely in
the wake updraft of the lead aircraft”,
enabling reduced engine thrust and fuel
consumption. Part of Airbus’s fello’fly
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Business as usual in Dubai? Civil types on show
at the 2021 event included Boeing’s 777X and
Bombardier’s new Global 7500 (see Headlines,
p4-5) Airbus-Jean-Vincent Reymondon
Ethiopian Airlines ordered a 787-8, a 767-
300F and two MAXes, while Emirates took
two 777 freighters. Turboprop maker ATR
unveiled 29 orders for
Afrijet, Air Corsica,
Binter and TAROM.
For more on Dubai
head over to www.key.
aero/dubaiairshow or
scan the QR code
initiative, the flight is an example of
biomimicry – adopting design, materials,
structurea and systems inspired by nature,
in this case migrating birds grouped in
formation to fly efficiently over long
distances. Airbus revealed the flight emitted
six fewer tonnes of CO² when compared
to a standard transatlantic trip, stating:
“The next step is to get the support of the
authorities so that this new operational
concept can be certified and ultimately
enable airlines to reduce their fuel burn
and CO² emissions.”
In brief...
DHL AIR UK’s Boeing 757s are going to DHL
Air Austria as the cargo group modifies its
European airline operations. Three of the
18 757s are already registered with the new
Vienna-based operation, said a DHL statement,
while the other 15 will follow in early 2022.
Nottingham East Midlands Airport-based DHL
Air will therefore now solely operate 767
Boeing converted freighters. Thirty-nine
converted 767s are currently used by DHL’s
partner airlines worldwide.
DHL
AS PART of its restructuring efforts for
survival, Malaysian-based long-haul budget
airline AirAsiaX and Airbus have reached an
agreement regarding the cancellation of 63
A330-900s and ten A321neoXLRs. The carrier
has reduced its orders to 15 A330-900s and 20
A321neoXLRs. AirAsiaX currently operates a
pair of A330-900s flown by Thai AirAsiaX.
ATR 72/42 turboprops will now be fitted with
the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127XT (Extra
Time) engine as standard, with Air Corsica
becoming the powerplant’s launch operator in
November 2022 when it receives the first of
five new ATR 72-600s. An ATR statement said
the upgraded engine will provide a 40% longer
time between overhauls (20,000 hours instead
of 12,000 on the current PW127), while cutting
engine maintenance costs by 20%.
EMBRAER IS evaluating aircraft designs with
different propulsion technologies for their
technical and commercial viability. The Energia
concept studies involve four concepts: a
nine-seat Energia Hybrid with rear-mounted
engines and hybrid-electric turboprop engines,
a nine-seat Energia Electric with contra-rotating
propellers, a 19-seat Energia H2 Fuel Cell
Turbine with hydrogen-electric engines and a
hydrogen-powered Energia H2 Gas with 35-50
seats and rear-mounted engines.
BRITISH AIRWAYS and Virgin Atlantic Airways
A350s undertook a dual departure from
London-Heathrow on November 8, 2021 to
mark the resumption of US services following
the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Flights
BA001 and VS03 both flew to New York-JFK.
Via Twitter
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11
COMPILED BY MARTIN NEEDHAM AND THOMAS HAYNES GENERAL AVIATION NEWS

Pan Am
Piper

Pan American World Airways' iconic blue globe has made its first appearance on an aircraft in the UK since the US airline's collapse in December
1991. Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee, G-PAWA, has been repainted in the carrier's instantly recognisable livery by Sturgate-based Eastern Air
Executive. As Aviation News went to press, it was understood that the Lanpro Flying Group-operated 'Clipper Cherokee' is set to be based at Old
Warden, Bedfordshire, once it returns to the air following engine work Martin Needham

RAF’s Ikarus C42 flight is a record-breaker

On November 18, the Royal
Air Force flew an unmodified
Ikarus C42 microlight using
100% synthetic Avgas under
Project Martin – a world first
that’s been recognised by
Guinness World Records.
Piloted by Group Captain
Willy Hackett, the aircraft
– G-KFCA – flew from
Gloucestershire’s Cotswold
Airport powered by UK-based
Zero Petroleum’s synthetic
UL91 fuel dubbed SynAvGas.
UL91 is manufactured by
extracting hydrogen from
water and carbon from CO².
Using renewable energy, these
are combined to create SynAvGas,
which could have the potential to
reduce carbon emissions by
some 80-90%. According
to the Ministry of Defence,
the machine’s 80hp Rotax
engine performed as if it
were running fossil fuel,
but at a lower temperature
– which could extend
powerplant lifespan. Paddy
Lowe, Zero Petroleum’s
CEO, said: “The engine
manufacturer and test
pilot’s observations showed
no difference in power
or general performance
compared to standard fossil
fuel.” The breakthrough
Group Captain Willy Hackett (left) shakes the hand of Zero supports the RAF’s aims for its first
Petroleum’s CEO Paddy Lowe following what was most likely a Net Zero airbase by 2025, and a Net
world changing flight on November 18 MOD-Crown Copyright 2021 Zero force by 2040.

Hybrid-electric Panthera takes to the air

Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer
Pipistrel announced it has completed the
first phase of flight testing of its four-seat
touring Panthera equipped with a hybrid-
electric propulsion system “successfully
demonstrating the possibility of local
zero-emission flights by performing all-
electric take-offs”. Flying from Slovenia’s
Cerklje ob Krki Airport, the aircraft (S5-PII03)
was powered by a sustainable aviation
fuel-capable, hybrid-electric powertrain
developed under the EU-funded Modular
Approach to Hybrid-Electric Propulsion
Architecture (MAHEPA) project led by
Pipistrel’s hybrid-electric powered Panthera S5-PII03 gets airborne from Cerklje ob Krki during
Pipistrel Vertical Solutions. flight testing in October Pipistrel
With a fuel-driven generator charging the
batteries and powering an electric motor, from flight tests will be used to model aircraft. The MAHEPA Panthera has a cruise
a second relies on fuel cells to produce future operating scenarios of hybrid electric speed of 177kts, a range of 350nm, and a
power, enabling zero-emission flight. Data aviation, paving the way towards greener maximum take–off weight of 1,315kg.

12 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 PRESERVATION
Can you help Laguna’s Spitfire Legacy?
Laguna’s Spitfire Legacy (LSL), the group
behind the project to return Supermarine
Spitfire Mk.IIb P8331/RF-M ‘Sumatra’ to
the air, is currently looking for the original
Rocker Cover that came from the aircraft’s
recovered Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Scott Booth, LSL’s director, told Aviation
News: “P8331 was lost over northern France
on June 27 while being flown by acting Wg
Cdr Piotr Łaguna, the CO of 1 Polish Fighter
Wing. Struck by enemy fire while attacking
the Luftwaffe airfield at Coquelles near
Calais, Łaguna bailed out too low and was
killed. The Spitfire hit the ground just to the
west of the base. It appears the Germans
removed the wings for evaluation while the
rest remained untouched for 45 years.”
In 1986, a joint venture between some
local aviation archaeologists and the
Calais War Museum (CWM) resulted in the
recovery of about 40% of the wreckage
comprising the engine, propellers, prop
The battered remains of Supermarine Spitfire
hub, sections of the forward fuselage undercarriage selector and seat cover.
Mk.IIb P8331’s Rolls-Royce engine following
and cockpit parts – including the control Scott said: “Initially the Merlin was displayed its recovery in 1986. Note the visible Rocker
column, parts of the spade grip, dial facias, in the CWM, while some items were held Cover Via Scott Booth-Laguna’s Spitfire Legacy

privately. The powerplant ended up in the

UK via several deals during the 1990s, and
eventually came into my hands. We have
since attempted to unite all the recovered
wreckage. The Rocker Cover is believed to
have been sold by Ashby Aero to a buyer in
the UK via eBay during late 2017. The cover
is distinctively crushed in the rear aspect
and the side plate remains blank without
the usual Rolls-Royce inscription. If you can
help with locating it please drop me a line
at: scott@lagunasspitfirelegacy.org”.

Kennet Aviation’s Seafire returns to the air

Supermarine Seafire F Mk.XVII SX336 flew for the first time in some five years on November 18 from Old Warden in the capable hands of noted
warbird exponent Stu Goldspink. Seen here getting airborne, SX336 – registered G-BRMG – has been owned by Tim Manna of Kennet Aviation
since 2001. The aircraft’s return to the air follows a period of extensive maintenance at the Bedfordshire aerodrome to remedy numerous issues
found during regular maintenance in 2016 Darren Harbar Photography

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 13
COP 26 Movements

COP
that!With more than 25,000 delegates and 120 world leaders descending
on Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference,
COP26, there was an influx of movements up and down the UK.
Aviation News shares images of some of the aircraft involved
Left: Colombian Air Force Boeing
767-2J6ER (MMTT) Jupiter
FAC1202 – Glasgow Prestwick
Airport, November 3
Boeing 767-2J6ER (MMTT) Jupiter
FAC1202 is the sole example in Fuerza
Aérea Colombiana (Columbian Air Force;
FAC) service. Here, it taxies at Prestwick
for departure to Paris-Charles de Gaulle
on November 3. Arriving from Columbia’s
Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport
with the South American nation’s president
Iván Duque Márquez, the multi-mission
tanker transport is on strength with Grupo
de Transporte Aéreo 81's Escuadrón de
Transporte 811 at El Dorado International
Airport in Bogota Kevin Kennedy

Left: Hellenic Air Force Dassault

Falcon 7X 273 – Glasgow
Airport, November 1
In what is reported to be one of its first
overseas visits following delivery to 352
VIP Transport Squadron at Elefsis near
Athens in late October, Polemikí Aeroporía
(Hellenic Air Force; HAF) Dassault Falcon
7X ‘273’ arrives at Glasgow Airport carrying
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on
November 1 Kevin Kennedy

Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A330-202 LV-GHQ – Glasgow

Above:
Prestwick Airport, November 2
Touching down on Prestwick’s Runway 30 on November 2, Aerolineas Argentinas A330-202
LV-GHQ was there to collect the South American nation's President Alberto Fernández following
his participation in COP 26. Operated by the Argentinian flag carrier, LV-GHQ arrived from
Manchester Airport, having repositioned there for parking shortly after its arrival in Scotland
with the country’s delegation on October 31 Ashley French

14 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Above left: Arab Republic of Egypt Government Airbus A340-211 SU-GGG – Glasgow Airport, November 2
Operated by the El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Masrīya (Egyptian Air Force; EAF), SU-GGG arrived at Glasgow Airport on October 31 carrying President
Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his delegation, before completing a short hop across to Prestwick for parking later that day. On strength with the 516 Air
Regiment’s Government Flight out of Cairo International Airport, the 26-year-old jet is seen arriving back at Glasgow on November 2. Using the
callsign ’EGY1’, it departed for home a couple of hours later Ashley French

Above right: Bolivian Air Force Dassault Falcon 900EX FAB-001 – Birmingham International Airport, November 3
Fuerza Aérea Boliviana (Bolivian Air Force; FAB) Dassault Falcon 900EX FAB-001 drops into Birmingham for a short stay on November 3. Positioning
in from London Heathrow Airport using the callsign ‘7F1’, the jet – which is on strength with the FAB’s Grupo Aéreo Presidencial (Presidential Air
Group) – was carrying President of Bolivia Luis Alberto Arce Catacora. Having attended COP26 earlier in the week, Catacora paid a visit to nearby
Warwick University, where he graduated in 1997. The jet departed back to Bolivia later that day v1 Images-George Aldrich

Honduran Air Force Embraer

Right:
EMB-135 FAH-001 – Glasgow
Prestwick Airport, October 31
With its thrust reversers deployed, Fuerza Aérea
Hondureña (Honduran Air Force; FAH) Embraer
EMB-135 FAH-001 kicks up spray while rolling
out at Prestwick on October 31. Arriving with
delegates from the Central American country,
the jet flew in from its Toncontín International
Airport base, where it is operated by the FAH’s
Escuadrón de Transporte Aereo Presidencial
(Presidential Air Transport Squad) Mark Stevens -
Long Reach Images

Government of Indonesia
Right:
Boeing 777-3U3ER PK-GIG –
Glasgow Prestwick Airport,
October 31
Since 2020, the Indonesian government has
chartered 777-3U3ER PK-GIG – seen here
parked at Prestwick on October 31 – from
the country’s flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia,
for long-haul presidential flights. Painted in
the Southeast Asian nation’s colours, PK-GIG
had arrived earlier that day from Rome with
President Joko Widodo on board. The jet
departed home via Al Maktoum International
Airport in the United Arab Emirates on
November 2 Mark Stevens - Long Reach images

Left: Japan Air Self-Defense Force

Boeing 777-3SB/ER 80-1112 –
Glasgow Airport, November 2
On strength with 701 Hikotai out of Chitose
Air Base on Hokkaidō, 80-1112 – dubbed
‘Japanese Air Force One’ – flies final for
Glasgow Airport on November 2. Arriving
direct from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, the VIP-
configured jet carried Prime Minister of Japan
Fumio Kishida on his first international visit
since taking office on October 4. The Japan
Air Self-Defense Force came under scrutiny for
creating “unnecessary pollution” after sending
777-3SB/ER 80-111 to practice landing at
Edinburgh and Prestwick in October as part of
the preparation for this visit Ashley French

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 15
COP 26 Movements

Ukrainian Government
Right:
Antonov An-148-100B UR-
UKR – Edinburgh Airport,
October 31
Flying as ‘Ukraine Air Enterprise
8125’, Antonov An-148-100B UR-
UKR arrives at a gloomy Edinburgh
Airport on October 31 from Boryspil
International Airport, with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and
his delegation on board. The sole example of
the type operated by the Eastern European
country’s government, the twin-engined jet
is wet-leased from the state-owned airline,
Ukraine Air Enterprise Kevin Kennedy

Government of Albania
Right:
Airbus A319CJ TC-ANA Ismail –
Manchester Airport, November 2
Airbus A319CJ TC-ANA Ismail departs
Manchester for Albania’s Tirana International
Airport on November 2, having arrived two
days before using the callsign ‘TRK8’. Wearing
an incredibly smart scheme, the 22-year-old
VIP-configured jet has been leased by Albania
from the Turkish government for transport
duties since February 2020. Aside from Turkey,
it was previously used by the Aeronautica
Militare (Italian Air Force) Spencer Bennett

United States Air Force Boeing

Right:
VC-25A 82-8000 – Edinburgh
Airport, November 1
Boeing VC-25A 82-8000 turns off Edinburgh’s
Runway 24 on November 1 following its
arrival from Rome, Italy, with US President
Joe Biden on board. Operated by the United
States Air Force 89th Airlift Wing’s Presidential
Airlift Squadron out of Joint Base Andrews,
Maryland, the iconic Air Force One departed
back to the US the following day. Biden’s
visit was supported by various other aircraft,
including two Marine Helicopter Squadron
One (HMX-1) Sikorsky VH-60Ns, a pair of
USAF Boeing C-17A Globemaster IIIs and a
Boeing E-4B Nightwatch advanced airborne
command post platform Andy Sheppard

Above: Government of South Korea Boeing 747-400 10001 – London Gatwick Airport, November 2
Operated by South Korean flag carrier Korean Air, 10001 – dubbed Code One – is shown climbing away from London Gatwick on November 2
with the Korean delegation on board. Flying as ‘KAF001’ throughout its visit, the jet arrived at Glasgow on October 31, before departing out to
Gatwick the following day. With the type slated for replacement by a Boeing 747-8I Intercontinental later this year, it is more than likely that
this was the jet’s last visit to the UK Richard Vandervord

16 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Tim Peake

Astronaut Tim Peake's

Peake
career has taken
him from cockpit to
capsule. Nick Spall
reveals the aircraft that
brought him to space
and ponders where he

performance might be going next

T
im Peake’s professional life has been new phase. Following his six-month Principa International Space Station (ISS) as early as
one of almost continuous private, orbital mission in 2015-16, Tim is expected 2024. Beyond that, who knows, perhaps
military and test flying, followed to get the chance of a second even a flight to the vicinity of the Moon
by spaceflight training and in-orbit tour onboard the may be achievable.
operations as an astronaut with the European
Space Agency (ESA). Now 49 years old, the
UK astronaut’s career is entering a

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 17
Tim Peake
Previous page: Perched on the farthest handrail
on the ISS, ESA astronaut Tim Peake smiles for
the camera during his historic spacewalk on
January 15, 2016 ESA-NASA
Above: Tim Peake’s official ESA portrait. Tim
says he's often asked: “How did a little ginger
kid from West Sussex end up in space?” NASA-
Robert Markowitz
Above right: Army Pilot’s Course 350: Tim
(second from right, bottom row) and his
classmates pose with de Havilland Chipmunk
T.10 WB565/X at Middle Wallop in 1993
during the basic fixed-wing element of their
flying training Tim Peake
The write stuff
Following a pause from his ESA astronaut
corps duties, Tim is now in the third year
of a three-year sabbatical. His recent
work has been based in the UK, focusing
on STEM-Ambassador outreach projects,
assisting both the UK Space Agency and
ESA with school visits, lecture tours, talks
and event appearances.
Despite the trials of the ongoing
COVID-19 restrictions, Tim has often
appeared in the media – recently he was a
guest on BBC Radio 4s Desert Island Discs.
Keeping fit, whether by running or walking
in the open air, has been a particularly
timely message Tim has put across so well.
His website (www.timpeake.com)
is enthralling for many with stunning
photographs, videos and memories
from his orbital mission. And now his
best-selling 2020 book, Limitless: The
Autobiography, is out in paperback.
Comprehensively describing Tim’s life as a
military helicopter test pilot and his quest
to become an ESA astronaut, it reveals the
human side of his story.
Writing during what he calls the
“lockdown-weeks”, Tim made good use
of his flying, ESA astronaut selection and
Expedition 46/47 diaries in Limitless. The
autobiography follows his previous books
18
Hello, Is This Planet Earth? (2016), My View
from the International Space Station (2016),
Ask an Astronaut: My Guide to Life in
Space (2017) and The Astronaut Selection
Test Book: Do You Have What It Takes
For Space? (2018). Tim has also recently
released a children’s sci-fi adventure novel
entitled Swarm Rising.
Writing five books in as many years
is both challenging and impressive,
particularly as Tim also had countless
ESA astronaut corps responsibilities at
the European Astronaut Centre (EAC)
in Cologne, Germany, all of which he
managed while being
an active parent with “Tim, it’s really cool
his partner Rebecca,
who he calls his “soul- seeing the Union
mate”, to their sons,
Thomas and Oliver Jack going outside. It
Tim Peake has
already squeezed has explored all over
much into his life:
flying helicopters
the world. Now it has
for the British Army,
test flying with the
explored space!”
renowned Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS)
from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, ESA
astronaut selection in 2008, spaceflight
training from 2009 and then the dynamic
experiences of six-months onboard the
ISS. His spacewalk – or extravehicular
activity (EVA) – is perhaps his ultimate
career experience. But where did this
extraordinary life come from and what are
his future career hopes?
Destined for the stars
Born on April 7, 1972, and raised in
Westbourne Common, Sussex, Tim had
a passion for flying from a very early age.
Although interestingly, he didn’t show
any real interest in space until much
later in life – he was 36 years old when
he became an astronaut, something he
confessed to feeling “a little guilty” about
when he worked alongside lifelong space
enthusiasts, including the NASA astronaut
Scott Kelly and ESA’s Luca Parmitano and
Andy Mogensen.
Always noting that his upbringing
and education was “very ordinary” and
“normal”, Tim’s enthusiasm for an
outward-bound life led to him joining the
Chichester High School for Boys’ Cadet
Force (Army Division).
After years of experimenting with model
aircraft – and sometimes spectacularly
crashing them – Tim’s first flying
experience was as a 16-year-old in a
tandem-glider during
a Cadet Force gliding
day at Hullavington
in Wiltshire. As many
buddying young
aviators will testify, he
knew from then he
wanted to fly. Of that
first taste of flight,Tim
would say: “To be
up there in the sky,
unconstrained by roads
or paths, and to be able to feel the glider
conforming to the air around you, felt
magical and, at the same time, perfectly
natural. I was in my element.”
While serving with the Cadet Force, Tim
was able to persevere enough to win a
coveted 30-hour RAF Flying Scholarship.
As such, he went solo in a Cessna 150
Aerobat from Compton Abbas in Dorset
when he was 18 years old.
Although he only achieved what he
said were “not flying-high” A-level grades
of C,D and E, Tim excelled at all things
outdoors and in the air. After leaving
school, inspired by his time with the Scouts
and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Tim
took part in an “opportunity of a lifetime”:
an expedition to Alaska dubbed Operation
Raleigh. Tim also points out that being
conscious of not feeling particularly tall in
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

stature and being ginger-haired left him
with slight feelings of inadequacy and he
realised that he had to be determined in
character, develop his sociability skills and
resolve to be a team-player – all ideal
qualities for the military and spaceflight
career that lay ahead.
Rather than going to university, in 1991
Tim opted to join the British Army and
attended the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst, before undertaking active
service in the likes of Northern Ireland,
Bosnia, Kenya and Afghanistan over the
subsequent 18 years. This gave him the
opportunity to achieve his childhood
ambition of flying helicopters with the
Army Air Corps (AAC).
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Above: The students of Pilot Course 350
with a Gazelle in 1994. Graduating later that
year Tim (third from left) was awarded his
‘wings’ by Admiral Sir Jock Slater, the first
commanding officer of the aircraft carrier
HMS Illustrious Tim Peake
Below: In 1999, Tim (far right) joined the US
Army’s 1st US Cavalry Division at Fort Rucker
in Alabama for an exchange posting flying the
formidable AH-64 Apache. Note he is wearing
his British Army flying suit Tim Peake
Test flying
Assigned to Army Pilot’s Course 350 at
AAC Middle Wallop, Hampshire, in 1993,
Tim Peake qualified as a helicopter pilot a
year later. Going on to become a Qualified
Helicopter Instructor in 1998, Tim joined
the prestigious ETPS as a graduate test
pilot in 2005. By then, Tim had already
spent three years learning to fly the Boeing
AH-64 Apache with the US Army’s 1st US
Cavalry Division at Fort Rucker in Alabama
during an exchange – a type he revealed as
being “something else!”
Graduating from the ETPS following year,
Tim was awarded the Westland's Trophy
for best rotary wing student, something he
notes as being “definitely a career high.”
Joining the Boscombe Down-based Rotary
Wing Test and Evaluation Squadron, Tim
was appointed as the unit’s senior Apache
test pilot and was also a primary test pilot
for the Lynx and Gazelle. He also qualified
19
Tim Peake
Right: Wearing his European Space Agency
flight suit, Tim poses with an Apache shortly
after joining ESA’s astronaut corps. As Tim
says: “Landing from an Apache flight to
be told that I had been assigned to a long
duration mission to the ISS… Now THAT was
a good day!” ESA

Below: The Expedition 46 astronauts: (from

left) veteran NASA astronaut Scott Kelly
(commander), noted cosmonauts Sergei
Volkov (flight engineer) and Mikhail Kornienko
(flight engineer), NASA’s Tim Kopra (flight
engineer), Tim Peake (fFlight engineer),
and former fighter pilot cosmonaut Yuri
Malenchenko NASA- Robert Markowitz

to fly both the Puma and Chinook. “Being

a test pilot. It's all about risk management
really. You try and analyse the risk and you
try and mitigate it as much as possible,”
recalled Tim.
Settling into life at Boscombe, Tim’s days
were filled with pushing the helicopters
to their limits and beyond, while refining
emergency autorotation landing
procedures, deliberately flying into often
fatal vortex-ring bubbles, operating in hot
and high conditions and even undertaking
covert missions across Afghanistan piloting
a Russian-built Mil-17 Hip.
Of the last of these experiences, Tim
made the observation: “Our work made
the Mil-17 a safer proposition for the

20 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

operational pilots. As a test pilot, there is
nothing more satisfying than that.”
The motto of Boscombe Down is:
“Learn to test: test to learn”. That credo
became an ideal mantra for Tim to follow
for his subsequent future ESA astronaut
application, selection and mission process.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Science
(Hons) in Flight Dynamics from Portsmouth
University in 2005 at age 33, Tim was
already deeply involved with test flying.
With more 3,000 flying hours to
his credit, Yeovil-based Anglo-Italian
helicopter design and manufacturing
company AgustaWestland (now Leonardo)
offered Tim the chance to join the
company as a senior test pilot on its ever-
evolving Apache project. After nearly 18
years of service, Tim left the Army in 2009.
Flying even higher
But ESA’s sudden announcement that
it might consider UK applicants to train
as astronauts in 2008 appealed to Tim.
After his experience as a test pilot he
appreciated that advanced aerospace
technology closely linked aviation and
astronautics in a solid way. Plus, as he
puts it, travelling into space would be the
“ultimate flight” for an aviator. As Tim says:
“Who knows where the inspiration that
will carry someone onwards for the rest of
their life comes from? The possibilities are
limitless.”
Of course, back in 2008, when Tim
answered ESA’s astronaut application
advert, the UK government was not
committed to supporting Human
Space Flight (HSF). However, important
discussions between the then UK Minister
of Science, Lord Paul Rudd Drayson, and
the ESA director general, Jean-Jacques
Dordain, in 2008/2009, along with a new
UK commitment to HSF spending for the
ISS freed matters up for Tim’s selection.
The succeeding science minister, David
Willetts, sealed the process when he
committed HSF funding for a six-month
ISS mission.
Selected by ESA as one of six new
astronauts in 2009, Tim was one of 8,000
or so applicants – clearly his character
and career profile had impressed his
examiners. Veteran ESA astronaut Jean-
François Clervoy later told Tim that he
recommended a simple assessment
approach of “who would I want to fly into
space with” when considering applicants.
Tim ticked all the boxes for astronaut
selection criteria at that time. He had
extensive test
flying experience,
a degree in
engineering,
a high level
of physical
fitness, the right
attitude and
motivation, plus
the ideal teamwork
characteristics,
along with the
perfect hobbies and
interests. In Tim’s case
these included running,
caving, scuba diving,
skiing and climbing, plus
some thoughtful topics like
quantum physics.
Tim thrived in the
subsequent ESA training
around the world, which
included underground
Cooperative Adventure for
Valuing and Exercising (or
CAVES) in Sardinia, a NASA
Extreme Environment Mission
Operations programme
involving living underwater,
centrifuge training at the Yuri
Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center in Russia’s famed Star
City, underwater EVA training in
Houston and zero-gravity training
in an adapted Airbus A300 dubbed
the ‘Vomit Comet’. Prior to his
Expedition 46/47 mission, Tim
served as a back-up flight engineer
for Expedition 44 in July 2015.
The final frontier
On December 15, 2015, Tim, and his
crewmates, veteran Russian cosmonaut
Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut
Timothy Kopra, were successfully
launched into orbit from Kazakhstan’s
Baikonur Cosmodrome on board Soyuz
TMA-19M. Reaching 25 times the speed
of sound, Tim became a member of the
unofficial ‘Mach 25 Club’.
However, the Principia mission was
not all plain sailing. Following Soyuz
TMA-19M’s rendezvous with the ISS, a
thruster-sensor failure resulted in docking
problems for the spacecraft. This required
Yuri Malenchenko – referred to by Tim
as “the coolest man I have ever met” – to
undertake a very difficult manual docking
in darkness. It took three attempts and,
as Tim later related, “I have never in my

Left: Tim (on the left) prepares for a high-altitude sortie in an AH-64D Apache while serving with
the Boscombe Down-based Rotary Wing Test and Evaluation Squadron Tim Peake

Right: December 15, 2015: with an incredible 19.85kN of thrust behind them, Tim Peake,
Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchenko head for the ISS on board Soyuz TMA-19M from Baikonur
Cosmodrome’s Site 1/5 – the very same pad that the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin,
launched from 55 years before. Tim later recalled: “Nothing can truly prepare you for the launch.
It’s a visceral experience – nine million horsepower accelerating you to 25 times the speed of
sound. It’s not for the faint-hearted!” NASA-Joel Kowsky

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 21
Tim Peake
life been so keen for the law of ‘third time
lucky’ to apply.”
If that wasn’t enough, early in the mission
Tim had to cope with a mystery infection
that left him with a fever of 102°. As he
said: “A fever in microgravity has very little
to be recommended… I realised I never
wanted to be ill on the ISS again.” While
suffering from the fever, Tim got the news
he has been waiting for – he and Tim
Kopra had been selected for a spacewalk
on January 15, 2016. His spacesuit would
be the first with a Union Jack on it to walk
in space.

Spacewalk drama
Tasked with repairing a broken solar panel
on the furthest edge of the ISS, Tim’s EVA
was cut short by six words from fellow October 15, 2014: Tim Peake training inside the full-scale mock-up of the Soyuz capsule at the
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia’s famed Star City ESA-Stephane Corvaja
spacewalker and EVA-leader Kopra:
“There’s some water in my helmet.” In fact, “Tim, it’s really cool seeing the Union Jack approximately 0.03 seconds!
Kopra’s helmet was filling up with leaking going outside. It has explored all over the
EMU [Extravehicular Mobility Unit] coolant. world. Now it has explored space!” As Tim An impossibility
Taking over as leader to speedily acknowledged: “It was an extremely proud For Tim, his childhood and upbringing
terminate the EVA, Tim ensured that both moment for me.” has apparently been a story of an ordinary
astronauts were safely back in the airlock Assisting with the 250 ongoing British way of life. This, combined with
before further life-threatening issues experiments on the ISS, plus another 25 his qualities of level-headedness, humour
could arise with his NASA colleague’s on his own body while in weightlessness, and stability, produced an exceptional
malfunctioning suit. Despite the early Tim’s science research output was very pilot and astronaut.
return, the EVA was a success. In his book productive. While on board the ISS, Tim His modesty and down-to-earth,
Limitless, Tim recalls a comment from also ran the London Marathon in just 3hrs approachable nature clearly impressed
fellow astronaut Scott Kelly, who was 35 mins. Deemed a success, Principia – the ESA selection team, his Principia
watching their progress from inside ISS: which had direct involvement from more crewmates and the many thousands of
than 1.7m UK school children – has been people who have followed his subsequent
Favourite aeroplane? described as ESA’s most extensive outreach
astronaut space mission.
STEM outreach work in more recent years.
Tim’s serious side comes across while
Tim Peake has flown more than 30 types of
Returning to earth on June 18, 2016, talking about memories of the 186 days
aircraft – both rotary and fixed-wing – during
Tim had orbited the earth an incredible he spent in space. He recalls the hugely
his professional career, including the Panavia
Tornado, Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, BAE 2,627 times and witnessed 16 sunrises impressive appearance of geological
Systems Hawk T1, Douglas DC-3 Dakota, and sunsets every day during his six- formations across the planet and, although
Westland Sea King and Bell OH-58 Kiowa month stay onboard the ISS. And because he reported no post-mission Overview
Warrior. Of them, three stand out for Tim: the of Einstein’s relativity theorem, because Effect cognitive shift in his philosophy of
venerable de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk, Tim had been travelling at 17,500mph life that some astronauts experience, he
the versatile Westland/Aerospatiale Gazelle for six months measn that he is was very impressed by the thinness of
and the formidable AH-64D Apache. Of ‘relatively’ younger than the rest of the earth’s atmosphere. Tim recalled: “It’s
the Chipmunk, Tim recalled: “We were put the people on Earth, albeit only by impossible to look down on Earth from
through our paces in the Chipmunk during
30-hours of basic fixed wing training at
Middle Wallop – it is a lovely plane to fly once
you’re in the air! It’s the taking off and landing
that are difficult.”
Tim flew the Gazelle, nicknamed the
’Screaming Chicken Leg’, with the British
Army across the world, including the likes
of Germany, Bosnia, Kenya and Northern
Ireland. Tim said: “It holds a special place in
my heart – it was a beauty to fly! It’s like an
MG Midget sports car: basic, raw, sporty. A
pilot’s machine calling for pure piloting skills,
the Gazelle became an extension of you.”
Highly sophisticated and technically
demanding, the Apache appealed hugely
to Tim’s thirst for new challenges. As a
test pilot, he took the aircraft beyond limits
previously flown while introducing more than
20 urgently required modifications needed
to support operations in Afghanistan. He
noted: “It wasn’t subtle, it wasn’t pretty…
but it was a very sturdy animal. Fantastically
NASA astronaut Tim Kopra (right) presents Tim Peake with a special patch to commemorate his
responsive and manoeuvrable, it was
100th day in space on March 24, 2016. Although he was the 221st individual to visit the ISS, Tim
absolutely beautiful to fly.”
was just the sixth Briton to orbit the earth ESA-NASA

22 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

space and not be mesmerised by the
fragile beauty of our planet.”
Practical jokes are a strong part of the
military way of life – to let off steam,
particularly in tense combat situations or
in high-performance flying. As an example,
while based at Gütersloh in Germany with
1 Regiment AAC, Tim, and his accomplices
bricked-up a colleague’s bedroom while
Above: Tim captured this incredible image of
London through the multi-paned, clear-glass
cathedral like windows of the International
Space Station's Cupola – the ESA-built
observatory module – while orbiting 400km
above Earth at 17,500mph. With the view
from the observatory extending 1,600km
in all directions, Tim noted it provides a
“permanently jaw-dropping view of
the world” ESA-NASA
he was away. On his return, it took the
unfortunate officer many hours to track
down what had happened to his room! The
removal of sink U-bends was also a regular
occurrence and Tim would suffer the
experience of his Nissan having its wheels
removed and hidden round the base.
Tim and his 2009 ESA astronaut intake
called themselves ‘The Shenanigans’.

The universe’s best-travelled book? Tim Peake reading Yuri Gagarin’s autobiography Road to the Stars in the ISS’s ESA-built observatory
module, dubbed ‘The Cupola’. Autographed by the Russian cosmonaut, the book had previously travelled to space with Britain's first astronaut,
Helen Sharman, during her mission to the Mir space station in 1991 ESA-NASA

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 23
Tim Peake
During the Principa mission, Tim gained
viral fame when a video was uploaded
showing him being chased through the
ISS in zero-g by Scott Kelly in a gorilla suit!
Equally effective, on February 24, 2016, Tim
donned a stick-on ‘DJ’ patch to present
singer Adele with an award at the Brit
Awards while orbiting 400km above the
earth at 7.66km/s.

Return trip
In 2016, ESA director general Jan Worner
said that the six astronauts of the Class of
2009 would be flying a second mission.
If all goes well, Tim could be assigned
another ISS tour as early as 2024.
However, in the ‘post-COVID-19’
world, nothing can be taken for granted
and the prospects of his second
spaceflight are dependant on continuing
government funding for the UK Space
Agency, particularly for ESA-led ISS/HSF
experiments and equipment.
Of course, there is also the possibility of
a closer bi-lateral relationship between
the UK and NASA now that Britain has Above: The ultimate selfie? Tim Peake: soldier, pilot, astronaut! ESA-NASA
left the European Union. But unless
Below: A superb study of the Soyuz TMA-19M attached to the International Space Station.
matters suddenly change it appears that,
Returning to earth on June 18, 2016, the spacecraft’s descent module is now part of the UK’s
for the next few years at least, an ESA
Science Museum Group collection ESA-NASA
commitment will most likely be the key
route for Tim’s next spaceflight. national grouping behind Germany and his fitness, he has at least another 10-15
So will the British government be in a France. This includes pilots, engineers and years ahead of him in spaceflight. But what
position to enable more UK citizens to scientists seeking a coveted place in the lies beyond another ISS mission? Human
be selected by ESA, by maintaining and ESA astronaut corps. spaceflight is set to be provided via the
enhancing HSF spending? A new ESA The pressure on future UK HSF will exciting new SpaceX Crew Dragon, Boeing
astronaut intake is currently being assessed therefore be strong and it will be positive Starliner and Lockheed Orion spacecraft
for 2022 and, of 22,000 applicants, almost that the UK is already the fourth largest coming into service. Tim may well next fly
10% are from the UK — the third largest funder for ESA activities. If Tim maintains to orbit to the ISS onboard a 4-6 seat Crew

24 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Dragon or Starliner capsule. But would so their astronauts may one day join the lunar surface. The village could be a
the UK consider joining NASA’s return to NASA crews on the Moon. Also, the UK is future enabler for an international trip to
the Moon efforts with Project Artemis, offering several contract proposals, seeking Mars, possibly by the late 2030s. As Tim
either as part of ESA or independently? ways of transporting communications notes: “It’s clear that for space exploration
A Lunar Gateway space station orbitting and refuelling kit to the ISS. The ESA has the limits are about to shift all over again.
the Moon to allow landings on the lunar also promoted the concept of a Moon Who knows — maybe, just maybe — I
surface later this decade is one such route. village within the Shackleton Crater at the have already met the first person who will
Germany, Italy and France are committing lunar south pole, where water may be set foot on Mars.” In the meantime, Tim
modules and equipment funding for this, extractable from potential ice just below maintains his Pilot’s Licence and, of course,
his lifelong love of flying!
With nothing but the vast blackness of space around him, Tim works to replace a
failed voltage regulator compromising one of the ISS’s eight power
channels. This was the ISS’s 192nd EVA to conduct
maintenance ESA-NASA

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 25
Boeing T-7A Red Hawk
Red Tail
Legacy
B
eginning in 2024, the United States
Air Force’s (USAF) Air Education and
Training Command (AETC) will be
using a new jet to train its pilots:
Boeing’s T-7A Red Hawk. This single-
engined advanced trainer will provide the
USAF an all-new advanced pilot training
platform that will prepare students to fly its
fifth-generation F-22A and F-35A fighters
and the low-observable B-21A Raider
currently under development.
At present, 12 of 18 of the most advanced
pilot training tasks undertaken by ATEC
cannot be completed with the Northrop
Grumman’s T-38C Talon, which has served
as the USAF’s advanced training aircraft
since March 17, 1961, when it entered
service with the 3510th Flying Training
26
Main photo: On September 13, 2016, Boeing
and Saab unveiled its candidate for the
United States Air Force’s T-X competition to
the public at the US manufacturer’s St. Louis
facility. During the presentation, Boeing
executives revealed that it had already
manufactured two examples Boeing
Wing (FTW) at Randolph Air Force Base
(AFB), Texas. Since then, Talons have
trained more than 72,000 students.
Exit the Talon
The average age of the remaining
T-38 fleet is now more than 50 years
old. Originally designed with a 7,000-
hour service life, the Talon has had to
receive numerous structural, avionic
and propulsion upgrades to keep it
The USAF’s new
advanced training
aircraft, the T-7A Red
Hawk, honours one of
its most distinguished
squadrons. Tom
Kaminski provides
a timely update of
the type’s upcoming
arrival in service
relevant in its pivotal training role. Those
efforts provided 463 T-38As and AT-
38Bs with new avionics while Propulsion
Modernization Program (PMP) upgrades
resulted in the assignment of the
designation T-38C. Dubbed ‘Pacer Classic
III’, the latest upgrades began in 2015.
Expected to conclude in 2026, this
Service Life Extension Program (the type’s
most extensive structural rework to date)
will permit 180 T-38Cs to remain in service
beyond 2030. Running through Fiscal Year
(FY) 2029, the Talon Repair Inspection and
Maintenance (TRIM) program is upgrading
53 T-38As, six AT-38Bs and 110 T-38Cs not
included in Pacer Classic III. Carried out by
the 575th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s
T-38 Talon depot maintenance team at
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
Boeing BTX-1 N381TX makes a spirited departure from St. Louis on March 17, 2017. A week later on the 24th, the jet demonstrated considerable
maturity with four flights in the same day — some 18 months before Boeing was even awarded the T-X contract Boeing-David Torrence

Randolph, the work includes replacing
the ejection seats, fuselage longerons, the
landing gear, brakes, flight controls, and
canopy, among other structural work.
At the start of FY 2021, the USAF’s Air
Education and Training Command (AETC)
inventory included 427 T-38Cs; Talons are
also operated by Air Combat Command
(ACC), Air Force Global Strike Command
(AFGSC) and Air Force Materiel Command
(AFMC), which use the type in a variety of
roles including companion trainers, air-to-
air aggressors and for test and evaluation
tasks. As of late 2021, ACC’s fleet boasted
39 T-38As and six AT-38Bs, AFGSC 14
T-38As and AFMC 16 T-38Cs. Additionally,
the US Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent
River in Maryland operates ten T-38Cs,
while the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Johnson Space Center
operate 20 T-38Ns as program support
aircraft. Although an Avionics Upgrade
provided the T-38C with a head-up
display (HUD), up-front control panels,
multifunctional displays and hands-on
throttle and stick (HOTAS), the 50-plus
year-old airframe lacks the technology to
train the next generation of fighter and
bomber pilots.
Enter the Hawk
The USAF initiated a Talon replacement
programme in 2010 and released a
draft requirement document for its T-X
trainer two years later. Although the T-X
program was deferred several times in

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 27
Boeing T-7A Red Hawk
Right: A Talon undergoes upgrades as part
of the USAF’s Pacer Classic III programme
at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, in early
April 2018. The largest single structural
modification ever undertaken on the T-38,
the upgrades extend the type’s service life by
some 15-20 years USAF-Alex R Lloyd

Below: Boeing test pilots Steve ‘Bull’ Schmidt

(left) and Dan ‘Dragon’ Draeger check over
BTX-1 N381TX — one of two Production
Relevant Jet built by Boeing — at St. Louis
during the jet’s roll out on September 13,
2016. Note the T-X’s apparent size – it has
been designed with future mission sets
in mind Boeing-Eric Shindelbower

order to fund higher priority projects, the

service eventually released its programme
requirements on March 20, 2015, and
a draft Request for Proposals (RFP)
followed in July 2016. The final RFP for
the Advanced Pilot Training (APT) Family
of Systems programme was released on
December 30, 2016.
Boeing and Sweden’s Saab AB agreed to
jointly develop and build a new advanced
training jet and aircrew training system. In
December 2013, the two signed a Joint
Development Agreement that covered
design, development, production, support,
sales and marketing. The team was widely
expected to offer a variant of Saab’s
successful JAS-39 Gripen lightweight
multirole fighter. Ultimately, it submitted
a clean sheet design to specifically meet
USAF requirements. Two T-X prototypes
were built in advance of the USAF’s RFP,
and a Production Relevant Jet (PRJ) was
unveiled at Boeing’s St. Louis, Missouri
facility on September 13, 2016.
The prototype BTX-1 (wearing the civil
registration N381TX) flew on December 20,
2016, and Boeing received an airworthiness
certificate for the type on March 15, 2017.
The second prototype (N782TX) flew just
over a month later on April 24. On April 27,
the two flew together for the first time.
On September 27, 2018, the BTX-1 design
was selected as the winner of the T-X
competition over competing proposals
from teams comprising Lockheed Martin
(LM) and Korea Aerospace Industries
(KAI) and Leonardo, CAE of Canada and
Honeywell. Those two teams had offered
variants of KAI’s supersonic T-50 and
Leonardo’s T-100 – the latter based on
Alenia’s twin-engined M-346 Master.
Valued at US$9.2bn, the initial US$813m
award covered the engineering and
manufacturing development (EMD) phase.
Boeing will initially deliver five T-7A aircraft
and seven ground based flight training
devices to the 12th FTW at Joint Base San
Antonio-Randolph, while plans currently
include the acquisition of 351 T-7As and a
ground-based training system (GBTS) with
46 simulators.
“Digital Pathfinder”
The T-7A features a tandem two-seat
cockpit with ‘stadium seating’ that
improves visibility for the instructor in
the raised rear seat and an advanced
cockpit with embedded synthetic training
capabilities, including radar and targeting
pod simulations. The glass cockpit features
an Elbit Systems reconfigurable 10in x 19in
large-area display (LAD) and an integrated
HOTAS system. The front cockpit is
equipped with a HUD, while open system
architecture will ease the integration of
future upgrades and systems. The twin-
tail design includes a shoulder-mounted
wing with leading edge root extensions
(LERX) and horizontal stabilators. Equipped
with a single General Electric (GE) F404-
GE-102B afterburning turbofan, the T-7A
will deliver fighter-like performance
through its hydraulically powered fly-by-
wire flight controls. With a single-point
ground refuelling receptacle, fuel is carried
in single wall fuselage tanks; the jet has
provisions for air-to-air refuelling. An
integral auxiliary power unit (APU) provides
a self-start capability that alleviates the
need for ground starting equipment.
The airframe is designed with a service
life of 8,000 flight hours and, according
to Boeing, includes sufficient volume,
power and cooling to support new systems
such as underwing hard points. With
maintainability and reliability paramount
in its design, the T-7A is intended to fly up
to four sorties daily. The jet features easy

28 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 On February 5, 2017: T-X N381TX and NX832TX await their next flights
on the manufacturer’s ramp at St. Louis Lambert International Boeing

access drop-down maintenance doors

and quick release panels. Engine changes
can be undertaken by just four personnel
in around four hours, while the side-
opening canopy permits the easy removal
of the ejection seats. Additionally,
numerous components including the
stabilators, rudders and actuators are
interchangeable between the left and right
side of the aircraft.
The USAF designated the T-7A at its first
‘e’ series aircraft, meaning it was designed
using 3D digital engineering (DGE),
which allowed it to go from concept
to first flight in just 36 months. Digital
engineering uses advanced computer
modelling and simulation to design
hardware, create blueprints and confirm
that the configurations are workable
before constructing a physical prototype.
The combination of DGE, agile software
development, open architecture and
associated computer driven manufacturing The cockpit arrangement of the new T-X advanced trainer is equipped with a head-up display, a
and virtual testing reduced both the time central-mounted large area display, an engine and fuel indicator panel on the left-hand side, and
and cost to develop the aircraft. Compared a touch panel ‘up-front’ control panel Boeing
to traditional aircraft development
programmes, Boeing realised a 50%
reduction in software development and
verification time, a 75% improvement in
engineering quality and an 80% reduction
in assembly time.
Boeing vice president and T-7A
programme manager Paul Niewald
referred to the T-7A program as the ’Digital
Pathfinder for the Defense Industry.’ The
jet’s design was frozen following the
successful completion of the Critical
Design Review on August 14, 2020.
On September 16, 2019, the USAF
announced it had assigned the new
supersonic advanced trainer with the
designation T-7A Red Hawk to honour
“the legacy of Tuskegee Airmen and
pay homage to their signature red-
tailed aircraft from World War Two” (see
Honouring the Tuskegee Airmen, page 31).
Following the EMD machines, Boeing Boeing’s chief test pilot for the T-7A, Steve ‘Bull’ Schmidt, in the ‘cockpit’ of a ground-based
will deliver aircraft in two low-rate initial training system during development work. Designed with an open-architecture backbone,
production (LRIP) lots that will be followed this system will allow participants to be added to the training scenarios without the need for
by at least eight full-rate production lots. any additional aircraft Boeing-Eric Shindelbower

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 29
Boeing T-7A Red Hawk
Subsequent purchases could also see
the T-7A replace T-38As used as ‘red air’
aggressor and companion trainer aircraft,
which could result in production increasing
to as many as 475 examples and 120
ground based training devices.
Final assembly of production T-7As is
being carried out at Boeing’s St. Louis
facility. According to the manufacturer and
the USAF, the only major design changes
made to production aircraft will be the
inclusion of new Collins Aerospace ACES
5 ejection seats and GE’s F404-GE-103
afterburning turbofan.
Testing of the escape system began at
New Mexico’s Holloman AFB in January
2021 and will continue into early 2022,
with work being carried out by the 846th
Test Squadron using the Holloman High
Speed Test Track.
Developed specifically for the T-7A
and equipped with a
Full Authority Digital
Electronic Control
“The USAF
(FADEC) derived from announced it
GE’s successful F414,
the F404-GE-103 will had assigned the
deliver 11,000lb st dry
and 17,000lb st with new supersonic
afterburner.
Replacement of the
advanced trainer
Talon fleet will begin in
2023 when the first T-7As
the designation Swedish
are delivered to the 12th T-7A Red Hawk” connection
FTW, while the trainer
is expected to reach initial operational
capability (IOC) in late 2024. This milestone
will be preceded by the programme’s
achievement of Required Assets Available
following the delivery of at least 14 aircraft,
the GBTS and support capabilities. Full
operational capability (FOC) will follow in
2034, when the type has equipped five
training wings.
Boeing is also developing the T-7A’s
GBTS, which was designed with an open-
architecture backbone. The weapons
system (WST) and operational flight trainers
(OFT) will use the same operational flight
software as the aircraft. This concurrency
means that the software changes are
Boeing’s Production Relevant Jets N381TX and NX832TX in flight together for the first time on April 27, 2017 Boeing-John D Parker
30
Boeing’s second BTX-1 (N382TX) during taxi tests on April 20, 2017.
Note the main undercarriage has a relatively narrow track Boeing
fielded to the aircraft and training devices
simultaneously. The ability to digitally
connect the WST or OFT with actual T-7A
cockpits enables integrated live, virtual and
constructive training scenarios between
the two. This capability
will permit the USAF
to add participants
to training scenarios
without the need for
additional aircraft.
Delivery of the first
training devices to
Randolph is scheduled
for 2023.
Saab began
construction of the first T-7A’s aft fuselage
section at its facility in Linköping, Sweden,
on January 10, 2020. Delivered to Boeing
on April 15, 2021, the component formed
part of the first of two ground-based
structural test airframes. In another
feat enabled by DGE, the joining of the
forward and aft fuselage sections was
accomplished in less than 30 minutes. A
second structural component, delivered
on July 24, 2021, formed a section of the
first of five flyable EMD Red Hawks. Saab
shipped a third aft fuselage section to
Boeing in September 2021.
Although Saab is building the initial EMD
structures in Linköping, production work
will be conducted at a new facility in
West Lafayette, Indiana. Formally opened
on October 13, 2021, Saab expects to
assemble the aft fuselage sections with
installed subsystems for 60 aircraft
annually at this new facility; construction
of the wing, vertical and horizontal tail
components is being undertaken by Austin,
Texas-based Qarbon Aerostructures.
In late-2020, the T-7As were grounded
for a scheduled modification period.
Following their return to flight status in
June 2021, Boeing initiated Phase 2 EMD
flight testing. On the day that testing
resumed, a PRJ flew three sorties from the
contractor’s St. Louis production facility.
While flight testing continues from there,
the use of distributed test operations (DTO)
commenced at Edwards’ Ridley Mission
Control Center in April 2021. The DTO
permits the T-7A Test Team, which includes
personnel from the Air Force Flight Test
Center’s 416th Flight Test Squadron and
the Air Force Operational Test Center’s
Detachment 5 to remotely monitor every
test from Edwards; some of the T-7A’s
specific flight envelope testing will be
conducted from Edwards as required.
Through to October 12, 2021, both
N781TX and N782TX undertook a
combined 307 flights. Recently, Boeing test
pilots achieved a speed of 550kts
while verifying the type’s air data system;
testing will continue through 2021. Boeing
will carry on operating the company-
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
owned jets once the EMD aircraft have
joined the test programme and may
use them for demonstrations or future
developmental activities.
According to Niewald, flying the PRJ
has allowed Boeing to reduce risk and
correct issues prior to the EMD airframes
joining the test programme – including a
‘wing rock’ that caused the Red Hawk to
become unstable in roll when operating at
high angles of attack. Digital engineering
and testing allowed Boeing to quickly find
a solution and make changes to the jet’s
operational flight software.
The first of the five EMD trainers, N791TX
(referred to as APT-1) will initially support
ground-based load calibration testing
before joining the flight test effort. As a
result, APT-2 (N792TX) will be the first to
fly. Currently, Boeing expects the first EMD
to fly by the end of 2021. All five EMD jets
are currently in production and according
to Niewald should all be flying by the
second quarter of 2022.
In June 2021, the USAF confirmed that
a Milestone C LRIP decision on the T-7A
had slipped from late-2022 to late-2023.
This was primarily caused by critical parts
shortages and initial design and testing
delays that had resulted from the global
COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the
USAF altered its budget request for FY
2022 to include US$188.9m in research,
development, test and evaluation funding
for the Red Hawk, and just US$10.4m in
advance procurement funding.
Above: A group of the Tuskegee Airmen posing in front of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk at
Alabama’s Tuskegee Army Airfield in 1942 USAF
Honouring the Tuskegee Airmen
In 1941, the United States Army Air Corps
(USAAC) – the predecessor to today’s
United States Air Force – was still a racially
segregated element of the country’s military.
Widespread discrimination had prevented
African Americans from flying during World
War One, but more than two decades of
advocacy by black Americans who wished to
enlist and train as military aviators meant that
pressure was building to allow them to serve
their country in the sky.
With war in Europe becoming inevitable,
on April 3, 1939, US Congress passed
the Appropriations Bill Public Law 18 and
designated funds to train pilots of colour,
including recruits from the wider Americas
such as Haiti, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic
and also of Hispanic and Latino descent.
Dubbed the ‘Tuskegee Airmen’, the group was
based at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama
and also encompassed engineers, mechanics,
nurses, cooks and support personnel.
The 99th Pursuit Squadron would become
the first exclusively black flying unit and
would blaze a trail through North Africa and
Europe, predominantly flying Curtiss P-40
Warhawks, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and
North American P-51 Mustangs. This led to
the establishment of the first all-black fighter
group (FG), the 322nd FG, nicknamed the ‘Red
Tails’ due to the all-red tails adorning their
fighters, encompassing the 100th, 301st and
302nd Fighter Squadrons. It gained distinction
escorting heavy bombers by having one of the
lowest loss records in the air force, leading to
their services being in constant demand by
Allied bomber units.
Despite this, they not only battled the enemy,
but had to fight near-constant discrimination,
continued segregation and prejudice from
within the US military. Ironically, the very
hurdles placed in their way by the military
establishment contributed to their success,
as one airman pointed out: ”They made the
standards so high, we actually became an
elite group.”
After the Tuskegee Airmen, the US military
would never be the same. Their achievements,
together with those who supported them,
would pave the way for full integration within
the US military. For more see: www.tuskegee.
edu/support-tu/tuskegee-airmen

Potential roles
On October 12, 2021, the USAF released
a request for information (RFI) associated
with a new advanced tactical trainer (ATT)
for future fighter pilot training. Acquisition
of the new platform is intended to support
the ACC’s ‘Rebuilding the Forge’ (Reforge)
concept of operations (CONOPS), which
will overhaul its fighter training enterprise.
In addition to initial tactical training (ITT),
the service is considering options that
would utilise the aircraft as an adversary
air option with “potential for growth/ Above: On September 16, 2019, the USAF officially named Boeing’s T-X the T-7A Red Hawk in
adaptation as a tactical fighter surrogate.” tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen. Here, an appropriately marked T-X sits with Commemorative
Revealed in June 2020, Reforge will Air Force’s ‘Red Tail’ marked P-51C Mustang. Boeing-Stewart Goldstein
reduce the time required to qualify a

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 31
Boeing T-7A Red Hawk

Boeing T-7A Red Hawk

Specifications
Length 46.4ft (14.2m)
Wingspan 32.8ft (10m)
Height 13.1ft (4m)
Weight (Empty) 7,165lb (3,250kg)
Weight (MTOW) 12,125lb (5,500kg)
Engine One 17,200lb (79 kN) General
Electric F404-GE-103
afterburning turbofan
Speed 800 mph (1,300kph) –
Mach 1.04
Ceiling 50,000ft (15,250m)
Range 1,000nm (1,840km)
Rate-of-Climb 33,500 ft/min (10,200m/min)

Above right: Revealed to the public on

September 13, 2016, N381TX flew for the
first time on December 20, 2016. It is seen
here returning to St. Louis. Missouri, following
that maiden sortie Mark Nankivil

Right: Could a modified version of Boeing’s

T-7A Red Hawk meet the US Navy’s need as a
replacements for its T-45 Goshawks? Boeing

fighter pilot as a flight lead authorised
to lead a two-ship formation, from 40
months to as little as 22. Additionally, it
will return frontline fighters that support
training requirements to combat status.
The Reforge CONOPS implements an ITT
course that would replace the current IFF
programme and scale back the formal
training unit transition phases of pilot
training. The service is seeking a minimum
of 100 ATT aircraft with subsequent
increment lots of 50 examples.
The Reforge CONOPS also leverages
virtual reality (VR) technology, and in-
flight simulation capabilities that are
already incorporated into the T-7A design.
According to the request, ACC is not
limiting the search to any one platform and
will consider “any and all vendors that can
meet the desired design.”
Just eight days after the USAF released
its RFI, the US Navy (USN) issued a sources
sought notice associated with a tactical
surrogate aircraft. Like the USAF’s ATT, the
surrogate would support future fighter
pilot training. In addition to augmenting
flight time and training in frontline aircraft,
it would provide adversary air support
and serve as a flight lead aircraft for Fleet
Replacement Squadrons. The aircraft
would “simulate and/or replicate current
and future fighter aircraft systems by
providing the training environment and
relevant experience to build tactical skills,
systems management skills and decision-
making skills required for weapon system
employment actions.” The service specified
a notional acquisition of 64 aircraft
beginning in FY 2024 or 2025.
Although both services are seeking a
two-seat fighter type platform, the USAF
wants an option for single-seat variant,
while the USN requires the aircraft be
configured for single-seat operations
with alternate options for rear cockpit
use. Operational requirement for both
services are similar: a Mach 0.9 level speed,
45,000ft ceiling, 7.5G structural limit,
90-minute mission duration (including 30
minutes of tactical manoeuvring), open
avionics architecture, LADs and HOTAS.
Although the T-7A would seem to be
the likely candidate to fill these new
roles, LM and KAI will almost certainly
propose the T-50/FA-50. Even before
entering service, the Red Hawk has drawn
international interest and Boeing believes
there is a global market for as many
as 2,600 examples across a variety of
roles, including training and light attack.
It has also responded to an earlier USN
RFI seeking a replacement advanced jet
trainer for its fleet of T-45C Goshawks.
The Navy wants to field an off-the-shelf
undergraduate jet training system as a
replacement for the Goshawk by 2028.

A four-ship of T-38 Talons from the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. Having served as the UASF’s
primary jet training aeroplane since 1961, the Talons lack the technology needed to train the next generation USAF-Danny Webb

32 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

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Swidwin (Su-22), Poznan/Krzesiny (F-16) & Lask (F-16); & military aviation museums
• May GREECE: NATO Tiger Meet, Andravida AB; Spotters Day TBA; other bases TBC
• 4-17 May USA: Alaska; airports, airfields; opt flts C-117, C-53, floatplanes, glacier landing/
take-off & much more
• 23-29 May KAZAKHSTAN: KADEX Int’l Aerospace Exhibition & Airshow; all 4 days
• 11-19 Jun RUSSIA: Moscow Airports SVO, DME & VKO; Chernoe & Monino Museum
• 18-26 Jun GERMANY: WWII Top Secret R&D Airfields; Peenemunde; Zossen: Wehrmacht &
Soviet Armed Forces C&C war bunkers; aviation museums; & ILA 2022 Airshow
• 22-26 Jun GERMANY: ILA 2022 long weekend; Zossen bunkers & aviation museums
• 24 Jul-1 Aug USA: Oshkosh – largest aviation event in the world
• TBA Aug RUSSIA: ARMY 2022 Weapons Expo & Live Firepower demos; Monino & other
aviation museums. Optional extension to Lipetsk AB (TBC)
• 31 Aug-4 Sep AUSTRIA: Air Power 2022 Airshow (3 days); Hinterstoisser Hanger 8 Museum
• 21-27 Sep GREENLAND: airports (ramp access approved); northern lights; S-61 flight (TBC)
• 23-31 Oct BULGARIA: Military Wrecks & Relics & aviation museums around whole country
• Oct (TBC) BULGARIA: military bases
• TBA USA: 75th Anniversary of the US Air Force Airshow; date & venue TBA
• TBA NORWAY: Airshow & major aviation museums. Await airshow info

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Airbus BelugaXL

Beluga tuThere is no mistaking the Beluga. Mark Broadbent profiles this

distinctive airlifter and learns about the intricate process of
loading and unloading Airbus’ unique in-house transport jet

B
earing a name entirely befitting its
whale-like appearance, the Beluga
is one of the most distinctive aircraft
types to ever grace the skies.
Airbus’ in-house airline, Airbus Transport
International (ATI), uses two generations
of this charismatic aeroplane to transport
aircraft subassemblies and components
between its European factories. They are
the BelugaST (the ST stands for Super
Transporter), introduced in the mid-1990s,
and the higher-capacity BelugaXL,
which entered service early in
2020. At the time of writing in
November 2021, Airbus was
operating three STs and three XLs. It once
operated five STs – two have been retired
and are currently parked up at Bordeaux-
Mérignac, France awaiting their fate. Three
more XLs are due by the end of 2023.
An airlifter evolves
Airbus developed the Beluga as a higher-
capacity replacement for the four
Aérospatiale Super Guppy outsize airlifters
– themselves highly modified former United
States Air Force Boeing 337 Stratocruisers
– that once transported subassemblies
and components from the aviation giant’s
factories across Europe to its various final
assembly lines.
To create the Beluga, the manufacturer
took the lower fuselage, wings, and landing
gear from its popular A300 widebody
airliner and added a bulbous upper-fuselage
cargo hold with an upwards-hinged front
door to enable loading and unloading.
The jet was officially designated the
A300-600ST – although its Beluga
moniker was adopted early in

34 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

urnaround
its development thanks to its visual
resemblance to the whale.
The initial Beluga, F-GSTA, flew for the first
time from Toulouse, France, on September
13, 1994. With type certification gained in
October the following year after some 335
hours of flight testing, the Beluga entered
service in January 1996.
In November 2014, Airbus publicly
launched the second-generation BelugaXL
derived from its hugely successful A330;
on its type certificate the XL is designated
A330-743L. Registered F-WBXL, the initial
example took to the air from Toulouse for
its maiden flight on July 19, 2018.
Andy Owen, the Beluga Line Station
Manager at Airbus UK’s plant at Broughton,
North Wales, told Aviation News: “The
aircraft was totally on time. At the start
of the project, Bertrand George [head of
BelugaXL programme] said, ‘we will fly
in week 29 of 2018’, and we did!” The
European Union Aviation Safety Agency
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
type-certified the XL in November 2019
after F-WBXL had completed more than
200 test flights and some 700 flying hours.
A new generation is born
The first jet’s flight testing work and
instrumentation meant the second XL built,
F-GXLH – dubbed ‘XL2’ – was in fact the
first of the new generation airlifter to enter
service, conducting its first operational
flights in early January 2020.
Two more XLs have joined the fleet since
then: F- GXLI ‘XL3’ in October 2020 and
F-GXLJ ‘XL4’ in October 2021. When it
completes the ongoing supplementary
flight test work and its flight test
instrumentation is removed, the former
F-WBXL – reregistered as F-GXLG in 2020
to correspond with its XL stablemates’
registrations – will join the ATI fleet.
A further two XLs will follow thereafter,
enabling Airbus to phase out the remaining
STs – thus completing the new Beluga’s
A wonderful study of BelugaXL F-WBXL during the next-generation airlifter’s first flight from
Toulouse on July 19, 2018. The aircraft was airborne for 3hrs 37mins Airbus-Sylvain Ramadier
introduction. The gradual changeover
replicates the way in which the STs
themselves replaced the Super Guppies
during the late 1990s.
A smooth and steady service entry is
important given the links the Beluga
provides to Airbus’ pan-European
production system. The jets criss-cross
Europe on 11 routes between production
sites in the UK, France, Spain and Italy,
ferrying wings, fuselage sections, tailplanes,
and other major components to the airliner
final assembly lines in Toulouse, and
Hamburg, Germany.
The Beluga has played a relatively
unheralded but crucial role in enabling
Airbus to raise its productivity. Back in
1996 when the type entered service, the
company delivered 126 commercial aircraft.
Annual deliveries surpassed 300 aircraft
during the mid-2000s and rose further
to more than 800 jets a year before the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic struck.
35
Airbus BelugaXL
Right: The lead BelugaXL (F-WBXL) undergoing
assembly at the Airbus facility in Toulouse,
France on December 19, 2016. The airlifter’s
airframe is based on the aviation giant’s
successful A330-200 freighter
Airbus-Alexandre Doumenjou – Masterfilm

Ever-higher output was another reason

why Airbus developed the XL. The XL’s
wider fuselage diameter means it can carry
two A350 wings instead of the single one
the ST can transport.
When all of the new Belugas are in
service, ATI’s capacity will have increased
by 30%, Airbus says, supporting the
manufacturer’s planned production rate
increases and deliveries. The XL’s capacity
and what Airbus calls “new efficiency”
cargo loading systems also means the new
airlifter’s turnaround time is almost half
that of the ST.
The COVID-19 pandemic has obviously
had an impact on numbers – Airbus’ data
shows it delivered 566 jets in 2020, down
from 863 in 2019 – but Owen told Aviation
News the Belugas are slowly becoming
busier: “We’re picking up,” he said. “Last
week [late October 2021] was busy; we
flew 11 times. It was one of our busiest
weeks in a while, obviously not to pre-
COVID levels, but we’re on the right track.”
Shape is key
The Belugas fly into Airbus’ Broughton
factory, near Chester to collect wings
built at the plant. Owen explained that the
aircraft “very rarely” arrive empty. “More
than 95% of the time it’s bringing us
an empty jig back,' he said. “We
also ship components in from
Germany and Spain for the
A350 programme.”
Owen gave a detailed
description of the process of unloading
and loading the Beluga. Following arrival,
the aircraft shuts down before it is towed
into a building called the Integrated
Loading Facility (ILF). “If you can imagine,
there’s a horseshoe-shaped structure,
which we tow the aircraft into [using] a
tug,” he said. “While the aircraft enters
the building, we have contour doors that
close round the fuselage – the wings,
engines and tail remain outside. Just the
nose and cargo door are inside when the
doors are closed.”
Broughton’s ILF opened in 2015, before
the XL arrived, but Owen said Airbus
“provisioned a lot of scope into the
building” that has “made it quite easy
to accommodate” the new-generation
aircraft. He explained: “One of the big
differences between ST and XL is the shape
of the cargo door. The ILF doors were cut
out to the shape of the ST – imagine a big
keyhole when the aircraft isn’t there. We
had to have new doors and we’ve gone to
a dual standard; it’s one door that adapts
so it’s capable for both ST and XL.”
Precise positioning
Once a Beluga is inside the ILF, a piece
of equipment called the Beluga Interface
Rack (BIR) bridges the gap between the jet
and the cargo boarders – the vehicles used
to take loads to and from the aircraft.
As with the ILF doors, the rack can be
adjusted for either Beluga variant; the
Broughton team finds out whether the
incoming flight is an ST or XL so they can
configure the rack accordingly.
Owen explained the precision involved

The reason for the type’s ‘Beluga’ moniker is clearly

apparent in this view of F-WBXL arriving overhead at
Broughton during the airlifter’s first visit to Airbus’s South
Wales plant on February 14, 2019 Getty Images-Chris Furlong

36 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

The XL’s ground test team works to determine the Airbus BelugaXL’s centre of gravity when empty during heavy ground testing, June 7, 2018 Airbus

in joining the BIR to the aircraft: “With half a degree of yaw tolerance, which loadmaster (LM) provide some of this data,
[passenger] aircraft it’s not absolutely critical over the length of an XL is a very small information is also gathered from two jacks
where the gate is because airbridges can amount. The key is to get it right first installed into receptacles forward of the
be lowered, and they’ve got quite a bit of time… we don’t want to be shunting an nose gear and the lower rear fuselage.
scope. We haven’t – forward and aft, we’re aircraft in and out.” Each jack is ‘pre-loaded’ to a weight of
talking 20 to 30mm.” 10kN, enabling Broughton’s loadmaster
A datum pole, “basically “The ILF doors Two jacks “to calculate the mass for the given
a glorified plumb bob” as Once a Beluga is conditions on that day” said Owen. “We’ll
Owen put it, is fitted into were cut out to correctly positioned, plumb that into the system and authorise
the front jack receptacle the ILF’s ceiling-to-floor it to jack. That measurement will then
on the lower fuselage (in the shape of the contour doors move decrease until we get to +/– 3mm – we’re
front of the nose gear) into extreme tolerances. Once we’re in
to achieve the necessary ST – imagine toclose’
a predefined ‘pre-
position around that bracket the system goes green.”
accuracy. He explained:
“Getting the aircraft
a big keyhole shelter. But the doors are
the fuselage to provide Only then will the contour doors close

straight is absolutely
critical. The length of the
when the aircraft not yet shut completely.
First the ground handling
jigs [carrying] the wings isn’t there” team must account for
we put onto the aircraft the specific weight and
are 35-36m, so even a slight bit centre of gravity (COG), fuel load and
of yaw discrepancy can cause issues even the aircraft’s tyre pressure.
with a turnaround. Roughly we have While the flight crew and

Smile and wave! The BelugaXL’s first flight crew pose in the aircraft’s vast
cargo bay at Toulouse following the jet’s maiden sortie. From left, they are
Test Flight Engineers Jean-Michel Pin and Laurent Lapierre, Experimental
Test Pilots Bernardo Saez Benito and Christophe Cail, and Flight Test
Engineer Philippe Foucault Airbus-JB Accariez

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 37
Airbus BelugaXL
Right: The initial pair of BelugaXLs (F-WBXL,
bottom, and F-WBXS) together for the first
time at Toulouse, France on April 1, 2019
Airbus-Sylvain Ramadier

Below: The second XL built, F-GXLH was the

first to enter service with the manufacturer’s
in-house airline – Airbus Transport
International Airbus-Sylvain Ramadier

completely around the Beluga and the

loadmaster authorise unloading/loading.
“It’s basically just consistency and that the
door fits every single time to the known
level. Another benefit of the doors being fully
closed is that we can begin fuelling outside,
which cuts down the overall operation time.”

‘Roll-on, roll-off’
With the Beluga fully secured, the
36m-long cargo boarder aligns with the
BIR. The load aboard the aircraft then
simply rolls off the jet onto the loader
under the power of the rollers.

Below left: This view of BelugaST number 5

(F-GSTF) in Broughton’s Beluga Line Station
on April 13, 2021 reveals the Integrated
Loading Facility’s adaptable dual-standard
door. The super transporter is being refuelled
with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), part of
the manufacturer’s efforts to decarbonise its
operations. The XL has since flown with a 35%
blend of SAF Airbus-Jane Widdowson

Below: February 14, 2019: Airbus Transport

International BelugaXL F-WBXL holds in front
of the Broughton’s Beluga Line Station shortly
after arriving at the Flintshire facility. Note
the Beluga shaped ‘keyhole’ in the Integrated
Loading Facility’s ceiling-to-floor doors
v1 Images-Avgeek Mel

38 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022


Owen commented: “We’ve got two cargo
boarders, so as soon as the empty jig is
off, the boarder will move sideways out
of the way and [another boarder with] the
wings will slide in [and] align with the BIR
[so] we’re in a position to load. We give a
final check of the loading sheet, and the
loadmaster will do a walkaround to make
sure it’s the right wing. Once that’s done,
the loadmaster can then put the address
of where the wing and jig are going to sit
within the aircraft, and the reverse of the
offload process begins.
“The jig rolls all the way on to the aircraft
and is locked in [by] power locking units.
At that point the groundcrew will open up
the BIR and the contour doors open to the
‘pre-open’ position – the reverse of the
‘pre-close’ position.”
The jacks are dropped before closing the
jet’s cargo door to reduce the stress on the
airframe – and because there’s no risk of
the wind affecting it the ILF contour doors
are fully opened.
“It’s then the same as pretty much
any aircraft – disconnecting ground
power, taking out the safety pins
for the gear, connecting the tug,
pushing back and then the start-up
process,” Owen said.
There’s nothing quite like the shape of
the Beluga! The XL’s larger cargo hold
offers some 30% more capacity than
that of the ST Airbus-H Goussé
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Above: Old meets new: Following its maiden
flight on July 19, 2018, BelugaXL F-WBXL
(right) was displayed alongside the lead
BelugaST – F-GSTA – at Toulouse. With 30%
more capacity over the ST, the XL’s larger size
is apparent in this view Airbus-Florent Montet
Loading team
The entire process lasts around 85-90
minutes for the ST, but Owen pointed out
that improvements to the systems and
process for the XL means the intention is
to reduce that time to just 60 minutes for
the new jet.
A large team move completed wing
sections and jigs around the production
areas at Broughton and to and from the ILF.
However, the aircraft unloading/loading
process only involves seven people – the
loadmaster, ground co-ordinator, ramp
supervisor, truck driver, marshaller, cargo
boarder driver and a jack operator.
Owen explained that team has been
designed to be flexible. “They’re all multi-
skilled – they’re not just trained in one
activity," he said. “Everyone is trained in
everything apart from the loadmaster and
ground co-ordinator, which are more
specialist roles.
“The guys’ basic training is what any
other ground handler would have at any
other airport: learning how to marshall,
how to operate the headset, power units,
pushback driving – they all have that as a
baseline. We then have separate training
for the BIR, cargo boarders and jacks
provided by the manufacturers of those
pieces of equipment.”
Some roles require extra instruction –
for example, ground co-ordinators learn
the various elements of what apron
supervision involves, including human
factors and safety, while loadmasters
receive training on aircraft weight/
balance, including COG.
All staff must fulfil certain criteria
in order to work on the line. The
loadmasters, for instance, are
required to complete 15 operations
before they are signed off. There
39
Airbus BelugaXL

BelugaXL in detail
The XL uses different features from various
A330 variants: it has the -200’s lower
forward/central fuselage and wings, the
-300’s aft fuselage and tailplane, parts of the
A330 Freighter, and the landing gear and
engine pylons common to the -200/-300.
Despite the visual resemblance between
the generations, the XL’s loadable cargo
hold is 7.7m longer and 1m wider than the
ST, enabling it to transport two A350 wings
instead of the single one the first-generation
variant can carry.
The XL has 2,615m³ of available cargo
volume, up from the ST’s 1,450m³. Its
maximum take-off weight – or MTOW – is
227,000kg (up from 155,000kg) and payload
is 53,000kg (up from 47,000kg).
With two General Electric CF6-80C2A8
engines generating 57,866lb st equipping
the ST, the XL uses more powerful and
efficient Rolls-Royce Trent 700 turbofans
rated at 71,000lb st each.
A dorsal fin connecting the vertical tailplane
to the fuselage is triangular on the ST; on
the XL it is 50% larger and has a ‘kink’ in
the diagonal line. The vertical tailplane and
auxiliary vertical end-fins are slightly taller
and the horizontal tailplane box wider on
each side. A completely new feature on the
XL are ventral fins fitted to the bottom of the
aft fuselage, which help provide stability.
The XL also features Airbus’ Skywise digital
platform, which sends aircraft performance
and maintenance data into a secure
cloud-based platform to provide predictive
maintenance and help manage operations.

Above right: The BelugaXL is powered by a pair

of Rolls-Royce Trent 700s rated at 71,000lb st
thrust each Airbus-H Goussé

Right: This view on the other side of the

Broughton’s Integrated Loading Facility doors
reveals an BelugaXL being loaded with A320
wings. Note the upward-swinging hinged
freight door. Produced by Stelia Aerospace,
it weighs just over 3 tonnes, is 10m long and
8m high and comprises 24 latches
Airbus-C Brinkmann
Below: White whale: F-WBXL flies final for
Toulouse following a proving flight during
the BelugaXL’s type certificate test phase.
The jet is expected to join its Airbus Transport
International stablemates in the near future
Dylan Agbagni
is ongoing training and evaluation and
authorisations are regularly revalidated;
this is an annual process for loadmasters
and ground co-ordinators and conducted
bi-annually for everyone else.
Broughton team members’ long
involvement with Airbus’ in-house
transport aircraft has been beneficial,
as Owen revealed: “We have people in
the team who worked on the Guppy at
Liverpool and Manchester – even before
the ST was a thing. Our trainer has been
the same person since the ST started and,
even now, we’re six years into operating
the ILF.
“We’ve gained a lot of experience. It’s a
long road ahead but there are lots more
benefits to come from the XL. We’re
looking forward to that, but we’ll see the
STs around for a little while yet.”

40 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Two new books from Astral Horizon Press

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m
 White whale: The lead Airbus BelugaXL,
F-WBXL, reflects on its whale-inspired
livery during its official unveiling at the
European aviation giant’s Toulouse facility
on June 28, 2018. Airbus-J V Reymondon

42 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 43
Combat Air Patrol – Bosnia

In the first of a two-part feature, respected Cold War fast jet

pilot Ian Black reveals his thoughts and fears as he prepares for
a nocturnal Combat Air Patrol through the war-torn skies of Bosnia

I
wrote this as soon as I had landed after a
night mission over Bosnia in early 1994.
It was a dark, cold, wet night and the
adrenaline was still pumping in my veins…
Flying a war mission is like comparing a
Premier League footballer to one playing
in the World Cup – the World Cup is the
ultimate kick.
Having spent ten years as an English-
speaking air defence pilot it came as no
small shock to find myself flying in the
dark at 40,000ft in a jet belonging to a
foreign air force. Worse, I was speaking
French, and slung underneath the jet's
belly was a pair of 500lb bombs that were
in my opinion about as much use as zips
on socks to an air defence pilot! Coupled
with this was the fact that less than a year
before I didn’t speak French, nor did I know
how to fly the Dassault Mirage 2000C.
Down by the Riviera...
A year before, I’d been selected for an
exchange with the Armée de l’air (French
Air Force) and assigned to Escadron de
Chasse 2/5 (EC 2/5) at Orange-Caritat
Air Base in the south of France. The
squadron’s mission was close air support,
or CAS, with the secondary role of air
defence and the then new ‘buzz word’ was
swing role – or the ability to switch from
dropping bombs to shooting down other
aircraft while airborne.
Within four months of joining EC 2/5
we were sent to Italy as part of the
multinational force involved in Operation
Deny Flight, policing the war-torn skies
over Bosnia-Herzegovina. By the time I
arrived at our forward operating base, Deny

44 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Flight had been going for and night over the New York Police Department describing
well over a year. capital, Sarajevo. CAP him as “Male white Caucasian about 5ft
The Bosnian War was (combat air patrol) 4in, 180lb… oh yeah and built like a brick
in American speak, a became a dreaded ‘out’ house”. This man of Lilliputian size
low tech war – almost three-letter word. was ‘Mr Muscle’ – he had no neck; his
medieval by modern Our first day in head was simply attached to his shoulders.
terms with hand-to-hand theatre was spent in My immediate thoughts were “This boy
fighting between groups traditional military needs to go easy on those steroids.” It was
of people who had fashion – death comforting to know that if I were forced to
once been neighbours. by view-foil as a eject ‘Mr Muscle’ would come and get me…
Headlines filled the relentless barrage in fact I believe he wanted me to eject just
newspapers and ‘ethnic of briefings was to go and legally be allowed to kick ass!
cleansing’ became a interspersed by an The procedure for rescuing downed
household phrase. Our equally constant tidal airmen is to say the least a complex and
role was not to attack wave of coffee. By the built on hard-learnt lessons from previous
these people, for there end of the day, with conflicts; it’s also highly classified. The
was no apparent enemy; our first ‘attack’ on the days of meeting a friendly resistance
our job was to police the skies preventing Italian ‘Pasta Mountain’ deemed a success, farmer who hid you in his haystack, fed
an escalation of war by denying the two everyone began examining the inside of you and let you drink his best wine before
sides the use of air power. their eyelids; staying awake became the handing you on to friendly agents has
Unlike the RAF who had chosen to base main aim of the day. sadly gone. The reality is evading capture
its aircraft in the south of Italy, the French in enemy territory run by people who
had wisely chosen the airfield of Cervia. Mr Muscle and a bullet… think the Geneva Convention is a Swiss
Stuck smack bang in the middle of the Our last briefing concerned CSAR, or Banking association. Today’s wars rely on
Italian Riviera, it was perfectly situated – Combat Survival and Rescue. Entering you waiting for friendlies to find you and
from a pilot’s point of view anyway. Off the room was a diminutive figure who snatch you to safety. As far as procedures
duty it was beaches and nightclubs, while somehow reminded me of Oddjob from go all I can say is that they’d arrive by night
airborne it was boring holes in the sky day the James Bond movies. I imagined the without lights or radio in a helicopter
Below: The unmistakable lines of a Dassault Mirage 2000C are captured at dusk during an Operation Deny Flight mission. Note the distinctive
silhouette of the two 500lb Mk.82s bombs it is carrying All images Ian Black unless stated otherwise

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 45
Combat Air Patrol – Bosnia
packed with more firepower than then
British Army in the Rhine!
The American Special Forces and their
counterparts are fortunately extremely
good at what they do. I had no doubt in
my own mind what I would do if I get shot
down. If anyone threatens me I’ll shoot
without hesitation. The chances are that
when they find out I’m British and my
aircraft is foreign they’ll think I’m a spy
and kill me anyway. I’ve a pretty good
idea that they probably won’t kill me
with a lethal injection after my chosen last
dying wish. Therefore I have to protect
46
Above: Feet wet: Dassault Mirage 2000C
5-OL/57 crosses the picturesque coast of
southern France inbound Orange-Caritat. The
author remembers the fourth-generation delta
as “almost the perfect blend of old and new!”
Below: Operation Deny Flight was a huge
multinational effort. Twelve NATO members
contributed some 4,500 personnel, while eight
of these deployed 239 aircraft in support.
Beginning on April 12, 1993, by the time Deny
Flight ended on December 20, 1995, NATO
pilots had flown more than 100,420 sorties. As
part of the effort the author was deployed to
Cervia three times during his exchange with
Escadron de Chasse 2/5
myself. And if all else fails I’ll save just one
bullet… for myself.
High-tech help
With briefings complete and after a
familiarisation sortie with an experienced
pilot you’re let loose leading missions or as
wingman. Flying in pairs is vital to provide
mutual support and increase firepower.
This mission is planned for the following
night. First a CD arrives at the squadron
containing the next day’s ‘FRAG Order’ –
a fragmented version of the entire day’s
operation. By sifting through the myriad
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
Above: Devine Delta: Bedecked in Escadron de Chasse 2/5 markings, Mirage 2000C 5-OA/56 flies across the Italian Riviera following an
Operation Deny Flight mission over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Withdrawn from frontline use, this jet was last noted as a ‘Instructional Airframe’
at Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne in southern central France
Below: The pilot of 5-OA/56 keeps watch on the author’s jet as they return to Cervia on the eastern coast of Italy following an Operation Deny
Flight mission. Note that it still carries its ordnance
of figures we can extract every piece of knee for quick reference. Flying as the for several days or weeks (not to mention
information we need to complete our number two, our mission is CAS followed the personal hygiene considerations!).
mission. It also allows us to see the details by a CAP – total flight time 5 hrs, including Posters decorate most RAF changing
of everyone else’s, which is handy for two airborne refuels. rooms with the picture of a poor chap
locating air-to-air refuelling assets and to On the day of the mission, about an unsuitably dressed for an English winter
see which other friendlies will be airborne hour of it is spent getting dressed preparing about to go for an unexpected swim in the
at the same time. All the relevant data for the worst. It’s a strange feeling to put North Sea; ‘Dress to survive’ is the motto.
pertinent to your sortie is then transferred on a set of clothes with the constant Squashed into your personal dinghy are all
to your mission data card, carried on your thought that they may not be coming off sorts of escape and survival goodies, but

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 47
Combat Air Patrol – Bosnia

With the canopy glinting in the sun, Mirage 2000C 5-OB/59 slices through the deep blue skies of southern France during a training sortie

Snug fit! This study of a Mirage 2000C’s cockpit reveals just how small the ‘Ferrari of fighters’ ‘office’ was. Note the stopwatch to the left
and the PC (Post-Combustion) Indicator Light on the far right, which illuminates when the afterburner is lit

48 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022


who’s to say they’ll still be with you after
a 600mph ejection?
In the back of my combat life vest I stuff
as many things as I can into any remaining
space. Number one is a Swiss Army knife;
the corkscrew is a must – imagine finding a
bottle of wine and not having a corkscrew!
I stuff in three folded black plastic bin
liners, not to disguise myself as homeless,
but to use in a survival situation. There
must be a million uses for this innocuous
piece of plastic, most importantly keeping
things, including yourself, dry. I’ve
squeezed in some spare batteries for my
hand-held GPS [Global Positioning System]
– without them I may as well try and shave
with it. This is the ultimate survival tool. It’s
not much bigger than a Sony Walkman,
but it can tell me my position anywhere
on the planet to within a few metres, a
heading to the next waypoint and a host of
other useful information. No more secret
compasses hidden in shoes or navigating
by the stars; this is THE high-tech gadget
– the survival gizmo of the 1990s. In my
leg pockets I have for some time now
flown with two Mars bars and two Twix
bars as emergency rations. They are now,
after many sorties, very definitely squashed
beyond all recognition, however having
read the accounts of ejectees eating ants
and worms after a few days in enemy
territory I think I’ll stick to my dehydrated
squashed chocolate bars.
Finally I check my escape map, no
doubt another product of the NASA space
programme. It’s made of a plastic type
of paper called Kevlar, which is tear-
resistant. On one side is a go-anywhere
tourist map of the war zone and on the
other is a collection of hints for happy
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Right: The author climbs into a Mirage 2000C
at Orange-Caritat Air Base while on exchange
with Escadron de Chasse 2/5. Joining the
unit in 1993, he went on to fly some 800
hours in Dassault’s famed delta – 300 of
which were in combat Via Ian Black
campers. Among them a list of edible flora
and fungi and a section on 1,001 uses
for your Kevlar escape map. I’m mildly
amused by the paragraph on how it can
be scrunched up into a ball to plug a
large shell induced flesh wound. Having
donned all our flying kit we walk through
to ‘Ops’ and collect our 9mm pistol and
40 rounds of ammunition. Looking at it,
as far as I’m concerned it has two uses...
either throwing at the enemy or using it on
myself when it looks like I’ll taking a leading
role in the all-new Serbian ‘Boys from the
locker room’ movie.
“And if all else fails
I’ll save just one
bullet… for myself”
I have for some time gone through the
scenario of what I’m going to do if I eject.
First of all I’m not going to get caught,
under any circumstances. I’ve talked at
length to a friend who was taken prisoner
during the Gulf War – I never thought of
putting lighted tissue paper down the back
of my flying suit as a way forward. We are
all trained in resistance to interrogation.
Name, rank, and number is the age-old
phrase. Give them the slightest bit of
information and they’ll work on opening
you up. Never ever sign for anything – and
if they offer you food take it first then wait
for the kicking!
I was once caught during an exercise and
hooded up then thrown in the back of a
lorry. My disappointment of being caught
soon changed when I realised my very
unfriendly SAS man had left his pack lunch
by me. Lifting my hood enough to push
the soldier’s Mars bar and sandwich in my
mouth it was my first proper food for five
days. Needless to say I’d not recommend
to anyone stealing an SAS soldier’s pack
lunch! If I do eject at least I have it clear
in my own mind what my escape plan is. I
don’t dwell too long on the subject.
Tight fit
As my leader and I walk the short distance
to our assigned aircraft, a shimmering
heat haze envelopes the sleek lines of the
potent Mirages. Everything about them
looks right – even the light blue paint
scheme seems cool in a world of grey
coloured warplanes. I climb the ladder
weighed down with the extra equipment I
carry. I fit another portable GPS on to the
cockpit coaming and place a mound of
maps down the side of my Martin-Baker
zero-zero ejection seat. Navigational
accuracy is crucial in order to avoid
collateral damage if we are tasked to drop
live ordnance.
Living up to its name as the ‘Ferrari of
fighters’, the Mirage’s cockpit is equally
small – it’s very much a case of being a bit
tight around the shoulders. This is however
to be my office for the next five and a half
hours. Having carefully strapped myself on
to my rocket-assisted seat, I glance at my
data card which shows we are five minutes
to engine start. This allows me sufficient
time to arrange all the switches in an eye-
pleasing manner and to coin a phrase ‘get
all my s**t in one sock’.
My leader calls me on the radio as the
first spots of rain bounce off the canopy...
it’s going to be a long night. The weather
forecast isn’t good with thunderstorms
49
Combat Air Patrol – Bosnia
expected throughout our mission. I lower,
and then lock my canopy – no point in
spending the next few hours soaked to
the skin. The instant I press the engine
start button, dials move, lights flash and
the dormant metal machine comes to life.
All I can hear in my headphones is a slight
crackle and the low methodical rumble of
the engine breathing life into my jet. The
engine is the heart of the machine – it
provides power to all the service without it
I’m defunct… and I only have one! I wave
away the ground chocks holding me back
and the jet lurches forward, even at idle
power. I dab the brakes to kill my forward
speed and check the system. Looking up
the sky is coal black, above the background
noise I can hear the pattering of rain above
my head.

No farewell
As I ease past the line of fighters I move
closer to my leader. I’m looking down his
jet pipe through its shimmering heat haze
– although it’s partially obscured by the
incessant rain. I can just see a dim orange
glow telling me his engine is running
at around 800°C. No one watches our
departure, no one bids us farewell… it’s
raining too much.
We each take our place on the runway
threshold, a wide, once-white slab of
concrete now peppered with black rubber
tyre marks. I can almost touch my leader
we’re sitting so close. He gives me the
hand signal to go to full power. I run my
eyes carefully across his aircraft checking
for leaks or any armament pins left in
place. This is no peacetime mission – to
be unable to fire a missile because of a
forgotten pin is inexcusable. Failure is not
Above: War machine: Armed with a two 500lb Mk.82 Iron bombs and a pair of Magic 2
heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, a Mirage 2000C is shown at Cervia in Italy, awaiting its next
combat sortie over the Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict zone
Below: Night CAP: A Mirage 2000C streaks through the colourful skies as darkness descends
during an Operation Deny Flight mission
an option. I look ahead unable to see the throttle to engage the reheat. I can feel
runway end due to the sheets of rain. a thump in my back as the burner lights,
Under my fuselage are two 500lb Mk.82 confirmed by a green light in the cockpit.
Iron bombs, two Magic 2 heat-seeking This is the business. It’s at this precise
air-to-air missiles and five tons of fuel. I’m moment that I understand why the
about to propel myself at nearly 200 mph defining moment in any fighter pilots life is
along this rain-soaked strip of tarmac... I a combat mission. As I reach my rotation
must be crazy. My leader nods and releases point I fly into what can only be described
his brakes as he rolls forward, slowly at as a steam cloud left by my leader as he
first, then the back of his aircraft erupts in torched the runway on take-off. More by
an orange glow as the afterburner kicks instinct than skill I ease back on the stick,
in. I hit my stopwatch and wait 30 secs. devoid of visual references. I can feel
The second hand reaches the bottom the main wheels part company with the
and I release the brakes simultaneously runway and the aeroplane leaps into the
slamming my left hand forward on the dirty sky and into the unknown...

· In the second part, Ian takes us into the cockpit of his Mirage 2000 as he battles the night sky, St Elmo’s Fire, and wet runways...

50 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

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Greener flying

Cleaning up!

Pilots can carbon-offset their flying in Reims Cessna FA152 Aerobat

G-BHEN – nicknamed ‘The HEN’ – thanks to Leicestershire Aero Club’s
partnership with GACO scheme AirTeamImages-Daniel Nicholson Caz Caswell

52 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Aviation is under
pressure to ‘go green’.
Mark Broadbent
reports on carbon
offsetting projects
in the UK involving
private pilots and
display teams

R
ecent years have seen the aviation
industry move seriously to improve
environmental performance, from
developing less-polluting aircraft
and researching electric/hybrid-electric, to
introducing sustainable aviation fuels and
more efficient air traffic management.
But what about general aviation (GA)?
How can private pilots continue to fly for
fun, but do so responsibly?
In the UK, the Leicestershire Aero Club
(LAC) – located just to the southeast of
the county’s capital city – became the
UK’s first ‘carbon-neutral’ flying school
through a partnership with General
Aviation Carbon Offsetting
(GACO). On its website,
GACO reports that
it aims “to give
aviators the
option to
Expand your wings… fly green! Globally, aviation produces approximately 2-2.5% of all
human-induced CO² emissions KEY-Jamie Ewan
‘fly green’ by offsetting the carbon dioxide
emitted as a result of flying”.
An LAC statement said: “Our flying is a
mixture of commercial and non-commercial
training as well as recreational flying. We
are aware that we have an impact on the
environment and want to make some effort
to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Speaking to Aviation News, GACO’s founder
Oliver Foster-Pollard – an LAC member and
Private Pilot Licence (PPL) holder – reported
a sense of pride among the club pilots who
have signed up. All Leicestershire Aero Club
aircraft – five Cessna 152s, a single Cessna
172 and Piper PA28 Cadet along with an
American Champion Super Decathlon – are
part of the offset scheme. “There was quite
a buzz around because it was so quick and
achievable,” Foster-Pollard said. “As expected
with an initiative like this, there are some
people who think it’s a waste of time, but the
overwhelming response was that it is fairly
well looked upon.”
How does it work?
Carbon offsetting involves individuals
buying carbon credits, the funds from
which are put into a certified initiative

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 53
Greener flying
such as tree planting or water supply
projects. Foster-Pollard added: “It’s
basically a way of taking out carbon that
was emitted into the atmosphere and
turning it into something that doesn’t
affect the environment.”
Carbon offsetting is not new – as far back
as 1989 the American company Applied
Energy Services offset a coal-fired power
plant by financing a new forest in Guatemala.
Only more recently, amid mounting
concerns over the pace of climate
change, has offsetting truly moved to
the mainstream as a way to mitigate the
impact of carbon dioxide (CO²).
In GACO’s scheme, pilots log in to a
website to pay for a carbon credit against
their flying, with clubs that are signed up
(like LAC) sending GACO fuel uplift figures

Smoke in the sky

One visual symbol that general aviation is ‘going
greener’ can be seen in the smoke used by civil
display aircraft at airshows and other events.
Jeremy Diack, commercial director of Airborne
Services Ltd – parent company of the Yakovlevs
display team – told Aviation News that until the
mid-2000s, pure diesel and a smoke generator
was used: “You’d have diesel in your aircraft
pumped through the exhaust stub; the exhaust
gas temperature would be sufficient to atomise a
percentage of the diesel, which would create the
smoke,” he said.
“Obviously horrible stuff, not only for the pilot but
also the environment – you’d get a ‘drop down’
[unused smoke oil released into the atmosphere]
where probably only 60% would actually be
atomised as smoke, and the rest would just be
lost to the environment.”

Above right: Cloud surfing: General Aviation Carbon Offsetting founder Oliver Foster-Pollard. The Yakovlevs have been using
Since establishing GACO in May 2021, the scheme has offset some 120 tonnes of CO² by planting environmentally friendly smoke
more than 500 tress GACO since the mid-2000s. Operated
by Henstringe, Somerset-based
Above: A PPL student refuels Reims-Cessna FA152 Aerobat G-BFMK under the watchful eye of
Airborne Services Ltd, the firm
chief flying instructor Nick O’Brien. Typically, each of the club fleet flies between three to four
has launched an CO² offset
sorties a day – depending on weather and serviceability KEY-Jamie Ewan
scheme covering both the
Avgas burnt and the smoke
at the end of each month; club members He added that the other 25% of tree
oil used during the display
flying non-club aircraft are not covered. planting projects take place in the UK, via The Yakovlevs
Foster-Pollard continued: “We then work Carbon Footprint Ltd: “We can select a
out what that uplift equates to in carbon region in the UK where we can plant trees.
emissions when it’s burnt and look at Leicestershire Aero Club being Midlands-
how many trees need based means we can
planting to offset it.” “The Air Transport have trees planted in
the Midlands, which is
Planting trees Action Group great because it means
Three-quarters of the we can have that
tree planting supported reports that aviation local effect.”
by GACO credits takes The LAC scheme has
place in areas where
produces around already resulted in the
there is a push for
reforestation such as
2-2.5% of annual planting of around
180 trees “which is
Kenya and India. carbon emissions around 65 tonnes
Foster-Pollard told of carbon”, Foster-
Aviation News: “Our globally” Pollard reported. The
main partner for planting companies GACO
worldwide is More Trees. We go to them works with, he said, are fully audited: “We
each month and say, ‘this is the amount of check the trees are actually planted where
carbon we want to offset’ and the money we want them, and the CO² savings are
for that is used to plant trees anywhere realistic, so that what our users are paying
worldwide that’s got forestry projects.” for is actually being achieved.”

54 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022


Around that time, the Yakovlevs teamed up with
Shell to look at a new, highly refined type of mineral
oil. “A bit like baby oil is one way of describing it,”
Diack continued: “It’s used to lubricate machinery
in the food production world. Its toxicity is virtually
zero, it doesn’t have any ozone depletion to
it, it’s non-carcinogenic and disperses into the
atmosphere. A high percentage, in the high 90s, is
atomised at the exhaust stub so you get no drop
down. It’s inherently biodegradable.”
Different variants of the same product are
now used by civil display teams. Shell Ondina is
perhaps the best known, but companies such as
Total, and Shrewsbury, Shropshire-based Morris
Lubricants have their own equivalents. Having
pioneered the use of Ondina in Europe, the
Yakovlevs are now one of the main suppliers of
Morris Lubricants’ Largo oil.
Above left: Reims Cessna F152 G-BKGW taxies at Leicester Airport as Cessna 152 G-TALR flies final
for runway 28. In September 2021, LAC’s fleet flew a combined 411 hours – all of which has been
offset through GACO KEY-Jamie Ewan
Above: Leicestershire Aero Club student of the year, Yasmina El Sayed poses with LAC’s American
Champion Super Decathlon G-INGS following an aerobatic sortie. With the Decathlon burning
around 35lits of fuel an hour, Yasmina offset the 77kg of CO² emitted during her flight for less
than the price of a cup of coffee – just 81p! GACO
Positive reaction
In the scheme’s first month (June 2021),
the LAC fleet flew 445 hours using 9,711lit
of Avgas, resulting in an offset totalling 22.2
tonnes of CO² emissions.
Foster-Pollard said: “People can see ‘I’ve
just spent ‘x’ amount on a flight and I’m
going to pay ‘x’ amount’. We have got a lot
of people coming back after each offset.
It sticks in their mind; they know it’s very
easy to do.”
He added: “At Leicestershire Aero Club
there’s a lot of younger people coming
through now and they’re quite excited by
this. While they’re not environmentalists or
very passionate about it, [the green agenda]
has always been at the back of their minds.
“It’s like clockwork. Every Sunday I have
an email come through saying whose
flying has been offset.” While speaking
to Aviation News, he received word one
pilot had chosen to offset all of the flying
undertaken for the PPL.
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Image issue
According to GACO, approximately
900 CAA-registered aircraft undertake
commercial air transport operations from
25 airports. By contrast, the UK’s general
aviation fleet exceeds 15,500 aircraft flying
from almost 140 CAA-licensed airfields,
and a further 1,000 private strips.
The Air Transport Action Group reports
that aviation produces around 2-2.5% of
annual carbon emissions globally. Each
year, UK general aviation (GA) pilots are
estimated to fly between 1.25 and 1.35
million flying hours, GACO reports.
It notes: “While it may seem insignificant,
this is still 393,000 tonnes of CO² in the
UK – enough to drive 9.6 million miles in
a midsize car. The average person in the
UK has a carbon footprint of around 12.7
tonnes. This is the equivalent of flying 250
hours in a Cessna 152.”
Foster-Pollard acknowledged: “One thing
that’s pretty hard to avoid is that GA is quite
a large contributor to someone’s personal
emissions. There’s a stigma; it has quite
a ‘dirty’ persona around it. If we can have
GA seen as a greener industry, or sport or
hobby, that can only help in broader terms.”
Matching the mood
A question springs to mind – is there now
an expectation for private pilots to go
carbon neutral?
Foster-Pollard believes so: “People
will think ‘they [pilots] are doing a sport
that has quite a major impact on the
environment compared to other sports’.
They will argue that for what pilots are
paying, they can afford to pay the extra
rate to offset.”
According to GACO, pilots signed up
for its scheme have a slightly higher
55
Greener flying
operating cost, but Foster-Pollard said: “For
a Cessna 152 it’s approximately an extra
53p per flying hour to make flights carbon
neutral. It’s insignificant.”
GACO’s objective for the next 12-18
months is to sign up 15 more flying clubs,
Foster-Pollard revealed. It is currently
informing organisations about its initiative
and liaising with the Light Aircraft
Association for its approval.
“We’ve got talks with a few aircraft
insurance companies looking at packages
offering offsets combined with insurance,”
added Foster-Pollard.
“We’re looking to have 500-1,000
individuals using our website regularly to
offset their flying.”
Greener displays
Aside from GACO, there is another recent
development in carbon offsetting for UK
GA. The Henstridge, Somerset-based
Airborne Services Ltd – operator of the
Yakovlevs display team of silver and red
Yak-50s and a Super Yak-52 – has a
product enabling civil display teams to
offset fuel and smoke oil for their displays.
Airborne Services Ltd already supplies
smoke oil to many of the UK’s civil teams
(see panel, Smoke in the sky), and has for
some years offset the carbon emissions of
the oil it provides.
A single hour in a Cessna 152 burning 22lits of 100LL fuel can be offset through GACO for as
little as 51p KEY-Jamie Ewan
The company’s commercial director,
Jeremy Diack, told Aviation News: “We
thought ‘we can take this a step further’.
We renegotiated with our smoke oil
supplier, and we decided that we could
offset not only that but also the Avgas
[customers] are using. About 2.3kg of CO²
is produced from one litre of Avgas and the
calculation is very similar for smoke oil.”
Funds from the offset will be used to
purchase carbon credits from United
Nations-endorsed Clean Development
Mechanism environmental projects. “We
issue a certificate these teams can present
to event organisers and say, ‘we’re carbon-
offset’,” Diack said.
The Blades, the Sywell, Northamptonshire-
based team of Extra EA300s, has signed up.
“They burn about 25lit of Avgas and about
20lit of smoke oil per aircraft, per display,”
Diack noted. “We’re offsetting 1,000lit of
smoke oil and the equivalent of avgas.”
Changing times
Ways to live more sustainably are driving
change in numerous fields, from electric/
hybrid-electric cars and closing coal-fired
power stations to building more offshore
wind turbines. In aviation, there has been a
noticeably quicker pace in the past couple
of years to activities such as electric flight
and sustainable fuels.
This bigger picture will influence GA,
Diack noted: “We’ve got to be increasingly
aware of our duty of care towards
the environment.”
Similarly, Foster-Pollard said it is “very
important” to show GA is “proactive,

Renowned UK display team, The Blades, have joined Airborne Service Ltd’s scheme.
Operating four Extra EA300s, each aircraft burns around 25lit of Avgas and 20lit of smoke oil
per display – all of which is now being offset KEY Collection

56 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 ‘The more you do…’
There is a widespread sense that carbon
offset schemes should only be part of a wider
approach to sustainability for general aviation.
In conversation with Aviation News, GACO’s
Oliver Foster-Pollard noted there are many
“little things all contributing to a more efficiently
operating aircraft”, such as cleaning (to allow
efficient airflow) and following stringent
maintenance to ensure there are no leaks.
Airborne Services Ltd’s Jeremy Diack noted
that all the excess oil used in maintenance for
the Yakovlevs’ Vedeneyev radial piston engine-
equipped Yak 50/52s is collected and reused to
heat hangars at the company’s Henstridge base. Leicestershire Aero Club is the first flying club to introduce a carbon offset scheme – something
But ‘being green’ is not just about aeroplanes the editor supports as a member and PPL student! KEY-Jamie Ewan
and equipment. Diack said: “It’s a whole new flying schools training tomorrow’s airline carbon dioxide is removed from the air and
way of thinking about everything. Something as
pilots by offsetting air transport pilot stored underground.
simple as making a cup of tea; we have a big
sign saying, ‘put one cup of water into the kettle’. licence courses. “It’s going to be a strong Foster-Pollard stresses GA must focus
“It’s a philosophy; we call it ESOPs – ‘standard selling point,” Diack said. “I think the next on reducing its carbon footprint, but feels
operating procedures’ with ‘environmental’ generation is a lot more aware of this than it is important to be “realistic”: “We’re
added. It’s all about being aware of our carbon we are. These students are going to say, ‘I not asking people to not fly. It’s about
footprint and mitigating as best as we can. The want my training carbon offset’.” promoting that it’s very easy to be sensible
more you do, the more you become aware of it He added Airborne Services Ltd is keen to go carbon neutral and reduce emissions.
and the more ideas you come up with.” for offsets to fund GA research and It can be compared to recycling – people
development (R&D) projects, saying: “By take pride in it and it has become routine.
pragmatic, responding to change – and buying carbon credits that are then put into It’s getting over the kerb of change. Once
driving that change”. R&D projects then there’s a whole income you’re over it, people will think, ‘this is easy,
Although there is no mandatory requirement stream for the development of hydrogen it makes sense, it’s normal, it’s affordable’.
for GA to carbon offset, Diack said: “We and electric-powered aircraft.” The “If every club and every individual were
have to get ahead of the game; compulsory company is also interested in using funding to go carbon neutral, it would make a
offsetting is coming, without a doubt.” from its offset scheme to support the significant difference. We’re looking to take
Airborne Services Ltd sees further development of an emerging technology, this worldwide. There’s no reason why not.
potential for offsetting in GA, such as direct air carbon capture, where It’s something we can do.”

General aviation can be seen to be ‘getting greener’ by ‘cleaning up’ the

smoke being used by civil display teams including the UK-based Yakovlevs
The Yakovlevs

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 57
Did you know?
Hi Fly(ing) history
How did Portuguese wet-lease specialist Hi Fly land the
first Airbus A340 on a blue glacial runway in Antarctica?
H
i Fly made history on November
2, 2021, when one of its A340s
touched down on the 3,000m
runway at Wolf's Fang (WFR) in
Antarctica. Arriving from South Africa’s
Cape Town International (CPT), the aircraft,
9H-SOL, was the first A340 to venture to the
White Continent.
The 19-year-old former Iberia widebody
was chosen because of its “exceptional
range and four-engine redundancy” – ideal
for the remote operation. The aircraft will
fly a small number of tourists, scientists
and essential cargo to Antarctica during
the 2021-2022 summer season.
At the controls of 9H-SOL (callsign ‘Hi
Fly 801’) was Hi Fly Vice President Carlos
Mirpuri, who takes up the story.
Captain’s Log
The crew assembled and departed the
hotel at 5am local. Transportation to CPT
took 30 minutes. Processing through the
airport took another 30 minutes or so and
we arrived at the aircraft around 6:00am,
58
Above: A wonderful study of Hi Fly Airbus
As always, we started with a crew briefing.
A340-313HGW 9H-SOL sitting on the ice at
But this is not just another flight – there
Wolf’s Fang on November 2, 2021 All images Hi
Fly-Marc Bow
are specificities related to this very remote
operation we would be conducting… the
with two hours until our STD (scheduled harsh environment we would face, and the
time of departure). The engineers and need to ensure proper protective clothing
ground operations staff had left the hotel would be on board.
an hour earlier, so when we arrived at the While cabin checks and catering
aircraft, refuelling was complete, and cargo loading was underway, I and my crew
loading was underway. We expected 23
passengers, and as this was the first flight
of the season, most of the ground support
equipment that we would need in WFR
was in our cargo compartments. The first
two sorties were solely for the purpose
of setting up the operation ahead of the
2021-2022 summer season.
The 2,500nm between CPT and WRF
would take us 5hrs 10mins.
As this was the first flight and with limited
support on the ground we planned for a
three-hour turnaround. It would be a long
day for the crew, but the excitement of
participating in such a unique event stood
above anything else.
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

were inspecting the aircraft, checking
its systems, loading the route into the
navigation computers, and briefing the
details of our departure.
The passengers arrived 20 minutes before
STD. It was 8:00am local when we pushed
back from the gate. On-time, every time
– that’s the motto at Hi Fly. Lining up on
Runway 01, we had to pause for a moment
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
before launching – birds! I’d spotted a lot
of bird activity over the runway and asked
the tower to roll the truck in charge of
scaring them away. Eventually, they moved
out of the way. The last thing we want is
a bird strike! At 8.19am we were finally
airborne. It was a beautiful morning, the
views were magnificent.
There is no fuel at WFR, so we carried 77
Above: The crew of 9H-SOL mark the occasion
of landing the first A340 on a glacial runway
in Antarctica
Below: In the groove! With the grooves carved
into Wolf’s Fang runway visible, groundcrew
unload the jet following its historic arrival
tons of it – 9H-SOL is an A340-313HGW
(High Gross Weight) with a maximum take-
off weight of 275 tons. It is an aeroplane
that delivers, every time – robust,
comfortable, and safe. It performs well in
this kind of environment. Its four-engine
redundancy and very long-range make it
the ideal airplane for this type of mission.
The route to WFR was almost direct,
after complying with departure clearance
issued by CPT’s Air Traffic Control. Soon
we were handed over to Johannesburg
oceanic through Automatic Dependent
Surveillance (ADS) and Controller Pilot
Data Link Communication (CPDLC) –
avoiding the tiring and noisy long-range
HF communication that dates back to the
1950s. Digital communication is the norm
these days in most air navigation regions,
we only lost the data link connection
250 miles from WFR. But at around 180
miles out we could reach them via VHF –
although it’s not an air traffic control, just a
person with a handheld radio.
Into the Wolf’s lair
South of 65° latitude we reverted to polar
navigation techniques and used true
59
Did you know?
Right: Hi Fly Vice President and Airbus A340
captain Carlos Mirpuri was in the left hand
seat of 9H-SOL for its historic flight on
November 2, 2021

Below: Job done! Hi Fly A340 9H-SOL is

readied at Wolf’s Fang for the return trip to
Cape Town. Flying as ‘Hi Fly 802’ the jet’s
flight time was 5hrs 20min

heading as reference. Also, a plotting chart

was used to ensure we are not drifting
off course. During the route we received
frequent weather reports from WFR passed
to us by ops in Lisbon through another
digital system of communication – the
ACARS, or Aircraft Communications
Addressing and Reporting System. The
guys at WFR have the only means to
communicate from that part of the globe…
an Iridium Sat phone! The forecasters do a
great job, and we only launch to Antarctica
when the weather meets our dispatch
requirements. But a forecast is a forecast,
and when you fly to the end of the world
you need frequent assurance that the
actual weather meets the forecast.
The weather was looking great and close
to the top of our descent, WRF passed
us runway friction reports. Measured
by a specially equipped car taking
measurements every 500m over the length
of the runway, the numbers were all above
what we considered as a minimum – so we
started our descent. Carrying fuel to cover
both ways means we would be landing at a
maximum landing weight of 190 tons. Add
the fact that we are operating to an airfield
carved out of blue glacial ice, one easily
understands that the first-ever Airbus A340
landing there attracted a lot of attention…
and anxiety. But we were confident that
we had done our homework properly.
Our operations department conducted
several month-long preparations for this
flight and the success of our first landing
is testimony to a job well done. Two days
before, another Hi Fly A340 captain landed
a business jet at WFR carrying scientists.
A blue glacial ice runway is hard and can
withstand a heavy airplane – WFR’s is
1.4km of hard air-free ice. The cooler it is,
the better. Grooves are carved along the
runway using special equipment. After
cleaning, these provide adequate braking
coefficient. But at 3,000m long, landing
“When we reached
taxi speed I could
hear applause from
the cabin”
and stopping an A340 that heavy on WFR’s
runway wouldn’t be a problem, at least
not on paper. One had not landed on blue
glacial ice before. The surface reflection
is tremendous, and proper eyewear helps
you adjust your eyes between the outside
view and the instruments. The non-flying
pilot has an important role in making the
usual, plus extra, callouts – especially in
the later stages of the approach. It’s not
easy to spot the runway. With absolutely
no navigation aids at WFR, we must be in
visual contact from around 20 miles.
We finally spotted the runway and
started configuring early, selecting flaps
and landing gear to be fully stabilised 10
miles out. There is also no visual glide
slope guidance, and the blending of the
runway with the surrounding terrain and
the immense white desert around it makes
judging height challenging to say the
least. The altimeters also suffer in cold
weather from temperature errors and need
adjustments. All this was accounted for. We
flew a textbook approach to an uneventful
landing. The aircraft performed exactly
as planned. When we reached taxi speed
I could hear a round of applause from
the cabin. We, the crew, were joyful too…
after all, we were writing history. Our flight
and ground ops did an impeccable job –
and so did our engineers, a truly winning
team. Equipped for the extreme cold, we
ventured outside to explore and greet the
gathered crowd. All the goals for this first
flight had been met.

60 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

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AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022 61

AT THE FENCE

At the fence
Above: CAG Bird: Nate Leong caught United
States Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet
166629/200 of Strike Fighter Squadron 103
(VFA-103) – nicknamed the ‘Jolly Rogers’ – at
Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon in Nevada on
October 28, 2021. Part of Carrier Air Wing
A variety of aircraft and movements caught Seven (CVW-7) assigned to the aircraft carrier
USS George H.W. Bush, the jet was taking part
worldwide by the Aviation News community in a Strike Fighter Advance Readiness Program
sortie Nate Leong
Send yours to aviation-news@keypublishing.com Left: While at NAS Fallon, Nate Leong also
captured Electronic Attack Squadron 135
(VAQ-135) ‘Black Ravens’ new CAG Bird
– Boeing EA-18G Growler 168259/520 –
arriving for a ‘gas & go’. The jet was one of
four returning to their home base at NAS
Whidbey Island, Washington, following a
deployment to Misawa in Japan supporting
security and stability in the US 7th Fleet’s area
of operations Nate Leong

Below left: Bob Archer caught KC-135R

Stratotanker 63-8028/AK Finders Keepers
of the Alaskan Air National Guard being
readied for flight at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk,
on October 22. The jet, which arrived four
days before, was undertaking a TDY – or
Temporary Deployment – from its base at
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage,
to work alongside the resident KC-135s of the
100th Air Refueling Wing; 63-8028 departed
for home on October 29 as ‘Reach 167’
Bob Archer

Martin Third was in the right place at the right time to capture Russian Government Tupolev
Tu-204-300 RA-64059 preparing for departure from Edinburgh to Vnukovo (southwest of
Moscow) following a short visit in connection with COP 26 on November 11, 2021. Operated by
Russian carrier Rossiya, itself part of the Aeroflot Group, the aircraft is one of three used by the
carrier’s Special Flight Detachment Martin Third

62 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Gary Morris was at Cardiff Airport on October 23 for the arrival of Bahrain Amiri Royal Flight
Boeing 767-4FSER A9C-HMH. Arriving from RAF Brize Norton using the callsign ‘Bahrain 3’, the
VIP-configured jet departed to Heraklion, Greece during the early hours of October 26. Of note,
before being taken up by the Bahrain Amiri Royal Flight in January 2009, this airframe had been
slated to become the prototype for the now cancelled Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A multi-
mission platform Gary Morris

On October 31 Graham Dinsdale captured his son, James, flying Lauda Europe Airbus A320-
232 9H-IHH from Stanstead as the carrier commenced operations from its UK ‘hub’ across its
parent company Ryanair’s network. Established by the Irish budget airline in October 2020
following its acquisition of Austrian low-cost carrier Lauda in 2018, Lauda Europe is not a
customer-facing brand, with flights marketed as Ryanair; the jet was departing to Lanzarote
Graham Dinsdale

Above: A fairly uncommon sight in Europe, Karl Nixon caught Pacific Air Cargo (PAC) Boeing 747-412(BCF) N703CK operating the regular midweek
Kalitta service from East Midlands to California’s Los Angeles International Airport on October 21. The sole aircraft operated by Honolulu, Hawaii-
based PAC, the jet is leased from Kalitta under a ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) agreement Karl Nixon

Below: October 21: Ashley French caught Trade Air Airbus A320-212 9A-BTG Michele climbing out of Manchester Airport bound for Milan Bergamo
carrying Italian football team Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio following a UEFA Champions league match the night before. The 23-year-old jet joined
the Croatian charter airline in October 2016 Ashley French

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 63
AIRPORT MOVEMENTS COMPILED BY CARL HOPE
Airport Movements
A round-up of notable aircraft visiting UK airports
BIRMINGHAM
1/10 N399AN 767-323ER(WL)(BDSF) DHL to
STS to be registered G-DHLC; F-GRNT Merlin
III Airlec Air Espace. 3/10 D-CSOS Learjet 45.
4/10 HB-AZH E190E2 Helvetic Airways f/v; LZ-
DBL A333 SmartLynx Malta to STS Aviation f/v;
T-751 Challenger 604 LTDB, Swiss AF; D-AONE
Challenger 604; D-CVMS PC-24. 5/10 VQ-BON
757-223(WL)(PCF) Aviastar f/v; UR-CKL An-12BK
Cavok Air; D-CROG Phenom 300; OE-HUB
Citation 750 X. 6/10 D-CMMP Phenom 300; YR-
WNT Citation 560XLS+. 7/10 F-HSHB Citation 510
Mustang. 8/10 TC-LYD 737MAX-9 Turkish Airlines
f/v; UR-CGW An-12BP Meridian also 30th; ES-ERA
Legacy 600. 9/10 EC-NML 737-436(SF) Swiftair
f/v; TC-LCL 737MAX-8 Turkish Airlines f/v; EC-NCL
CitationJet 525C CJ4. 10/10 9H-AFX Legacy 500;
D-CMXM Phenom 300. 11/10 N842SY 737-8K5
Sun Country ex G-TAWF dep on delivery; D-CAGA
Phenom 300. 12/10 D-ALOA Legacy 650; F-HENE
HondaJet; N247GL B1900D Alpine Air Express ferry
flight. 13/10 JY-JVB A330-203 Jordan Aviation,
ops for PIA; UR-CQD An-26B Vulkan Air also 31st;
T-786 PC-24 LTDB, Swiss AF; D-BADA Do.328JET
ADAC; D-FOOD PC-12; OK-FTR Citation 510
Mustang. 14/10 SP-MRB Saab 340A(QC) IG Avion;
TC-LYA B39M Turkish Airlines f/v; OH-BSL PC-12;
PH-IWS Falcon 7X. 15/10 N128GV Gulfstream
G550; N888ZF Gulfstream G650ER; VP-BXB
Gulfstream G650; OO-VIF DA62. 16/10 EC-LZO
767-35D(ER) Privilege Style; N147QS Global 6000;
OO-ACC CitationJet 525A CJ2+. 18/10 TC-
Bedecked in its head turning ‘Dubai Expo 2020’ special
scheme, Emirates Airbus A380-861 A6-EEU arrives at a
wet Manchester from Dubai as ‘EK18’ on October 5, 2021
64
First visit: Aerotranscargo Boeing 747-
412(BDSF) flies final for East Midland’s
runway 27 on October 20 on the carrier’s
inaugural service from Hong Kong, via
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport
in Kazakhstan Karl Nixon
LLC 787-9 Turkish Airlines; D-FBOX PC-12NGX;
MM62167 Avanti Italian Army also 21st. 19/10 EC-
NBU EC-NBU A340-313X Plus Ultra Lineas Aereas
f/v; ZJ782 & ZJ783 AS365N3s 658 Sqn, AAC.
PH-WTC Falcon 2000S. 20/10 N83CW Gulfstream
G650ER. 21/10 OE-HPG Challenger 300. 23/10
D-BEER Legacy 500; N1WW Global 6000. 24/10
EC-MQM A340-313X Plus Ultra Lineas Aereas f/v;
A9C-ISA 737-86J Bahrain Amiri Flight f/v; SX-KFA
Challenger 604. 25/10 D-AXTM Global Express;
EC-MLV Citation 680 Sovereign; F-HJFP PC-12;
N202UX B1900D Baby Great Lakes ferry flight
to South Africa; N556CH Gulfstream G650ER;
N732PA Challenger 605 also 26th. 26/10 UR-CTJ
An-12BK Meridian f/v. 27/10 EI-GEC CRJ900NG
CityJet; N70PS Global Express. 28/10 HA-LZD
A321-271N Wizz Air f/v; F-HPIL PC-12NGX also
29th; N613LF Gulfstream G550; OO-MMT Citation
560XLS. 29/10 F-HSAS Falcon 7X; OO-FAE Falcon
7X Belgian Defence - Air Component also 31st.
30/10 EC-NLJ A321-231 Privilege Style f/v ops for
Tui. 31/10 TC-DCI A320-216(SL) & TC-IZI 737-8GJ
Pegasus Airlines both f/vs, Stansted diversions;
VP-BMR 777-21H(ER) Red Wings f/v; 9K-GCC
BBJ3 Kuwait Government f/v; N588SE Gulfstream
G650ER; N588TN Gulfstream G550.
Nik French
BRISTOL
2/8 D-AECI E190LR Lufthansa f/v, inaugural
Frankfurt service. 3/8 YU-PNK Citation 560XLS+;
9H-VUE 737MAX-8200 Ryanair f/v. 4/8 EC-
MRI CRJ1000 Air Nostrum n/s. 5/8 F-HBMR
Citation 550 II. 6/8 D-AECA E190LR Lufthansa
f/v; D-CARO Citation 680 Sovereign; N25HJ
HondaJet. 8/8 N86LF Hawker 4000 n/s, also
18th-28th; OY-SWO Falcon 2000S also 12th. 9/8
D-AECC E190LR Lufthansa f/v. 10/8 9H-VUF
737MAX-8200 Ryanair f/v. 13/8 D-CEIS Citation
680 Sovereign; HA-LVN A321-271N Wizz Air f/v.
14/8 D-BJMS Falcon 50EX also 21st; M-ALCB
PC-24; 9H-OPE Global 6000 VistaJet. 15/8
D-AEBB E195LR Lufthansa f/v; D-CLIF Phenom
300. 16/8 D-AECF E190LR Lufthansa f/v. 17/8
EC-MFY Partenavia P.68C n/s also 22nd n/s;
YU-PAA Legacy 600 n/s also 28th. 19/8 F-HFCS
Hawker 900XP. 21/8 CS-EFF Citation 560XLS+.
23/8 271 EC135P2+ 302 Sqn, Irish Air Corps.
24/8 S5-BBG Citation 550 II; 9H-VUE 737MAX-
8200 Ryanair f/v. 25/8 OE-GBD Astra SPX n/s.
26/8 D-BPMI Challenger 350; ZZ419 Shadow
R1+ 14 Sqn, RAF. 27/8 D-AECE E190LR Lufthansa
f/v; F-HGRI Citation 525M2. 30/8 F-HRIB
CitationJet 525 CJ1. 31/8 F-HMBY Global 6000.
EAST MIDLANDS
1/10 D-CBBS Phenom 300; D-CMXM Phenom
300; LN-AWE Learjet 45. 2/10 N542AP Gulfstream
G500; YR-FZA Fokker 100 Carpatair. 3/10 N574UP
747-44A(F) UPS f/v; OK-IMO Beech 400A; LX-FPF
CitationJet 525B CJ3+. 4/10 F-GLTK Citation 550
II; D-AZUR Legacy 650. 5/10 N616UP & N621UP
747-8Fs UPS both f/v; N202GA Gulfstream G280.
6/10 N575UP 747-44A(F) & N605UP 747-8F UPS
both f/v; N117EA Eclipse EA500. 7/10 D-AIRZ
Legacy 650; LX-SAB Falcon 900DX. 10/10 OM-
YKS Citation 560XLS+; OK-BZZ Hawker 400XP.
13/10 N573UP 747-44A(F) UPS f/v. 14/10 N607UP
747-8F UPS f/v; ZS-AKF Challenger 350. 15/10 LX-
KCL 747-4HAF(ER) Cargolux; D-CAAL Do228-202
Arcus Air. 16/10 D-CDAS Phenom 300; D-CQAC
Learjet 45. 17/10 N453FX Gulfstream G450;
VP-BBP 747-8HV(F) AirBridgeCargo; D-CAWX
Citation C680 Sovereign+. 19/10 SE-RKA A321-
251N Novair for painting; N617UP 747-8F &
N627UP 747-8F UPS both f/v; 3208 KC-130J
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Royal Saudi AF dep 21st. 20/10 N9K Gulfstream
G550 also 30th; ER-JAI Aerotranscargo 747-
412(BDSF) f/v, also 27th & 29th; OK-PHM Phenom
300. 21/10 TF-BBP 737-8F2(BCF) Bluebird Nordic
on delivery; OY-RME Falcon 2000LX; I-WLFX
Falcon 2000; OO-SBO Falcon 8X; D-CAGA
Phenom 300. 22/10 ER-BAJ 747-412(BDSF)
Aerotranscargo f/v; D-CAWB Citation 680
Sovereign; D-BOSS Praetor 600. 24/10 OK-NTU
Nextant 400XT; VP-BBL 747-83QF Air Bridge
Cargo also 31st; 9H-SAL Citation 550 Bravo. 26/10
A7-BFJ 777-FDZ Qatar Cargo; 9A-JSD CitationJet
525A CJ2; OK-OBR Citation 510 Mustang. 27/10
N576UP 747-44A(F) & N578UP 747-45E(BCF) UPS
both f/v. 29/10 EC-LZO 767-35D(ER) Privilege
Style. 30/10 N588SE Gulfstream G650ER. 31/10
EI-AZB 737-8AS(SF) ASL/Prime Air; D-CVMS PC-
24; EC-KLD 757-236(PCF) Cygnus Air.
GATWICK
4/10 EI-LRD A321-253NX Aer Lingus f/v; 9A-CTN
A319-112 Croatia Airlines f/v; HB-JIM Falcon 8X
f/v. 5/10 D-ABUK 767-343ER Condor f/v; EI-LRC
A321-253NX Aer Lingus f/v; VP-BNB Legacy 650
f/v. 6/10 N4048J A321-271NX JetBlue Airways
f/v. 7/10 TC-LTD A321-271NX Turkish Airlines
f/v. 10/10 TC-LTE A321-271NX Turkish Airlines
f/v. 11/10 TC-LTF A321-271NX Turkish Airlines
f/v. 12/10 5A-DCN Falcon 900EX Govermentt
of Libya f/v. 14/10 TC-LTC A321-271NX Turkish
Airlines f/v. 15/10 VP-BAP 727-21 Malibu
Consulting Corp f/v. 16/10 TC-LYA & TC-LYE
737MAX-9s Turkish Airlines both f/v. 17/10 TC-LTB
A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v. 18/10 TC-SPF
737-8K5 SunExpress f/v. 20/10 TC-SOY 737-8HC
SunExpress f/v. 21/10 9H-TJD 737-84P Corendon
Airlines Europe f/v; VP-BAT Global 7500 f/v.
22/10 TC-LTI A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v;
TF-ICN 737MAX-8 Icelandair f/v. 23/10 OE-LIM
Gulfstream G550 f/v. 24/10 TC-LYD 737MAX-9
Turkish Airlines f/v; YL-ABD A220-300 Air Baltic
f/v. 25/10 TC-SEP 737-8HC SunExpress f/v. 26/10
TC-SOR 737-8AS SunExpress f/v. 27/10 TC-SOB
737-8HC SunExpress f/v; D-AFAG Challenger 604
f/v; VQ-BXD Falcon 8X Shell Aircraft f/v. 29/10
OE-ISR A330-243 Avolon f/v. 30/10 C-GOIM
A321-271NX Air Transat f/v. 31/10 9H-NHS A340-
642 European Cargo Bournemouth diversion f/v.
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
GLASGOW PRESTWICK
1/10 100-0171 C-17A 517th AS, 3 WG, USAF n/s;
166693 C-40A VR-51, US Navy n/s; 04-4128
C-17A 305th/514th AMW, USAF. 2/10 00-0175
C-17A 305th/514th AMW, USAF dep 7th; A6-RJY
BBJ1 Royal Jet also 11th n/s; 04-4134 C-17A
305th/514th AMW, USAF dep 6th; OE-IZY Falcon
900LX. 3/10 10-0219 C-17A 62nd/446th AW,
USAF n/s; 09-0635 & 09-0654 MC-12Ws 185th
SOS, USAF both n/s. 4/10 19-2035 & 19-2037
A-29B Super Tucanos Nigerian AF on delivery,
escorted by D-CAAN Do.328-110 328 Support
Services all n/s. 5/10 D-IFFF Cessna F.406 Air Taxi
Europe; 06-6164 C-17A 60th/349th AMW, USAF;
UR-CJN An-12B Cavok Air dep 9th. 6/10 N910HH
TBM 940; D-ITTT Cessna F.406 Air Taxi Europe;
N8523Y PA-30-160B; T-055 A330-MRTT MMU,
Royal Netherlands AF o/s. 7/10 OO-PCK PC-12s;
CT-02 A400M 15 Wing, Belgian Defence - Air
Component n/s. 8/10 96-0005 C-17A 137th AS,
NY ANG n/s; OK-JRS Citation 680 Sovereign
Smartwings. 9/10 97-0048 C-17A 89th AS, AFRC
n/s; 06-6158 C-17A 60th/349th AMW, USAF n/s;
VP-BIN B747-83QF AirBridgeCargo; OO-PCA
PC-12NGX; 07-7189 C-17A 437th/315th AW, USAF
n/s. 10/10 N940PK TBM 940; 4K-SW008 B747-
4R7F(SCD) Silkway West Airlines; 96-0002 C-17A
437th/315th AW, USAF n/s; CB-8007 C-17A 81
Sqn, Indian AF from Cairo, dep 12th. 11/10 HB-FRF
PC-12NGX c/n 2134 on delivery. 12/10 02-1098
C-17A 305th/514th AMW, USAF; 57-1469 |& 59-
1450 KC-135Rs 197th ARS, Arizona ANG both n/s;
N2N Gulfstream G650; 06-6163 C-17A 60th/349th
AMW, USAF n/s; 07-7189 C-17A 437th/315th AW,
USAF n/s; 01-0186 C-17A 436th/512nd AW, USAF
dep 14th; 09-9210 C-17A 62nd/446th AW, USAF
n/s. 13/10 63-8036 KC-135R 197th ARS, Arizona
ANG n/s; VT-IAH A319-115(ACJ); 07-7179 C-17A
60th/349th AMW, USAF n/s. 14/10 01-0192 C-17A
137th AS, NY ANG dep 16th; 00-0180 C-17A
758th AS, AFRC dep 18th; 61-0284 KC-135R 197th
ARS, Az ANG n/s; 04-8153 & 05-8152 C-130J-30s
815th AS, AFRC; 80-1112 777-300ER 701 Hikotai,
Japan Air Self Defence Force o/s, proving flight
for COP26; 02-1106 C-17A 62nd/446th AW, USAF
n/s; ZZ417 Shadow R1+ 14 Sqn, RAF o/s. 15/10
N970SJ Gulfstream V dep 16th. 16/10 N478GS
Gulfstream IVSP dep 17th. 17/10 169324/LF P-8A
VP-16, USN; 58-0009 & 62-3512 KC-135Rs 126th
ARS, Wi ANG both n/s; 169329/YB P-8A VP-1,
USN. 18/10 VT-AHI Global 6000; HB-FRH PC-
12NGX c/n 2136 on delivery; 61-0310 & 61-0298
KC-135Rs 128th ARS, Wi ANG both n/s; 19/10
07-7184 C-17A 437th/315th AW, USAF dep 23rd;
59-1482 & 62-3557 KC-135Rs 328th ARS, AFRC
both dep 22nd; 19-46058 KC-46A 77th ARS,
VietJetAir Airbus A321-271N VN-A607 departs Heathrow for Paris-Le Bourget on November 3.
The two-and-a-half-year-old jet’s visit was in connection with the low-cost airline signing a
US$400m-contract with Rolls-Royce for the provision of engines and services; the jet arrived at
the London airport during the early hours of October 30 Richard Vandervord
AFRC dep 22nd; 96-00110 UC-35A A/2-228th
Avn, US Army n/s; 04-4132 C-17A 305th/514th
AMW, USAF. 20/10 06-6162 C-17A 60th/349th
AMW, USAF; 08-8195 C-17A 62nd/446th AW,
USAF; 07-7188 C-17A 437th/315th AW, USAF dep
23rd; 910502 C-26D AOD Sigonella, n/s; 264
KC-707 120 Sqn, Israeli AF n/s. 21/10 RA-82043
AN-124-100 Volga-Dnepr Airlines. 22/10 KAF343
C-17A 41 Sqn, Kuwait AF n/s; N123Q Challenger
350; N131AF PC-12NGX c/n 2131 on delivery;
3A-MGA Falcon 8X Monaco Royal Flight dep 24th;
N91FX Global Express; 01-0041 C-40B 1st AS,
89th AW, USAF n/s. 23/10 169036 C-40A VR-61,
USN; 166695 C-40A VR-61, USN also 24th. 24/10
UR-CGW An-12BP Meridian dep 25th; 02-1098
C-17A 305th/514th AMW, USAF n/s. 25/10 HB-FRJ
PC-12NGX c/n 2138 on delivery; 08-0047 CV-22B
7th SOS, 352nd SOW, USAF; 28 Atlantique 23F,
French Navy. 26/10 00-0183 C-17A 156th AS,
NC ANG n/s. 28/10 03-3127 C-17A 62nd/446th
AW, USAF n/s. 29/10 02-1112 C-17A 183rd AS,
Ms ANG; 04-4133 C-17A 305th/514th AMW,
USAF for COP26; 06-6166 C-17A 436th/512nd
AW, USAF for COP26; P4-BFY Gulfstream G550;
Angolan delegation; 9H-ILB Challenger 850
VistaJet. 31/10 00-0175 C-17A 305th/514th
AMW, USAF for COP26. 31/10 COP26 arrivals
15-0051 A400M 221 Filo, Turkish AF n/s; VN-A868
787-9 Vietnam Airlines; A6-RJU BBJ1 Royal Jet
Angolan delegation; A7-AAH A340-313 Qatar
Amiri Flight n/s; FAC1202 KC-767 Colombian AF
dep 3/11; N271DV Gulfstream G650ER; FAH-001
Legacy 600; Honduran AF dep 2/11; CN-MMR
Gulfstream G550 Royal Moroccan Government;
5B-DCW A319-114 Cyprus Airways; 9K-GCC BBJ3
Kuwait Government; 9H-NYC Lineage 1000 Air
X Charter Kyrgistan delegation; FAE-052 Falcon
7X Ecuadorian AF dep 3/11; P4-BTR Gulfstream
G450;SU-GGG A340-212 Egyptian Government
dep 2/11; FAB-001 Falcon 900EX Bolivian AF dep
2/11 102005/025 Tp102D Swedish AF dep 2/11
5T-CLJ B737MAX-8 Mauritania Airlines; UP-A2001
A320-214(ACJ) Kazakhstan Government n/s;
LX-EBO Falcon 8X; LV-GHQ A330-202 Aerolineas
Argentinas; T.22-2 A310-304 451 Esc, Spanish
AF; L1-01 Falcon 2000EX Slovenian AF n/s; LX-
LTI A318-112(ACJ) Togo delegation; 4K-8888
A319-115(ACJ) Azerbaijan Government; PK-GIG
777-3U3ER Garuda Indonesia dep 2/11; A39-007
KC-30A 33 Sqn, RAAF.
HEATHROW
1/10 9K-CBG A320-251N Jazeera Airways f/v;
CS-TVK A320-251N TAP Portugal f/v. 2/10 A7-BFZ
777-F Qatar Airways f/v; LN-WDH Dash 8-402NG
Wideroes Flyveselskap f/v; VP-BEM 737-8ASF
65
AIRPORT MOVEMENTS COMPILED BY CARL HOPE

October 6: S7 Cargo 737-8ASF VP-BEN on final to London Heathrow for its first visit. Leased
from Irish-American lessor GE Capital Aviation Services, the aircraft joined the Russian carrier
on February 18, 2021 Richard Vandervord

S7 Cargo f/v. 3/10 EC-NNH A330-202 Iberia f/v;
N584FX Challenger 350 f/v. 5/10 N442LF Global
6000 f/v; TC-LTH A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v.
6/10 VP-BEN 737-8ASF S7 Cargo f/v. 7/10 TC-LTD
A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v. 10/10 TC-LTA
A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v. 11/10 CN-MAY
737MAX-8 Royal Air Marco f/v. 12/10 B-LRA A350-
941 Cathay Pacific Airways f/v; TC-LTI A321-271NX
Turkish Airlines f/v. 13/10 N383LS Gulfstream V
f/v; N890BB Falcon 900DX f/v. 14/10 SX-IOG
A320-251N Sky Express Greece f/v. 15/10 4K-ASG
Gulfstream G650 f/v. 18/10 N165JF Gulfstream
IVSP f/v; OK-SWD 737MAX-8 SmartWings f/v. 19/10
VN-A829 787-9 Bamboo Airways f/v. 20/10 A6-
EVQ A380-842 Emirates f/v. 21/10 9M-NAB A320-
214(ACJ) Royal Malaysian AF f/v. 22/10 9K-CBH
A320-251N Jazeera Airways f/v; N157QS Global
6000 f/v; TF-ICC 737MAX-9 Icelandair f/v. 25/10
D-AJFK A330-343E(P2F) DHL Air f/v; OK-SWA
737MAX-8 SmartWings f/v. 26/10 VP-BXP A350-
941 Aeroflot f/v. 28/10 84-00165 Beech C-12U-3
1-214th Avn, US Army f/v; N597FX Challenger 350
f/v; VP-BXA A350-941 Aeroflot f/v. 29/10 HB-JJL
A320-214 Edelweiss Air f/v; N807LA Global 7500
f/v. 30/10 VN-A607 A321-271N VietJetAir f/v.
31/10 EC-KLD 757-236PCF Cygnus Air f/v; EI-NEW
787-9 Neos f/v; N3888B Global 6000 f/v; N588TN
Gulfstream 550 f/v.
LEEDS BRADFORD
4/8 D-AHOS Legacy 650; D-FLAG PC-12NGX f/v.
6/8 SE-RNR Challenger 350; EC-JDL A319-111
Former ASL Airlines France Boeing 737-48E(SJ) F-GZTT departs London Southend wearing
the colours of its new operator – Columbia’s Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas S.A.S – for a check/
acceptance flight on October 30. The jet is expected to take up the Columbian registration
HK-5385; the aircraft was delivered to the carrier on November 5, 2021 Keith Burton
Iberia f/v, also 7th. 7/8 EC-KRN Gulfstream G200;
CS-RBN Global Express. 8/8 T7-CAPE Gulfstream
G600; T7-SST Phenom 300. 9/8 D-ARMY Legacy
650E. 10/8 D-CMDH Citation 680 Sovereign; OE-
GLR Citation 680A Latitude. 12/8 I-TOPD Beech
400A; 2-LAND Commander 114B escorted in by
RAF Typhoon FGR4s ZK310 which o/s and ZK353
which remained south of the airport. 14/8 D-AFAN
Challenger 850. 16/8 2-TAKA Eclipse EA500.
17/8 9H-YOU Challenger 850 Air X Charter.
18/8 OE-IBO 737-490(SF) ASL Airlines Belgium,
race-horse charter also 19th; 9H-LOI A320-214
Ryanair. 20/8 LN-AWC Learjet 45 f/v. 21/8 CS-LPA
Phenom 300 f/v. 22/8 9H-TGR CitationJet 525B
CJ3; 2-CLRK Eclipse EA500. 25/8 PH-TLP Falcon
7X f/v; YU-SVL Citation 560XLS f/v; OO-CEJ
CitationJet 525 CJ1 f/v; OO-PAR CitationJet 525B
CJ3. 26/8 2-SHOT Hawker 800XP f/v; N635CJ
CitationJet 525B CJ3+ f/v. 27/8 2-MUJJ Eclipse
EA500 f/v; M-LEOG AW109SP Grand New f/v.
28/8 OK-SLS Citation 560 V Silesia Air. 29/8 OM-
OPR CitationJet 525 CJ1 f/v; EC-MLV Citation 680
Sovereign; 9H-WCF Hawker 800XP. 31/8 OK-IMO
Beech 400A; OE-FAF CitationJet 525A CJ2.
LIVERPOOL JOHN
LENNON
2/8 ZZ418 Shadow R1+ 14 Son, RAF o/s; OO-KOR
CitationJet 525A CJ2+; N889DE Gulfstream
V n/s. 3/8 2-RAYS Eclipse EA550. 4/8 OH-JFC
PC-12 n/s. 6/8 LZ-EAB 737-46N Electra Airways
ops for Wizz Air n/s. 7/8 EC-NLM CRJ200ER Air
Nostrum; D-CBBS Phenom 300; OK-JFA Beech
400XP; EC-MRI CRJ1000 Air Nostrum n/s. 8/8
LX-GJM Challenger 350 n/s; D-EZST Cirrus SR22T
dep 13th. 9/8 EC-LVD A320-216 Iberia also 10th.
11/8 OO-GLM Citation 680 Sovereign. 15/8 YU-
TBA Citation 560XLS+. 19/8 OE-GBD Astra SPX
n/s. 20/8 D-BUBI Challenger 300. 21/8 N626Z
Falcon 7X. 22/8 9H-MSS Learjet 45. 23/8 D-APGS
A319-115CJ n/s. 24/8 F-HAJD CitationJet 525
CJ1 n/s. 25/8 CN-TKC Hawker 800XP. 26/8
2-MUJJ Eclipse EA500; 9H-LKF CRJ1000 Mel Air
n/s; TC-TAV Hawker 800. 27/8 PH-LAU Falcon
900EX; D-AERO Legacy 650 n/s also 29th; LX-
GJM Challenger 350 n/s. 28/8 9H-FRM Falcon
100; M-AXIM Cessna T206H; OO-SBO Falcon
8X; 2-CAMP Eclipse EA500; D-IBBB Phenom
100; 9H-LAR Gulfstream G150. 30/8 EC-MPN
CitationJet 525 CJ1.
LONDON BIGGIN HILL
1/8 UR-RAH Bell 407 n/s. 2/8 9H-WIN CitationJet
525B CJ3+. 3/8 OH-CHF Citation 550 II. 5/8
N641EE Praetor 600; VP-CFZ Challenger 850 dep
10th; 2-BILL Eclipse EA550 rep 7th. 6/8 D-AOLG
Fokker 100 Avanti Air n/s; N940DM TBM 940.
7/8 N650AD Challenger 650 dep 11th. OY-JJI
Hawker 4000; 9H-ARK Global 6500 dep 11th;
N67CA TBM 850; OO-SBO Falcon 8X. 9/8 N157QS
Global 6000 dep 11th; YU-PAA Legacy 600. 10/8
N263JM Challenger 650 dep 12th; 9H-GOA
Learjet 60 n/s. 11/8 D-AXTM Global Express;
F-HPIL & OK-PVN PC-12NGXs; SP-AGA PC-24;
2-WEBS Eclipse EA500 dep 13th; 9H-CAP Avanti
II. 12/8 C-FNVT Challenger 605; PH-CPI Phenom
100. 14/8 D-BDCA Falcon 2000LX n/s; F-HDSR
DA40D n/s; OE-GIE CitationJet 525B CJ3. 16/8
N141WF Maule M-7-235B. 17/8 F-HGRI Citation
525M2; OK-BZZ Hawker 400XP dep 19th; 607
Falcon 7X MH 59. Sz.D. REB. Hungarian AF. 18/8
D-AAHO Legacy 600 dep 19th; HA-LKW Falcon 8X
dep 21st.; OY-CCH Challenger 605. 19/8 SP-INN
Cirrus SR-22T dep 22nd. 22/8 T7-AYO Challenger
604; 9H-CCH Challenger 650. 23/8 M-YOIL
Global 6000 dep 24th; N238LL PC-12NGX; OY-
RME Falcon 2000LXS n/s. 24/8 D-EJHB Beech
A36; N541XJ Challenger 300 dep 27th; OM-NTN
Global 5000 first noted as such ex A6-ACE;
PP-MQS Challenger 300 dep 28th. 25/8 F-HYRL

66 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022


Phenom 100; N88FE Global 7000, marks taped
on, ex D-ASCP; OM-OPR CitationJet 525 CJ1
n/s. 26/8 D-CVMS PC-24 n/s; OK-STS Phenom
300 dep 29th. 27/8 I-PDVE Tecnam P2008 new
resident, to be G-CMBX. 28/8 F-HLTT HondaJet
n/s; N405CB Gulfstream G550; N492CA Citation
700 Longitude dep 30th; OE-LAN Challenger 650;
9H-WCF Hawker 800XP n/s. 29/8 D-FCMM TBM
940 dep 31st; OE-FRJ CitationJet 525 CJ1+; OK-
HFH PC-12; PH-BEJ Global 5000. 31/8 F-HCRZ
DA40NG; N82MF Falcon 900; OE-GAC Learjet 45;
OE-KAR PA-46-350P.
LONDON LUTON
1/10 VT-HVV Falcon 8X; F-HHCB Falcon 8X. 2/10
N318LE Gulfstream G600; D-BALL Praetor 600.
3/10 OK-ECR Citation 560XLS+; N806QS Citation
700 Longitude. 4/10 I-LOSO Hawker 800XP;
F-HPIL PC-12NGX; N1415N Gulfstream G650ER.
5/10 N628CC Falcon 2000EX; LN-AWC Learjet 45.
6/10 UP-EM020 Legacy 650. 8/10 I-WLFX Falcon
2000; HB-VLX PC-24; T7-SRC Challenger 650.
9/10 N101UD Global 5500; TC-EAR Challenger
300. 10/10 N799QS Challenger 350; N590CV
Challenger 350; N817QS Citation 700 Longitude;
OE-GAC Learjet 45. 11/10 XA-FUF Legacy 600;
N8228N Gulfstream G550; HA-LKW Falcon 8X;
N479W Falcon 7X; OO-LMP Falcon 2000LX;
TC-GLB Global 6000. 14/10 N510SR Gulfstream
G650ER; N905JG Global 6000; D-AWOW Lineage
1000 Air Hamburg. 15/10 N169LL Gulfstream V;
LX-FLH PC-12. 16/10 D-ANEO A319-153N(ACJ)
K5 Aviation. 17/10 LZ-CVA Citation 560XLS;
C-GRGK Gulfstream G200; N500H Gulfstream
G500; N69GA Gulfstream G280. 18/10 N78KN
Gulfstream G500; N500ES Gulfstream G650ER;
N80AK Global 5000. 19/10 OY-TCG A321-211
Sunclass Airlines; D-FLAG PC-12NGX. 20/10
N930GL Gulfstream 650ER; OE-HPC Legacy 500.
21/10 OY-VKD A321-211 Sunclass Airlines; N76VZ
Gulfstream G550; D-BOSS Praetor 600. 22/10
N244DS Gulfstream G650ER; VT-JOE Global
6000. 23/10 7Q-MAG Gulfstream IVSP; N37LP
Global 5000. 24/10 N450FK Gulfstream G450;
With thanks to. D Apps, D Bougourd, S Boyd, J Brazier, N Burch, P A Clarke, I Cockerton, KW Ede, M Farley, N French, P Gibson, G Green, J Gregory, I Grierson, D Haines,
M Harper, G Hocquard, S Lane, G Morris, S Morrison, R Roberts, RJ Sayer, A Smith, D Turner, Blackpool Aviation Society, Solent Aviation Society/‘Osprey’, South Wales
Aviation Group, CIAN, GSAE, The Aviation Society, EGPE ATC, www.dtvmovements.co.uk, Aerodata Quantum Plus and RHADS.
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
25/10 EI-GEC CRJ900NG SAS; YU-PAA Legacy
600. 26/10 T7-ACE Global 5000. 28/10 N10199
Gulfstream G600; ZJ213 Apache AH-1 3/4 Regts,
AAC n/s. 31/10 9H-KIM Falcon 8X; OH-SSS PC-12;
D-APLC Global 7500.
LONDON SOUTHEND
2/10 N922JC Beech C.90A. 4/10 M-NGSN PC-12
dep 15th; OY-GFS Falcon 2000LX dep 5th. 5/10
PH-CGC Do.21-28-212 Royal Netherlands Coast
Guard. 8/10 D-COCA Beech 1900D Private Wings
also 9th; N390KC PA-46 JetPROP DLX f/v. 9/10
EI-BIV Bellanca 8KCAB Decathlon; N799DS DA40.
12/10 YU-SPC Citation 560XLS+. 18/10 F-GZTT
737-48E(SJ) ASL Airlines France, to Air Livery, dep
30th in LAS Cargo colours; A7-HMD EC155B1;
N1886N Global 6500 type f/v; N726AF Global
6000 f/v, dep 21st. 19/10 F-HAMG CitationJet
525A CJ2 f/v. 20/10 D-IAWG Cessna 425. 26/10
PH-KFB DA42NG KLM Flight Academy. 27/10
M-ATTS EC155B1 f/v; EI-GXG 737-8AS Ryanair -
last Ryanair departure, base now closed.
MANCHESTER
1/10 B-LQE A350-941 Cathay Pacific f/v;
LN-NIE 737-8JP Norwegian Air Shuttle restart
of operations; HB-IGO Falcon 2000LX f/v; OK-
BMM Beech 400XP f/v; 9H-JCE HondaJet f/v.
2/10 SP-RZE 737MAX-8200 Buzz f/v; N900KS
Gulfstream G650ER f/v; D-CJCL Learjet 31A f/v.
4/10 LN-ENT 737-800 Norwegian Air Shuttle
f/v; HA-JEP Citation 650 III f/v; PH-BEJ Global
5000 f/v. 5/10 A6-EEU A380-861 Emirates, Dubai
EXPO 2021 colours; D-IFCB Premier 1 f/v; 281
PC-12NG 104 Sqn, Irish Air Corps f/v. 6/10 B-LQF
A350-941 Cathay Pacific f/v; EI-RZA 737MAX-8
Neos f/v, dep 8th. 7/10 OE-GMG Citation 650 VII
f/v. 8/10 9H-ANS Global 6000 f/v; I-TOPF Beech
400XP f/v. 9/10 9H-VUD 737MAX-8200 Malta
Air f/v; SP-RZF 737MAX-8200 Buzz f/v; LN-AWE
Learjet 45 f/v; N799QS Challenger 350 f/v, Luton
diversion. 10/10 YL-CSC A220-300 Air Baltic f/v.
11/10 LN-ENP 737-800 Norwegian Air Shuttle f/v.
12/10 9H-VUK 737MAX-8200 Malta Air f/v. 13/10
F-GLUX CitationJet 525c CJ4 f/v. 14/10 2-MARS
PA-46-500TP f/v. 15/10 LN-ENU 737-8JP
Norwegian Air Shuttle f/v. 16/10 TC-NCM A320-
251N Pegasus Airlines f/v. 17/10 TC-NCV A320-
251N Pegasus Airlines f/v; OE-IOI Legacy 600
f/v. 18/10 SP-RZB 737MAX-8200 Buzz f/v. 19/10
October 31: Gulfstream G650ER N271DV throws out the ‘buckets’ at a wet Prestwick on arrival
from the US carrying owner Jeff Bezos to attend the 2021 United Nations Climate Change
Conference – during which the founder of Amazon announced a US$2 Billon environmental
pledge Mark Stevens - Long Reach Images
G-EIDY A330-302E Aer Lingus UK f/v; 9A-BTG
A320-212 Trade Air, Atalanta to play Man United in
Champions League; N654FX Gulfstream G650ER
f/v. 20/10 G-EILA A330-302E Aer Lingus UK, dep
on inaugural service to Barbados; SP-ESE 737-
8Q8 Enter Air f/v, Atalanta fans flight; PH-WTC
Falcon 2000S f/v. 21/10 TC-LTG A321-271NX
Turkish Airlines f/v; D-CFAR Learjet 60 f/v. 22/10
SE-RUA A320-251N SAS f/v; OE-LZD A320-214
Austrian Airlines f/v; 9H-LOJ CRJ1000 Mel Air f/v;
HB-VAJ Phenom 300 f/v; OH-CHF Citation 550
II f/v; 2-WEBS Eclipse EA500 f/v. 23/10 F-HTSB
CitationJet 525B CJ3 f/v; N588SE Gulfstream
G650ER f/v. 24/10 TC-LTI A321-271NX Turkish
Airlines f/v; LX-LAT Citation 680A Latitude f/v;
N8228N Gulfstream G550 f/v; D-COKE Learjet
35A f/v; N940PS TBM 940 f/v. 25/10 LN-ENL
737-8JP Norwegian Air Shuttle f/v; OO-PCA
PC-12NGX f/v; D-ATMJ Challenger 604 f/v. 27/10
TC-LTH A321-271NX Turkish Airlines f/v; YL-RAG
Saab 340A(F) RAF-Avia; OO-PCN PC-12 f/v. 28/10
TF-ICB 737MAX-9 Icelandair f/v. 29/10 SE-ROZ
A320-251N SAS f/v; N200A Gulfstream G550 f/v.
30/10 TC-LLK 787-9 Turkish Airlines; OK-PHM
Phenom 300 f/v. 31/10 YL-ABA A220-300 Air
Baltic f/v; D-AINZ A320-271N Lufthansa f/v; LV-
GHQ A330-202 Aerolineas Argentinas f/v, COP26
parking, dep 2/11; TC-ANA A319-115X Albanian
Government f/v, COP26 parking, dep 2/11.
NORWICH
2/9 OE-GRA CitationJet 525B CJ3; D-CKJE
Phenom 300 n/s. 4/9 D-CAWN Citation 680A
Latitude; D-CHIC Phenom 300 n/s. 5/9 N215BT
Cessna 208. 6/9 PH-BGW 737-7K2 KLM for
maintenance. 8/9 EC-KPB Citation 560XLS.
9/9 D-BEER Legacy 500; D-CEXP Learjet 35A;
9H-FGV Phenom 100 dep 11th. 12/9 F-HTVO
737-8GJ Transavia France for maintenance.
17/9 D-IAAW Phenom 100. 18/9 SP-OOK Beech
400XP also 24th. 20/9 TC-RSC Learjet 45.
21/9 A7-AHY A320-232(SL) Qatar Airways for
maintenance, dep 1/10; SE-RET 737-76N SAS for
maintenance; F-GUPE Beech 1900D Twin Jet
n/s; M-ABOS RJ100 dep after maintenance. 26/9
PH-EUA & PH-EUJ AW139 CHC Netherlands. 27/9
D-IAAD Phenom 100; D-CTRI Learjet 35A; OO-
TLB DA42. 29/9 D-CAGA Phenom 300.
Key: f/v first visit; n/s night stop; o/s overshoot.
67
AIR BASE MOVEMENTS FROM MAR WWW.MILITARYAVIATIONREVIEW.COM

Air Base Movements

A selection of the most interesting aircraft to visit air bases in the UK recently
RAF BENSON
27/9 F-WMXB H175M Airbus; the H175 is a
contender for the RAF’s Puma replacement
programme.

RAF BRIZE NORTON

3/10 84008/848 Tp84 Royal Swedish AF n/s,
also 8th. 8/10 KAF328 KC-130J 41 Sqn, Kuwait
AF dep 10th. 12/10 16-5883/RS C-130J-30 37th
AS, 86th AW, USAF dep 15th. 17/10 KAF343
C-17A 41 Sqn, Kuwait AF n/s. 19/10 HZ-AK45
777-300ER Saudi Government. 20/10 A9C-HMK
747-4P8 Bahrain Amiri Royal Flight dep 25th.
21/10 08-0050 CV-22B 7th SOS, 352nd SOW,
USAF; A9C-HMH 747SP-21 Bahrain Amiri Royal
Flight; 32 Falcon 10MER 57S, French Navy. 26/10
130606 CC-130J-30 436 San, RCAF dep 28th.
RAF CONINGSBY
1/10 E90/8-TH & E82/8-LW Alpha Jet Es ETO1.8,
French AF. 11/10 MM7026/6-06 Tornado IDS
6 St, Italian AF dep 15th. 12/10 E-598 F-16AM
Royal Danish AF also 13th.
RAF CRANWELL
9/9 71 Xingu 28F, French Navy. 24/9 ZM341
Texan T1 72 Sqn, RAF; ZM419 Atlas C1 24/70
Sqns, RAF o/s.
RAF FAIRFORD
6/10 86-0110/DY & 86-0140 B-1Bs 9th BS,
7th BW, USAF arrived on TDY. 7/10 86-0103/
DY B-1BS, 9th BS, 7th BW, USAF & 86-0136/DY
B-1B, 28th BS, 7th BW, USAF arrived on TDY.
Slow delivery: Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) Boeing F-15QA Ababil 17-006 (QA06) – callsign
‘Retro 61’ – arrives at RAF Mildenhall on October 28, following the second leg of its ferry flight
to Qatar. Expected to carry on east the following day, the aircraft were delayed by some two and
half weeks due to issues with diplomatic clearances; all four finally departed on November 16
Peter Foster
18/10 07-7186 C-17A 437th/315th AW, USAF. RAF LEEMING
20/10 84-0085 C-21A 76th AS, 86th AW, USAF; 25/10 ZB133 & ZB134 Hawk 167s arrived from
11-0550 C-37B 99th AS, 89th AW, USAF. 27/10 Warton on delivery to Joint Hawk Training
08-6205 & 09-5713 MC-130Js 67th SOS, 352nd Squadron.
SOW, USAF both o/s.
LEUCHARS STATION
RAF LAKENHEATH 26/10 03-3116 C-17A 183rd AS, Ms ANG
4/10 03-3116 C-17A 183rd AS, Ms ANG n/s; delivered VH-60N 163259 which departed
87-0176/SJ, 87-0187/SJ, 87-0206/SJ, 88-1671/ aboard 00-0184 on 4/11; 00-0183 C-17A 156th
SJ, 88-1673/SJ, 88-1676/SJ, 88-1680/SJ, 89- AS, NC ANG delivered VH-60N 163265 which
0483/SJ, 89-0490/SJ, 89-0492/SJ, 89-0493/SJ, departed aboard 97-0048 on 4/11.
89-0501/SJ, 89-0505/SJ & 90-0320/SJ F-15Es
4th FW, USAF all dep 6th. 6/10 08-8203 C-17A RAF LOSSIEMOUTH
62nd/446th AW, USAF also 8th. 13/10 08-8603/ 1/10 54+29 A400M LTG62, German AF; T-786
RS C-130J-30 37th AS, 86th AW, USAF. 19/10 PC-24 LTDB, Swiss AF. 19/10 ZP807 Poseidon
15-5831/RS C-130J-30 37th AS, 86th AW, USAF. MRA1 arrived on delivery to 54/12/201 Sqns.
29/10 91-0377 F-16C 77th FS, 20th FW, USAF 29/10 4576 P-3N 333 Skv, Royal Norwegian AF
dep 2/11. n/s.

October 28, 2021: United States Navy Lockheed EP-3E Orion ARIESII Bahrain Amiri Royal Flight Boeing 747-4P8
161410 departs RAF Mildenhall following a nightstop. Operating A9C-HMK, callsign ‘Bahrain 1’, flies final for
under the callsign ‘VVPR410’, the aircraft is on strength with Fleet Air Brize Norton on October 20. Christened
Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1) ‘World Watchers’ based at Naval Air ‘Samha’, the VIP-configured jet departed the
Station Whidbey Island in Washington Peter Foster base four days later Richard Ecclestone

68 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 Above: Bad to the BONE! United States Air
Force Rockwell B-1B 86-0110/DY powers
into the early morning skies of RAF Fairford
on October 19. The jet was one of four
temporarily deployed to the Gloucestershire
base in support of the 9th Expeditionary Bomb
Squadron’s Bomber Task Force Europe mission
series USAF-Senior Airman Colin Hollowell

RAF NORTHOLT
3/10 77 Xingu 28F, French Navy. 21/10 14+05
Global 6000 FBS, German AF.

Above: October 11, 2021: Italian Air Force Panavia Tornado IDS MM7036/6-06 arrives at RAF
Coningsby to undertake trials work. Operated by 6° Stormo out of Ghedi, the jet was flown by a
RAF SHAWBURY
crew from 311° Gruppo Volo of the Reparto Sperimentale Volo, or RSV – the Italian Air Force’s 12/10 XX157 Hawk T1 departed by road to Valley,
flight test unit KEY-Jamie Ewan aircraft will eventually join the Red Arrows. 13/10
XX244 Hawk T1 departed by road to Cosford.
Below right: On October 13, the Joint Aircraft Recovery & Transportation Squadron – or JARTS
– delivered ex-Red Arrows Hawk T.1 XX244 to No 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Cosford
where it will be used to train the next generation of Royal Air Force engineers. Delivered to the
MOD ST. ATHAN
19/10 T.18-5/45-05 Falcon 900B 451 Esc,
RAF on November 29, 1978, the jet arrived at RAF Shawbury for storage on September 30, 2020
RAF Cosford Spanish AF. 31/10 T.18-3/45-42 Falcon 900B 451
Esc, Spanish AF.
RAF MARHAM 86th AW, USAF 63-8028/AK KC-135R 168th ARS,
30/9 E82/8-LW & E90/8-TH Alpha Jet Es Alaska ANG, USAF arrived for TDY with 100th RAF WADDINGTON
ETO1.8, French AF both o/s. ARW. 21/10 00-0185 C-17A 517th AS, 3rd WG, 4/10 108/YW Xingu EAT319, French AF. 7/10
USAF unloaded AH-64Es ZM712 & ZM713. 23/10 69 Xingu 28F, French Navy. 8/10 MM62229
1/10 G-273 C-130H 336 Sqn, Royal Netherlands 12-3040 C-146A 524th SOS, USAF dep 25th. KC-767A 14 St, Italian AF also 15th. 11/10 099/
AF o/s. 28/10 F-35Bs ZM156/022, ZM157/023 & 24/10 07-8608/RS C-130J-30 37th AS, 86th AW, YP Xingu EAT319, French AF. 14/10 81 Xingu
ZM157/024 arrived on delivery for 207 Sqn. USAF. 26/10 13-08132, 13-08133 & 13-08134 CH- 28F, French Navy. 18/10 078/YE Xingu EAT319,
47Fs 5-158th Avn, US Army all n/s. 27/10 09-0017 French AF. 21/10 064/YY Xingu EAT319, French
RAF MILDENHALL C-32A 1st AS, 89th AW, USAF; 161410 EP-3E VQ-1, AF. 25/10 67 & 85 Xingus 28F, French Navy.
1/10 E90/8-TH & E82/8-LW Alpha Jet Es ETO1.8, USN n/s. 28/10 17-006. 17-013, 17-014 & 17-015 29/10 082/YG Xingu EAT319, French AF.
French AF both o/s. 5/10 FB-17 & FB-20 F-16BMs F-15QAs Qatari AF still present at end of month;
Belgian Defence - Air Component both o/s. 8/10 16-5840/RS C-130J-30 37th AS, 86th AW, USAF AAC WATTISHAM
LX-N90452 E-3A NAEWF o/s. 15/10 01-0029 n/s; 164996/RU C-130T VR-55, USN dep 30th. 9/9 11-0060 CV-22B 7th SOS, 352nd SOW, USAF
C-37A 76th AS, 86th AW, USAF. 16/10 C-5M 337th 29/10 74-0787 E-4B 1st ACCS, USAF dep 2/11; diverted in with rotor problems, dep 15th. 24/9
AS, AFRC. 18/10 07-4635/RS C-130J-30 37th AS, 165810/BH KC-130J VNGR-252, USMC n/s. ZM308 & ZM319 Prefect T1s 3 FTS, RAF.

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 69
REGISTER REVIEW BY STUART MCDIARMID

Register Review
The latest changes on the UK, Irish,
Isle of Man and Guernsey registers

RESTORATIONS
REG'N MODE(S) TYPE C/N OWNER G-EIDY 407BE6 Airbus A330-302 1025 Aer Lingus (UK) Ltd, Manchester,
Greater Manchester
G-ARJT 400AEC Piper PA-23-160 23-1981 JH Ashcroft, Netherthorpe,
Apache G South Yorkshire G-GSCD 407D06 Jodel D140E Mousquetaire 180 WH Greenwood, Bowford
IV (built by Societe Farm, Goose Green, West
G-BOWZ 402C0E Bensen B8MV (built by PFA G/01- J Cropper, (Failsworth, Aeronautique Normande) Sussex
WM Day) 1060 Greater Manchester)
G-GTUG 401E101 Piper PA-25-235 25-8056035 JN Nicholls & SJ Nolan,
G-BUJZ 403664 Rotorway Exec 90 5119/6793 Southern Helicopters Ltd, Pawnee D (modified) (Cookham, Berkshire)
(Modified) (built by TW Street Farm, Takeley, Essex
Aisthorpe & RJD Crick) G-HERZ 403E7C Robinson R44 Astro 0381 Elstree Helicopters Ltd,
Elstree, Hertfordshire
G-BXDK 4075ED Bell 412EP 36092 FR Leasing Ltd trading
as Draken Europe, G-IBOO 405145 DG Flugzeugbau DG- 8-378B277/ SG Hunt, Pocklington, East
Bournemouth, Dorset 808C X39 Riding of Yorkshire
G-BXIR 4075EC Bell 412EP 36163 FR Leasing Ltd trading G-IFRV 407D01 Van's RV-8A LAA 303- PS Gilmour, (St. Andrews,
as Draken Europe, 15792 Fife)
Bournemouth, Dorset
G-ILMC 407CFE Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen LAA 411- PA Murdock, (Hillsborough,
G-CROS 407CFA BAe Avro 146-RJ85 E2226 Executive Jet Support 15784 Co. Down)
Ltd, (Stored at Norwich
G-JOVE 407CFD Sackville BM-56 JAS-01 JA Scott, (Hemmingstone,
International, Norfolk)
Suffolk)
G-DCVY 4059A2 Slingsby T59D Kestrel 19 1821 N Dickenson, Lower
G-LDGH 407CC4 Diamond DA40NG 40.N559 AJW Construction Ltd,
Cock Hill Farm, Chipping,
Star NG Oxford, Oxfordshire
Lancashire
G-LMTA 407CD7 ATR-72-212A 1265 Loganair Ltd, Glasgow,
G-ORGI 407D07 Hawker Hurricane 60372 Warbird Experiences Ltd,
Renfrewshire
Mk.XII (built by Canadian Biggin Hill, Greater London
Car & Foundry Co.) G-LSXG 405355 Rolladen-Schneider 6151 JC Richards, Portmoak,
LS8-B Perth & Kinross
EI-SIA 4CACB4 Airbus A320-251N 7897 Scandinavian Airlines Ireland
Ltd, Stockholm-Arlanda, G-NCLA 407CF1 Van's RV-12iS LAA 363- J Price, (Eynsford, Kent)
Sweden 15643
EI-SIC 4CACB6 Airbus A320-251N 7979 Scandinavian Airlines Ireland G-OSIV 407CEE TAF Sling 4 (built by RJ, LAA 400- RJ Crosson, (Great
Ltd, Stockholm-Arlanda, J & M Crosson) 15463 Bookham, Surrey)
Sweden
G-PPEM 407C95 Cirrus SR22 3639 A0 Leasing LLP, Coventry,
EI-STC 4CAA8F Boeing 737-476 24446 ASL Airlines (Ireland) Ltd, Warwickshire
Dublin, Co. Fingal (NB)
G-RNWM 407CB9 Daher TBM-940 1395 Ravenair Aircraft Ltd, Liverpool
2-GECC TBA Sikorsky S-76C ++ 760693 Wilmington Trust SP John Lennon, Merseyside
Services (Dublin) Ltd, TBA
G-RUKC 407CAF Boeing 737-8AS 40289 Ryanair UK Ltd, London
Stansted, Essex

NEW REGISTRATIONS G-RUKD 407CB0 Boeing 737-8AS 33618 Ryanair UK Ltd, London
Stansted, Essex
REG'N MODE(S) TYPE C/N OWNER
G-RUKH 407CB4 Boeing 737-8AS 33640 Ryanair UK Ltd, London
G-CMCT 407CB6 Magni M16C Tandem 16-21-3354 JM Weston, (Leighton Stansted, Essex
Trainer (assembled by Buzzard, Bedfordshire)
Magni Gyro Ltd) G-RVJH 407CE9 Van's RV-14 LAA 393- J Hancock, (Sunbury-on-
15785 Thames, Surrey)
G-CMCV 407CF9 BAe Avro 146-RJ85 E2231 Executive Jet Support
Ltd, (Stored at Norwich G-RWDI 4062A2 Van's RV-8 (built by NHF PFA 303- RW Davies, Little Engeham
International, Norfolk) Hampton & SR Whitling) 13187 Farm, Woodchurch, Kent

G-CMDI 407D11 Airbus EC130 T2 9125 Airbus Helicopters, G-SHRU 406B76 Guimbal Cabri G2 1068 Pathology Testing Ltd,
Marseilles International, Wolverhampton Halfpenny
France (NB) Green, Staffordshire

G-CMDZ 407CE5 Robinson R44 Raven II 0966 A & R Helicopters Ltd, G-TTRE 407B0C Schleicher AS33ES 33013 RCW Ellis, Husbands
Wolverhampton Halfpenny Bosworth, Leicestershire
Green, Staffordshire G-VISN 407CB5 Cirrus SF50 Vision 0295 Chelsea Green (VJ) Ltd,
G-CMRG 407C6C Cessna 170B 27093 RA Gammons, (Letchworth, Biggin Hill, Greater London
Hertfordshire) EI-AZB 4CAC63 Boeing 737-8AS 29925 ASL Airlines (Ireland) Ltd,
G-DDAD 407CCA Robinson R44 Cadet 30079 Andrew's Whirlybirds Ltd, Dublin, Co. Fingal (NB)
Damyns Hall, Upminster, (operated for Prime Air)
Greater London EI-GYD 4CAC71 I.C.P. MXP-740 21-07-54- Funfly Aerosports Flying
G-DHLC 407C5A Boeing 767-323 29606 DHL Air Ltd, Leipzig, Savannah S 0799 Club Company Ltd by
Germany Guarantee, Clonbullogue,
Co. Offaly

70 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 REGISTER REVIEW BY STUART MCDIARMID
Airbus A340-642 G-ECLA, seen here in 2014 while serving with
Etihad as A6-EHJ, was cancelled from the UK Register on October
29 as “Transferred to another country or authority – United States
of America”. The 13-year-old jet was last noted as “Stored” at
Malaysia’s Langkawi International Airport Eric Salard

Former Royal Air Force Bell 412EP Griffin HT.1 ZJ240 was briefly
restored to the UK Register as G-BXIR with Bournemouth-based
aviation service provider Draken Europe in early October 2021.
However, it was deregistered and transferred to Canada the following
month SAC Chris Thompson-Watts

CANCELLATIONS
EI-GYE 4CAC74 Airbus A319-111 3443 Constitution Aircraft Leasing REG’N TYPE C/N REASON
(Ireland) 9 Ltd, (stored at
Castellón Costa Azahar, G-ARNK Piper PA-22-108 Colt 22-8622 Cancelled by CAA (CofA
Spain) expired 09.11.17, last noted
stored at Leicester 06.21)
EI-KBE 4CABFE Airbus A320-232 5968 Goshawk Leasing Ltd,
(operated by FlyArystan, G-AVAV Vickers Supermarine Spitfire CBAF 7269 To Netherlands
Almaty, Kazakhstan) IXT

EI-KBM 4CAC06 Airbus A320-271N 10005 Wilmington Trust SP G-AVFU Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six 32-40182 To Germany
Services (Dublin) Ltd, G-AWEF Stampe SV4C(G) 549 Cancelled as Destroyed
(operated by Air Astana, (Crashed at Headcorn 09.05.21)
Almaty, Kazakhstan)
G-BFIE Reims Cessna FRA150M 0331 To Italy
EI-KDA 4CAC08 Airbus A321-231 5357 SFI MSN 5357 DAC Aerobat
(operated by Air Astana,
Almaty, Kazakhstan) G-BHUU Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee 25-8056035 Re-registered as G-GTUG
(modified)
EI-KHA 4CAC17 Embraer 190E2 19020012 Skyfunding Leasing Ltd,
(operated by Air Astana, G-BLDK Robinson R22 0139 To Italy
Almaty, Kazakhstan) G-BNIU Cameron O-77 1499 Cancelled by CAA (CofA
EI-UMB Not Ampyx Power AP-3 AP-3A02 Ampyx Power Ireland Ltd, expired 02.03.15
Allotted (Dublin, Co. Dublin) G-BOFL Cessna 152 152-84101 Cancelled by CAA (CofA
M-ABOV 424BD2 Boeing 747-87UF 37562 Xingqing (Tianjin) Leasing expired 30.11.21. Last reported
Co. Ltd, (stored at Sharjah, stored at Little Gransden,
UAE) Cambridgeshire 09.21)

M-ABOW 424BD3 Boeing 747-87UF 37563 Xingqing (Tianjin) Leasing G-BRLS Thunder AX7-77 1603 Cancelled by CAA (CofA
Co. Ltd, (stored at Sharjah, expired 29.04.15)
UAE)
M-ALTH 43EAF6 Bombardier Global 9758 Shine Ever Holdings Ltd,
6000 Hong Kong-Chep Lap
Kok, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the
PREVIOUS IDENTITIES
People's Republic of China REG’N P.I. REG’N P.I.
M-ERRY 424BD1 Agusta AW109SP Grand 22291 Trustair Ltd Ltd, (Euxton, G-BOWZ ex U-B40 (Thai Ultralight EI-AZB ex N529AC
New Chorley) sequence) EI-GYG ex EC-KOY
2-BJNL TBA Airbus A330-243 1277 HK Aircraft Sub11 Co. Ltd, G-BXDK ex ZJ242 EI-KBE ex P4-KBE
(stored Haikou Meilan, G-BXIR ex ZJ240 EI-KBM ex P4-KBM
People's Republic of China) G-CMCV ex SE-DJN EI-KDA ex P4-KDA
2-CJIN TBA Airbus A330-203 932 Viking Leasing 932 DAC, G-CMDZ ex D-HITT
(stored Nimes-Garons, EI-KHA ex P4-KHA
France) G-CMRG ex N3550D EI-SIA ex SE-DYC
G-CROS ex SE-DJO EI-SIC ex SE-DYM
2-EZRA TBA Boeing 737-8AS 33814 TC Aviation Capital Ireland
Ltd, (stored Bangkok G-DHLC ex N399AN EI-STC ex HA-FAZ
International, Thailand) G-EIDY ex EI-EDY M-ABOV ex HZ-AI3
2-FLGP TBA Airbus A320-232 2692 Wilmington Trust SP G-GSCD ex F-GSCD M-ABOW ex HZ-AI4
Services (Dublin) Ltd, (stored G-GTUG ex G-BHUU
Jakarta, Indonesia) M-ALTH ex M-DSUN
G-HERZ ex G-OBHE M-ERRY ex OE-XHU
2-GGGG 43EE4F Bombardier Challenger 5748 Eleonara Ltd, Oxford,
G-IBOO ex G-SMAJ 2-BJNL ex B-LNJ
605 Oxfordshire
G-LMTA ex OY-YDI 2-CJIN ex TC-JIN
2-LRGG TBA Boeing 737-86N 38039 NW38039 Aircraft Leasing
Ltd, (stored Dublin, Co. Fingal) G-LSXG ex G-DFRA 2-EZRA ex HS-TSC
G-ORGI ex VH-JFW 2-FLGP ex PK-GLF
2-MAHY TBA Airbus A330-343 1475 Fly Aircraft Holdings Twenty
Two Ltd, (stored Alice G-PPEM ex D-ECCD 2-GECC ex (N.....)
Springs, Australia) G-RUKC ex EI-ENB 2-GGGG ex VP-BGM
2-MMXC TBA Airbus A320-232 2090 MSN 2090 Trust (stored G-RUKD ex EI-DWL 2-LRGG ex LN-RGG
Tucson, AZ, USA) G-RUKH ex EI-DPM 2-MAHY ex RP-C8785
2-SHEE 43EE47 Eclipse EA500 000020 TAK Aviation Holdings Inc, G-RWDI ex G-NISH 2-MMXC ex ZK-OJB
Guernsey G-SHRU ex G-UMBL 2-SHEE ex N312BL
2-VISS TBA Airbus A330-343 1666 AP Leasing 1666 DAC, G-VISN ex N295CV 2-VISS ex 9V-SSI
(stored Teruel, Spain)

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 71
REGISTER REVIEW BY STUART MCDIARMID

G-BRZF Enstrom 280C 1163 Cancelled as Permanently WFU G-ISLF ATR-42-500 546 Cancelled as Destroyed (flown
(CofA expired 22.09.14) to Malta-Luqa 03.10.18 for
parting out)
G-BVAI PZL-110 Koliber 150 3900040 To Poland
G-MACA Robinson R22 Beta II 3836 Cancelled as Destroyed
G-BYLJ Letov LK-2M Sluka PFA 263-13464 Cancelled by CAA (SSDR
(Crashed at Gregston House,
microlight, Permit to Fly not
Haighton, Lancashire 13.09.18)
required)
G-MMNB Eipper Quicksilver MX 4286 Cancelled as Permanently WFU
G-CBEY Cameron C-80 10190 Cancelled by CAA (CofA
(SSDR microlight so no Permit
expired 03.03.16)
required)
G-CIWF Airbus EC225LP Super Puma 2955 To Spain
G-MWDI Hornet RS-ZA HRWB0098/ Cancelled as Permanently WFU
2+
ZA158 (Permit to Fly expires 14.08.22)
G-CIXW Embraer 170 17000230 To USA as N768RD
G-MWJI Solar Wings Pegasus Quasar SW-WQQ-0341 Cancelled as Permanently WFU
G-CJFP Dudek Synthesis LT 29 P07874 Cancelled by CAA (SSDR (Permit to Fly expired 16.11.14)
microlight, Permit to Fly not
G-MYKY Mainair Mercury 962-0893-7- Cancelled by CAA (Permit to
required)
W757 Fly expired 14.08.18. Last noted
G-CKSP Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee 28-7505171 To Italy stored at Turners Arms Farm,
Archer Yearby 10.19)
G-CMBM MBB Bölkow Bö105CB-4 S.269 To Russia G-MYPV Mainair Mercury 986-0394-7- Cancelled by CAA (Permit to
W782 Fly expired 05.01.17)
G-CWFS Tecnam P2002-JF 077 To Turkey
G-NISH Van's RV-8 PFA 303-13187 Re-registered as G-RWDI
G-DCVY Slingsby T59D Kestrel 19 1821 Cancelled by CAA (but restored
again later in the month) G-OBHE Robinson R44 Alpha 0381 Re-registered as G-HERZ
G-DEAN Solar Wings Pegasus XL-Q SW-WQ-0123 Cancelled as Permanently WFU G-OMSL Pilatus PC-12/47E 1842 To Finland
(Permit to Fly expired 13.10.18)
G-OOBN Boeing 757-2G5 29379 To USA (stored at Goodyear,
G-DFRA Rolladen-Schneider LS6-B 6151 Re-registered as G-LSXG AZ 10.21)
G-DHKP Boeing 757-223 32398 To Austria as OE-LNZ G-RDAS Reims Cessna F172M 0999 To Netherlands as PH-DAS
G-ECLA Airbus A340-642 933 To USA G-REDR Eurocopter EC225LP Super 2699 To Spain
Puma 2+
G-ECOB Bombardier DHC-8-402 4185 To Kenya as 5Y-FEA
G-REDT Eurocopter EC225LP Super 2701 To Spain
G-EUPB Airbus A319-131 1115 Cancelled as Permanently WFU Puma 2+
(flown Heathrow to St. Athan
14.07.21 for parting out) G-REEV Robinson R44 Clipper II 12448 To Spain as EC-NSA
G-EZAJ Airbus A319-111 2742 To USA as N6310U G-SCFG Cessna 152 152-82748 To USA as N89439
G-EZAT Airbus A319-111 2782 To USA as N5317U G-SMAJ DG Flugzeugbau DG-808C 8-378B277X39 Re-registered as G-IBOO
G-FRRN Leonardo AW109SP Grand 22371 To South Africa G-SNSA Agusta AW139 31308 To Mozambique
New
G-SOVD Cessna 525A CitationJet CJ2 525A-0082 To USA as N10QJ
G-GLOB Bombardier Global Express 9413 To USA as N372BC
G-SPRE Cessna 550 Citation Bravo 550-0872 To USA as N872JP
XRS
G-STSI TAF Sling 4 TSi LAA 400A- Cancelled by CAA (No Permit
G-GUSS Piper PA-28-151 Cherokee 28-7415497 Cancelled as Permanently WFU
15754 to Fly issued, believed not
Warrior (Badly damaged by storm at
completed)
Stapleford, Essex 28-29.09.21)
G-TOPO Piper PA-25-250 Turbo Aztec E 27-4587 Cancelled as Permanently WFU
G-HITL Airbus AS350B3 Ecureuil 8439 To USA as N174TF
(CofA expired 01.01.15, parted
G-IFIK Cessna 421C Golden Eagle 421C1115 To Germany out at Liverpool, removed for
scrap 10.21)

72 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

 REGISTER REVIEW BY STUART MCDIARMID
UPDATES & CORRECTIONS
REG’N DETAILS
G-CCGF Became HB-ZWY 29.10.21
G-CIWR Became F-WWOB (cancelled by CAA 11.01.16)
G-CKBW Became EC-NRO 09.21
G-CLXS Became D-HVIP 20.08.21
G-CLYH Type officially changed to an RV-12iS 25.10.21
G-EIGT Builder officially changed to MJ Benham & D Hurst 27.10.21
G-FLFX Became 9H-IFX 09.21
G-GCRT Became F-GCRT 23.07.21
G-GCWS Became UR-SLS 02.09.21
G-NGBB Type officially changed to a Bristell NG5 Speed Wing 25.10.21
G-OSGC Builder officially changed to A Brown, D Barbour, D Coats, M Forster,
C Hamilton & A Mutch 20.10.21
G-SHUU Became S5-HKA 09.21
G-TRMP Became N120DT 20.10.21 (cancelled to USA 15.10.18)
2-FALB Became VP-BEC 16.06.21
2-GDEJ Became VT-POP 01.09.21
2-VOLC Became T7-BBS 08.21

EI-LAX Airbus A330-202 269 Cancelled as Owner's Request-

Removed from Service (flown
to Ireland West Airport Knock,
Co. Mayo for parting out
30.07.21)
M-ABNY Embraer 190 19000613 To Vietnam as VN-A262

Eastern Airways Embraer ERJ-170 G-CIXW departs Sumburgh in the M-AJET Bombardier Global 6500 60023 To Austria
Scottish Shetland Islands on January 5, 2018. Withdrawn by the UK M-DSUN Bombardier Global 6000 9758 Re-registered as M-ALTH
regional carrier on September 11, 2021, it was cancelled from the UK M-ELOW Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 50500197 To USA as N31SS
Register on October 6, 2021, and transferred to the USA; it is expected
M-HOME Bombardier Global 6000 9577 To San Marino as T7-HOME
to join American regional airline Envoy as N768RD Ronnie Robertson
M-JACK Beech B200GT King Air BY-94 To India
M-MBLU Bombardier Global 6000 9776 To USA as N954E
G-TUMR Boeing 737-8 44606 To Sweden as SE-RND M-PAPA Airbus EC130 T2 8273 To USA as N130TP
G-TUMV Boeing 737-8 44650 To Sweden as SE-RNE M-PCPC Pilatus PC-12/45 648 To USA as N17DP
G-UMBL Guimbal Cabri G2 1068 Re-registered as G-SHRU M-SAPT Bombardier Global 5000 9668 To Canada as C-GSLU
G-WMRN Daher TBM-900 1159 To Russia M-SKAL Airbus A330-343 1477 To Germany as D-AJFK
EI-CSI Boeing 737-8AS 29924 Cancelled as Owner's Request- M-SOZO Gulfstream 650 6134 To Malta as 9H-649FX
Removed from Service (to St.
M-YOIL Bombardier Global 6000 9637 To USA as N99LE
Athan, Vale of Glamorgan for
parting out 02.05.20) 2-AERO Embraer EMB-135LR 145702 To USA as N402AT
EI-DPM Boeing 737-8AS 33640 To United Kingdom as G-RUKH 2-CSKL Airbus A321-231 1670 To Cayman Islands
EI-DWL Boeing 737-8AS 33618 To United Kingdom as G-RUKD 2-NNGG Boeing 737-8JP 39018 To Mexico as XA-PPP
EI-EDY Airbus A330-202 1025 To United Kingdom as G-EIDY 2-PWER Agusta A109E Power 11027 To United Kingdom as G-SPIV
EI-ENB Boeing 737-8AS 40289 To United Kingdom as G-RUKC 2-SAAY Bombardier CRJ-700Er 10080 To USA
EI-FHW Boeing 737-8JP 39007 To Norway as LN-DYS 2-SLZK Bombardier Global Express 9250 To Austria as OE-LCD
XRS
EI-FHZ Boeing 737-8JP 39005 To Norway as LN-DYM
2-VJWU Airbus A330-302 1391 To Bermuda as VP-BUJ
EI-GUE Airbus A320-214 5318 To Austria as OE-ICL
EI-GUF Airbus A320-214 5319 To Austria as OE-ICN
Key: NB – Nominal Base
EI-GVI Airbus A320-232 4174 To Malta
A place name in brackets relates to the owner’s address, as where the aircraft is based is unknown.

Former Saudia Cargo Boeing 747-87UF HZ-AI4 was registered with Xingqing (Tianjin) Leasing as M-ABOW on October 29, 2021. Expected to join
Russian freight carrier AirBridgeCargo Airlines, the aircraft is currently stored at Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates Key Collection

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 73
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Exercise Cormoran-21

Exercise Cormoran-21 brought together France's navy and army in a

high-intensity, large-scale, amphibious wargame,
reports Babak Taghvaee

I
n 2011, 20 helicopters of the Aviation larger number of helicopters. It wasthe first the two French forces, with numerous
légère de l'armée de Terre (ALAT, time in the history of the French Armed vehicles including APCs (armoured
French Army Light Aviation) deployed Forces, the French Naval Aeromobile Group personnel carriers), helicopters (ten
on the Marine Nationale (French Navy) (GNAM) simultaneously deployed two Aérospatiale SA341L1/M Gazelles, six
amphibious assault ship FS Tonnerre (L9014) amphibious helicopter carriers during a Eurocopter EC665 Tiger HAD/HAPs attack
participated in the Libyan War against forces military exercise. helicopters, six NHIndustries NH90-TTH
loyal to de facto ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Caïman multi-role helicopters and
A decade later, the ALAT and navy Deux debut two Aérospatiale SA330B Puma utility
conducted a joint exercise across southern Dubbed Cormoran-21, the wargame was helicopters), a pair of Dassault Rafale Ms,
France’s Hérault mountains and the commanded by Rear Admiral Christophe six surface vessels and one submarine.
Mediterranean Sea. During the wargames, Cluzel of the French Navy They were under the
held between September 27 and October and his deputy Brigadier tactical command of a
16, 2021, participants simulated joint General Frédéric Barbry joint HQ formed using
operations similar to those that took place of the French Army from a unique combined
during Opération Harmattan and Unified on board their command staff from the French
Protector in Libya, but on a far bigger scale ship, Tonnerre. Rapid Reaction Force
with two amphibious assault ships – the FS Some 1,300 personnel (FRMARFOR) and the
Tonnerre joined by Mistral (L9013) – and a participated from across 4th Air Combat Brigade
(4th BAC) – all of whom
Main photo: Deadly quartet: The four Eurocopter EC665 Tiger HADs of the specialised in tactical
ALAT’s 1er Régiment d’Hélicoptères de Combat arrive on the deck of FS amphibious operations.
Tonnerre on September 27, 2021, for Exercise Cormoran-21 French Navy
The GNAM is a strategic
Inset: 1er Régiment d’Hélicoptères de Combat badge. Formed in 1977, the element of NATO that
regiment’s motto is ‘Primus Primorum’ or ‘The First Of The First’ French Army is capable of conducting

76 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

helicopter operations across the world as
fast as possible – as shown in 2011 during
both Opération Harmattan (the French
participation in the military intervention in
Libya) and Unified Protector (the United
Nations-led mission enforcing UN Security
Council resolutions).
However, during Cormoran-21 the GNAM
took a further step in unifying tactical
command – resulting in the merger of staff
from the different services on two separate
amphibious assault ships. It also allowed
those French forces to strengthen their
interoperability by integrating elements of
the army’s Scorpion Combat Information
System (SIC-S), which enables group
leaders and corps commanders to monitor
activities and equipment in the battlefield
and during exercises.
During the exercise, crews undertook
helicopter operations across maritime
and coastal environments in a mix of
meteorological conditions (including
storms) during day and night. This both
WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK
Chained to the deck of FS Tonnerre and fitted
with oleo locks, Aviation légère de l’armée de
Terre Eurocopter EC665 Tiger HAD 6012/BJL
awaits its next Cormoran-21 sortie.
All images Babak Taghvaee unless stated
tested and improved the interoperability
between the army and navy embarked on
Mistral and Tonnerre – including protecting
the vessels from the threat of enemy
submarines, surface vessels and aircraft.
Air assets
All three of the ALAT’s Régiment
d'Hélicoptères de Combat (RHC, Combat
Helicopter Regiments) participated in the
exercise: The 1st (1er) RHC joined with four
NH90-TTH Caïmans, four EC665 Tiger
HADs (Hélicoptère d'Appui Destruction
– Destruction Support Helicopter), three
SA342M Gazelle anti-tank helicopters
and a single SA342L1 Gazelle observation
helicopter. The 3e RHC added four
Gazelles and two SA330B Pumas. The 5e
RHC participated with a pair of NH90-
TTH Caïman, two Tiger HAPs (Hélicoptère
d'Appui Protection, Support and Escort
Helicopter) and two SA342L1/M Gazelles.
During Cormoran-21, 1er RHC’s
helicopters deployed on board Tonnerre
while 3e and 5e RHC’s machines embarked
on the Mistral. Alongside these, a French
Exercise Cormoran-21 was commanded by Rear Admiral Christophe Cluzel (right) of the French
Navy and his deputy, French Army Brigadier General Frédéric Barbry
Navy NH90-NFH multi-role helicopter (also
known as the Caïman) from 31 Flottille
and a multi-role AS565SA Panther from
36 Flottille joined the Auvergne Aquitaine-
class frigate Auvergne (D654) and the
anti-air frigate Forbin (D620), respectively,
from their home base at Hyères in
southern France. During the exercise, the
ALAT practised and simulated helicopter
operations from both amphibious assault
ships simultaneously. Out of the 24
helicopters involved, ten were embarked on
each during the exercise’s final phase.
On strength with 12 Flottille out of
Landivisiau in Brittany, the Rafales deployed
to Istres to act as the sole ‘Red Air’ assets
for the exercise. Conducting surprise
attacks against the naval group, it defended
itself with the simulated launch of Aster-15
and -30 surface-to-air missiles.
The amphibious assault ships were
escorted by Auvergne, Forbin and the
D'Estienne d'Orves-class aviso anti-
submarine vessel Commandant Bouan
(F797). A Durance-class multi-product
replenishment oiler supported all the ships.
Three weeks, three raids
The first phase of Cormoran-21 began on
September 27, until October 4; a ‘warm up’
element preparing the crews of all three
77
Exercise Cormoran-21
RHCs for deck and maritime operations with
a variety of training missions. In the second
phase, between October 4-10, the GNAM
conducted two Raids – the first on the night
of October 7-8 involving five helicopters
from each amphibious assault ship. With
central and northern France designated
as territory belonging to an ‘aggressive’
Objectives
Exercise Cormoran-21 had two primary
objectives – the first was to update and
improve the GNAM's force deployment
doctrine, while the second was to train the
staff and personnel to plan and conduct
nocturnal raids with up to 20 helicopters by
integrating fire and a temporary deployment
on land. The exercise also had six
secondary objectives:
– Consolidate flight deck (FD) management
knowledge and helicopter weapons loading
as part of full capacity implementation of FD
operations in a discreet environment (high
and low visibility)
– Develop interoperability procedures
between French Army Groupement
d'Aguerrissement en Montagne (Mountain
Acclimatisation Grouping, GAM) and GAEA
– Train surface vessels Forbin and
Auvergne how to protect a GNAM in a
contested environment
– Use of combat elements with ISR
(intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance) support
– Implementation and test of the various
logistical support procedures
– Test and optimisation of interoperability
between the French Army’s SIC-S
(Scorpion Combat Information System) and
the French Navy’s information systems
A trio of 1er RHC Tiger HADs escort an
NH90-TTH Caïman over several of the surface
vessels taking part in Cormoran-21 during the
final day of exercise. From the bottom, the
ships are the anti-air frigate Forbin, Tonnerre,
Mistral and the Aquitaine-class frigate
Auvergne French Navy
78
country dubbed Mercure
(Red Force), the south
was designated as the
territory of Septimania
(Blue Force). A NATO
member, Septimania had
been invaded by Mercure
as part of the exercise’s
scenario. The southeast
of the country was
designated as the territory
of another NATO member,
the Federation of Provencia,
which was an ally of the Blue Forces.
During the exercise, Provencia allowed
two armoured units to enter its territory to
attack mechanised elements of Mercure
occupying Septimania.
The GNAM’s mission was to penetrate
the territory of Septimania under Mercure’s
occupation and provide support for ground
units. To do this, four transport helicopters
transferred French Amphibious Engagement
Support Group (GAEA) troops behind
enemy lines. Escorted by a pair of Tigers,
two SA342M Gazelles acted as ‘pathfinders’.
Two days after deploying the GAEA forces,
the second raid was launched during the
night of October 10-11; 16 helicopters
(eight from each ship) were utilised.
As part of the assault, SA342Ms and Tiger
HADs ‘engaged’ enemy armour, vehicles
and other ground units, while the NH90-
TTHs recovered the GAEA forces; each
Tiger carried a single captive AGM-114K-1A
Hellfire training air-to-surface missile.
During the first and second raids, the
helicopters of 1er RHC (operating from
the Tonnerre) carried out their operations
across the Saint-André-de-Sangonis area,
while the 3e and 5e RHCs’
machines, operating from
the Mistral, were tasked
around Bédarieux.
The final raid – starting
on the late evening of
October 13 – involved
live cannon, rocket and
missile firing by the
Gazelle and Tigers, and
machine gun firing by
the Pumas and Caïmans
against maritime targets near
the shores of the island of Corsica.
The following night, the helicopters
‘attacked’ two locations on the Island – the
first, the Diane coastal gunnery range and
the second, Solenzara Air Base. The latter
involved GAEA forces to conduct Battle
Damage Assessment, or BDA.
‘First of the first’
With 39 helicopters on strength, the 1er
RHC deployed 12 airframes and 160 of its
1,200 personnel from its base at Quartier
La Horie in France’s northeast to join the
Tonnerre. The four NH90-TTHs were 1291/
EAF, 1335/EAV, 1336/EAW and 1402/EBF;
its four EC665 Tiger HADs were 2010/
BHA, 2026/BHR, 6006/BJF and 6012/BJL;
the three SA342Ms were 4026/GBA, 4175/
GCI and 4179/GCJ; the single SA342L1 was
4216/GEK – the latter was primarily used to
carry snipers during the exercise; there was
at-least one other SA342L1 embarked on
the Mistral for the same purpose.
Colonel Jérôme Statucki, a pilot with
more than 20 years’ experience and some
2,000 flying hours, is commanding officer
of 1er RHC. He told the author about
AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
Above left: The badge of 3e Régiment the weapons used by the anti-tank and also light armoured vehicles. The Gazelles
d’Hélicoptères de Combat. Based at Base attack helicopters during the exercise: “… use HOT [Haut subsonique Optiquement
Lieutenant Étienne Mantoux (formerly
for facing a conventional enemy in this Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube, or High Subsonic,
Étain-Rouvres Air Base) in northeastern
training, main battle tanks and so on, the Optical, Remote-Guided, Tube-Launched]
France, the regiment boasts 33 Gazelles and
16 Pumas French Army Hellfire on the Tiger is dedicated to those missiles against tanks and buildings. But
threats – and also against buildings where their main role during the exercise was to
Above: One of two 3e RHC Aérospatiale the enemy force's HQ were located. The use the [Viviane] thermal imaging system
SA330B Pumas deployed on board the [68mm unguided] rockets and cannons and cameras in reconnaissance missions.
amphibious assault ship Mistral, 1617/DBM
are more for enemy infantry forces and We [undertake] battle damage assessment
winds up for departure during Exercise
Cormoran-21. Note the aircraft is equipped
with a nose-mounted all-weather radar
French Navy

Above: The menacing lines of the Tiger HAD are picked out by the setting sun as a pair of 1er RHC
examples share Tonnerre’s flight deck with a NH90-TTH Caïman (centre)

Below: With white caps visible on the sea behind, NH90-TTH Caïman 1429/EBM gets ready to
depart into the rain from the Mistral. The aircraft was one of two examples on strength with the
5er RHC taking part in Cormoran-21

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 79
Exercise Cormoran-21
of simulated and live firings following each [operate] two types its 20mm cannon,
mission.” Captain Malo, a Tiger HAD pilot of Gazelles – the L1 Mistral 2 air-to-air
with 1er RHC, clarified the training during and M1. The L1 has missiles and unguided
Cormoran-21: “First of all, we are here to no thermal sight and 68mm SNEB air-to-
practise formation flights with the Caïman is used by the snipers. ground rockets. On
and Gazelle in the marine environment. We remove the doors May 18, 2011 – two
We also simulate the use of weapons and the sniper sits behind months into French
and engage ground targets using captive the pilot. The ‘M’ uses Air Force involvement
training Hellfires. Then we download the HOT missiles. We mainly in Operation Harmattan
result of our work to analyse and improve use the SA342Ms during – French President
our skills. During the second raid, we the exercise because at Nicolas Sarkozy ordered
trained progressively with eight helicopters night, they use the thermal the ALAT to take part
– including all of our Tigers. We carried camera to secure the way in Operation Unified
an external 365 litre tank [under the left [as pathfinders].” Claire Freedom. Subsequently,
inboard pylon], which adds half-an-hour to added: “The Gazelle is a 14 SA342L1/M Gazelles,
the duration of our mission. simple helicopter to maintain, it doesn’t two Tiger HAPs and a pair of SA330B
“During the exercise, we flew ‘mix-crew’ have many electrical systems and it is Pumas embarked on Tonnerre as a part of
for training purposes. For example, an easy to repair – many of us that work on the French Navy’s Task Force 473.
experienced pilot – the command on it trained on it! The most difficult thing French Army Gazelles, Tigers and
board – who has 2,000-3,000 hours during maritime operations is the constant Pumas were not the only helicopters
of flight experience, movement of the flying over Libya. Operating from the
performs a mission with “A NATO member, ship and the threat of Royal Navy’s then flagship and helicopter
a younger pilot with, corrosion. Tied down to carrier HMS Ocean, British Army Air Corps
say, just 300 Septimania had the deck after landing, AgustaWestland Apache AH1s were also
flying hours.” we wash the airframes involved. However, the Apaches conducted
The head of the been invaded by – especially the engine significantly fewer combat sorties
1st RHC’s Gazelle – with clear water to compared with their French counterparts
maintenance team Mercure as part prevent corrosion.” due to the fact their attacks were against
during Cormoran-21
was Sergeant Claire,
of the exercise’s Libyan task pre-designated objectives, while Tigers and
Gazelles conducted interdiction missions
who explained: “We scenario” Ten years ago, over
the course of three
– attacking any target they could find.
On the night of June 3-4 during
Above right: 5e Régiment d’Hélicoptères de months, the Tonnerre was deployed to the Operation Unified Protector, French and
Combat badge. Established on July 1, western Mediterranean Sea to take part British helicopters flying under NATO
1977, it is nicknamed the ‘Béarn in Operation Harmattan and then command were engaged for the first time
Regiment’ French Army Unified Protector against the over Libya. French Gazelles and Tiger HAPs
Below: October 5, 2021: elements of Libyan Arab targeted and destroyed several pick-up
A pair of 1er RHC Army still loyal to dictator trucks at Brega on the Libyan coast.
Tiger HADs and two Muammar Gaddafi. At It was the first combat operation
Caïmans are readied that time, the ALAT conducted by ALAT Tigers operating from
for a day-into-night relied heavily on its a French Navy platform.
sortie on the flight Gazelles as attack French airframes conducted 90% of the
deck of FS
platforms rather coalition's helicopter strikes during Unified
Tonnerre
than the Tiger HAP, Protector. Undertaking 37 strikes during
which only had the 250 sorties, they destroyed 614 targets.
capability of using The Gazelles launched 432 HOT anti-tank

80 AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022

Above: The elegant lines of NH90-TTH Caïman
1429/EBM are evident as crews prepare the
multi-role platform for a sortie on the deck
of Mistral. On strength with the 5e RHC,
the aircraft was one of two the regiment
embarked on the amphibious assault ship for
Cormoran-21

missiles, while the Tigers fired almost 1,500

68mm rockets and six Mistral 2 missiles
– the latter being used against main battle
tanks due to unavailability of guided air-to-
surface options, the heat signature from the
tank’s engines allowing the pilots to lock on;
three of the six hit their intended targets.
Due to the extremely high level of security
and safety measures employed to protect
the Gazelle and Tiger aircrews during
the Libyan War, they mostly targeted less Above: An ALAT Aérospatiale SA342M Gazelle – 4026/GBA of 1er RHC – awaits its next sortie
in FS Tonnerre’s flight deck hangar during the author’s visit. Note the housing for the Viviane
important and non-strategic targets such as
thermal imagery system atop the cabin
light vehicles. Despite that, they played an
important role in the conflict. Below: A 3re RHC Eurocopter EC665 Tiger HAP (2045/BIM) launches from the deck of FS Mistral
Now, the ALAT’s Tiger HADs are capable as a 5e RHC SA342M Gazelle (4160/GCC) waits to lift during the first phase of Cormoran-21
of launching AGM-114K-1A and AGM- French Navy
114N-1A Hellfire, while the Gazelles are
cleared to fire HOT-2 missiles. During
Cormoran-2021, the French Army and
Navy showed they are extremely capable
of performing maritime helicopter
operations, both larger and more complex
than those conducted in Libya.

WWW.AVIATION-NEWS.CO.UK 81
Next Month
Out of this world
Having made history as the first machine to fly on an astronomical body other
than the Earth as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, we take a closer look at the
Martian helicopter Ingenuity (above) as the programme moves into its next phase
Battle of the Atlantic
As transatlantic services restart and new carriers join the fray with the latest long-haul
offerings from Airbus, Aviation News looks at the market prospects and challenges
ahead and questions what will be the secret to their success
Night CAP - Part 2
In the second of his two-part feature, noted Cold War fast jet pilot Ian Black takes us
into the war-torn skies of Bosnia for a combat air patrol as he battles the darkness, St
Elmo’s Fire and wet runways
Bad to the BONE!
Aviation News delves into the United States Air Force’s recent Bomber Task Force
Europe deployment to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire with four Rockwell B-1B Lancers
of the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron
Dream machine
Designed as a departure from the earlier concepts of the world-renowned RV series,
the RV-9 is easy to fly, speedy and spacious. We explore what is considered to be the
perfect home-built aeroplane
Starfighters over the Punjab
The needle-like Lockheed F-104 (below) made a name for itself with the Pakistan Air
Force during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Dubbed the ‘Wicked One’, we recount
the type’s service
The February 2022 ISSUE goes on sale  in the UK
on January 20, 2022*
(Contents subject to change)
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December 2021
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AVIATION NEWS JANUARY 2022
WARBIRD & VINTAGE AIRCRAFT BROKERS
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