Good day all

This weekend is gearing up to be a very busy one, the airshow crowd will be crossing the border to Botswana for the annual WesBank Botswana International Airshow.

With the theme of Wings of Fire & Wheels of Fury The programme promises to be something special as always

Hot Air Balloon Pierre Jacobs

Botswana Skydive Parachute Drop BDF

Bat Hawk Display Bobby Rowe

Slick 540 Neville Ferreira

Slick 360 Conrad Botha

Boeing Stearman Ivan van der Schaar

Bell 407 Menno Parsons

Pitts Special Formation Good Year Eagles

Yak 52 Neville Ferreira

T6 Harvard’s Puma Energy Flying Lions

L29 Albatross Jet Glen Warden

YAK 55 Cliff Lotter

Bell 430 Altech Netstar Alister Brown

Antonov AN2 Little Annie John Mark Hill

Raptors RV-Formation Larry Beamish, Pierre Gouws, Ryan Beeton

R44 Helicopter True North Aviation

Extra 300LP Andrew Blackwood-Murray

CHARITY Handover Ceremony HE Masisi

Botswana Model Aircraft Thero Matenge

Husky Danie Terreblanche

Aerospatiale SA316 Alouette 11&111 Helicopters Juba Joubert

Air-Tractor True North Aviation

PC12 Master Power Menno Parsons

Matsieng Founders Formation

L39 Master Power; Menno Parsons

Decathlon and Citabria Formation

Slick 540 Neville Ferreira

For all those who prefer air racing over airshows Bloemfontein’s New Tempe airfield is the place to be this weekend. The Presidents Trophy Air Race will be filling the Free State Skies once again.

Thursday: Arrivals (all day) Registration open from 07H30

Briefing 17H30

Friday: Briefing 08H30

Race Start 10H00

Debrief 17h30

Saturday: Briefing 08H30

Race Start 10H00 - approx to match finish time at 13H40

Race Finish 13h40

Gala Dinner 07h00

Red Bull Air Race

The skies above Chiba will once again become a motorsports battleground, when the home of the Samurai welcomes back the Red Bull Air Race for the fourth time. The sprawling metropolis of Chiba is renowned as the birthplace of civil aviation in Japan, is famed for its warrior heritage and is the perfect city to capture the spirit of the World Championship.

Chiba has seen sell-out crowds since it first hosted the World Championship in 2015. Home-grown hero Yoshihide Muroya pulled off a stunning victory here in both 2016 and last year when the Japanese pilot was on a course to the 2017 World Championship title.

Patrick Davidson will once again be competing in the Challenger Class, he is currently in eighth position and had a very promising run in Cannes, Good luck Patrick make us proud.

Air Total Newcastle Airshow 2 June 2018

The South African Airforce will be at the Total Air Newcastle Airshow in full force. The following commitments from SAAF are A109, Gripen, Silver Falcons, Oryx, Casa and Golden Eagles parachute jumpers.

“We focus on Dreams people have. Dreams to become pilots, dreams to at least one day be able to fly in an aircraft." said Johan Pieters one of the organizers.

Total Air came onboard last year and decided to be onboard again. Total Air is the title sponsor of the Newcastle Airshow.

"Without Total Air Support, the Newcastle Airshow would not been possible." Said Christo van der Vyver one of the organizers.

Boeing and JetBlue electric plane startup

The electric plane startup backed by Boeing and JetBlue just sold 100 planes and the deal could spark a new era of air travel in the US

"We are thrilled to announce that JetSuite is going to be our launch customer," Zunum Aero CEO Ashish Kumar told us in an interview.

Zunum, the electric plane startup backed by JetBlue Technology Ventures and Boeing HorizonX, revealed that JetSuite will take up to 100 planes with deliveries expected to commence in 2022. The financial terms of the deal have not been released.

The planes are expected to be used for JetSuite's private jet charter business as well as its JetSuiteX regional airline.

JetSuite's operations in smaller, regional airports falls in line with Zunum's commitment to drastically cutting door-to-door trip times by avoiding large hubs, Kumar said.

Over the past few decades, major US airlines built a complex hub-and-spoke operation that is optimized for moving massive numbers of people through its major airports using larger aircraft. A consequence of this is that many smaller communities have found itself underserved with direct flights, forcing people to drive long distances to catch a flight in nearby cities.

"We see electric as a way to level the playing field," Kumar said. "By having smaller aircraft fly economically against airliners, we can really blow open the air system to every community."

"We can offer higher frequency of flights to airfields closer to your home or to your final destination without having to deal with baggage belts and TSA lines," the Zunum CEO added.

Zunum's planes are expected to debut with a hybrid-electric drive system before moving to a fully-electric layout as battery technology improves.

The planes will have room for up to 12 passengers and are optimized for flights up to 1,000 miles. The Kirkland, Washington-based startup also claims its planes will be able to cruise at speeds up to 340 mph and require just 2,200 feet of runway to take off.

According to Kumar, his company is on track to begin flight testing of its innovative drive system on existing airframes in 2019 with certification of the technology expected in 2021 or early 2022. The full airframe with the hybrid electric drive system won't fly until 2020 or 2021.

JetSuite was founded by former JetBlue executive Alex Wilcox. Since 2016, both JetBlue and Qatar Airways have invested in the company's JetSuiteX regional service

Boeing Receives Approval for Folding Composite Wingtips for 777X Family

On May 18, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the design for Boeing’s folding CFRP wingtips that will be incorporated the company two 777X aircraft variants, the 777-8 and 777-9. The technology is expected to help the company comply with the FAA’s airport gate code. Boeing will incorporate this on-ground wingtip-fold capability to reduce the wingspan from 235 to 212 feet when folded.

The FAA approval for the wingtips came as Boeing is already assembling the first wings for the new models. Back in October, Boeing officially kicked off wing production at its Composite Wing Center in Everett, Wash.

The 777X features a lightweight wing design based on a composite spar made of over 400 miles of carbon tape cured in a specially built autoclave. Toray’s TORAYCA® prepreg is being used for these main wings. When finished, the 777’s new wing will be the company’s widest, passing the 747-8.

One of the conditions the FAA imposed is that Boeing must have multiple automatic warning systems to ensure pilots won’t ever try lifting off without the wingtips fully extended. The agency also said Boeing must demonstrate that the wingtips could never be accidentally unlocked during flight and that “no force or torque can unlatch or unlock the mechanisms.” The wings must also be able to withstand wind gusts as high as 75 miles an hour on the ground.

Boeing is confident assembly of wings for the initial batch of ground and flight test 777Xs will be completed on schedule despite delays and production challenges. According to Boeing, the 777-9 variant will still fly in the first quarter of 2019 with deliveries to begin in December 2019.