May 30  2006
The new Diamond DA42 Twin Star from Wiener Neustadt in Austria called into Archerfield on an around the world demonstration flight
 
The aircraft is to be fitted with a ferry tank at the Aircraft Engineers Associates Hangar 2 in the next few days to allow it to fly non-stop from Hawaii to the USA - a distance of more than 2100nm requiring additional endurance

 
The 4-seat piston-powered jet-fuel burning compression ignition twin (each 135hp) has a cruise speed of around 160kts at height burning just under a litre/minute of fuel
 

News Desk Comment

An ideal way to see the world - a not to be forgotten trip for the three pilots involved

 May 24  2006
Two F-16 jet fighters - one Greek the other Turkish - have collided and crashed into the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Karpathos
 
The Greek military sent two of its F-16's to intercept two Turkish F-16's and an RF-4 reconnaissance aircraft that had entered Athens disputed "flight information region" airspace

 
The Turkish pilot - the only pilot to survive the incident - was rescued by a foreign commercial vessel after refusing to board a Greek rescue helicopter that had been sent out to pick up the downed airman
 
The two countries have had a long-standing dispute over the Aegean Sea with Turkey insisting that Greek airspace extends to only 6 miles offshore with the Greek Government maintaining that its authority extends to 10 miles

May 28  2006
A 55-year-old male pilot along with his 62-year-old female passenger on board an ultralight aircraft were injured when attempting a forced landing into a ploughed field near Howard south of Bundaberg

 
The unnamed ultralight apparently turned sharply on landing with the two on board "initially trapped in the wreckage but were eventually rescued and airlifted to a Brisbane hospital"