August 7 
The RQAC hosted an "Aviation Leaders' Luncheon" to-day with Dick Smith as speaker with JetCraft boss Randal McFarlane and DC4 owner Russell Broadbent as panel

Dick arrived at Archerfield in his Citation Jet shortly before noon to be part of the 'show'

The 142 persons present at the RQAC instigated series of "Aviation Leaders" luncheons enjoyed the "spirited question time" with Dick and the panel

 August  6 
In the USA two pilots have pleaded innocent to charges of operating an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol

The FAA pulled their pilot licenses and they were fired by their employer America West

The pilots were arrested at Miami International Airport last month after they had started to taxi for departure

 August 1 
Alliance Airlines - a new OZ aviation company - is about to commence operations after buying the assets of defunct Flight West Airlines

The  QLD Government spent "more than $100,000 last year maintaining Flight West's air operator's certificate" after it failed to increase the subsidy to Flight West Airlines in the June 2001 Budget that caused the company to fold after 14 years of operation

Alliance Airlines parent company is Queensland Airline Holdings

 August 3 
The Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival in the UK featuring a military Harrier jump-jet had an unexpected addition to the flying program

The GR7 was about to "bow" to the crowd at the end of the display when the engine noise stopped

The pilot from the RAF Wittering Base in Cambridgeshire ejected safely at 50' AGL

"..the large crowd applauded as he waved from a helicopter taking him to hospital"

 August 6 
A young couple in the UK boarded a flight at London's Heathrow Airport expecting to go to OZ's sunny Sydney and ended up instead in a very chilly Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

After a 6 hr flight the heavy landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia and "We thought 'OK, we are going to wait here and a big plane is going to turn up and take us to Australia'"

They then boarded a 25 seat commuter and an hour later ended up in sleepy Sydney, Cape Breton Island, off the north eastern coast of Canada, population about 26,000

 August 7 
A new OZ company, Australiawide Airlines, has purchased Hazelton and Kendell Airlines, both subsidiaries of the former Ansett operation, for AUD$40 million

Australiawide then formed another company called Regional Express, to be known as REX, to run this 'regional' airline

REX will cover 30 townships in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania with a fleet of 29 Saab and Metro turboprop aircraft