Flight_International 28Jan2020

(Jacob Rumans) #1

STRAIGHT&LEVEL


40 | Flight International | 28 January-3 February 2020 flightglobal.com


Paris post-war
Although there was little in
the way of novelties at
the Paris Aero
Show, one came
away with the
impression that
the general excellence of
design were far in advance
of anything seen at the Paris
Show of 1913. Naturally this
development has been
mainly due to the exacting
requirements of the War.

Zhukov’s aircraft
The recent advance of the
Russian armies is staggering
in its immensity.
The Russian
Generals have
covered
themselves with glory.
Marshal Zhukov (once the
defender of Moscow) is
perhaps the most brilliant
among them, and he has
shown his perspicacity by
the use he has made of his
aircraft, particularly his
dive-bombers.

The Laker position
Freddie Laker attacked the
Board of Trade for failing to
stand up for the
interests of the
British non-
scheduled effort
on the North Atlantic. He
said the board was bending
over backwards to toe the
ECAC line when it was
Britain that had pioneered
the inclusive tour industry.

Brazil on the line
GTE Airfone is to equip
Brazilian airline Varig’s 43
aircraft with
GenStar
passenger
telephones
during 1995, in the first
South American air-to-
ground telecommunications
contract. GTE and a
Brazilian partner will build
the associated ground-
station network.

Ishan Sahgal: generation apart

From yuckspeak to tales of yore, send your offcuts to [email protected]


European Rotors

Grob Aircraft

Vulcan to the Sky Trust

Wrong


connection


Uncertainty surrounding the
future of UK regional carrier
Flybe doubtless led
investigative hacks to trawl the
internet in search of information
on Connect Airways – the
consortium that acquired the
airline just a few months before
its recent troubles emerged – as
well as Virgin Connect, its new
name for Flybe.
But that might not have been
as simple as it seemed.
For one thing, Virgin Connect
was already established as the
brand for Virgin Group’s
telecoms division in Russia –
and those unfamiliar with this
quirk would have found
themselves presented with a lot
of Cyrillic script, precious little
of which had anything to do
with civil aviation.
But there’s worse. Some
unwary hacks might have tried



  • quite reasonably – to go down
    the Connect Airways route by
    logging onto the “co.uk” version
    of the “connectairways” URL,
    only to be redirected – for
    reasons which aren’t entirely
    clear – to an, ahem, adult
    merchandise company called
    Pink Devil.
    We’ve checked, and Pink
    Devil outwardly appears to have
    rather little in common with
    low-cost turboprop travel –
    other than, perhaps, the degree
    of vibration involved. There is
    also apparently no connection
    to a former short-lived Flybe
    rival: Buzz.


Foreign travel


Given that the English
conurbations are 38km apart and
one does not have an airport,
few could have been confused
by the recent flightglobal.com
headline: “WestJet to connect
Halifax and Manchester”.
Mind you, since a journey
from Manchester to the original
Halifax involves crossing the
Yorkshire border, it might count
as an international flight.

What the heli?
We are sure that the new
European Rotors show,
scheduled for November in
Cologne, will be a success, but
its slogan might need some
working on (unveiled, left, at the
launch ceremony).
Blame Google translate?

Age no barrier
They say that once you reach a
certain age, policemen begin to
look younger.
Maybe the same applies to
aerospace business leaders. At
the age of just 25, Ishan Sahgal is
the chief operating officer of
Grob Aircraft, the Bavarian
manufacturer of military
trainers, having been appointed
last July.
The keen aviator assumed his
position after working for the
company for five years – and
surely has a claim to be the only
Generation Z (a person born in
the mid- to late 1990s) C-suite
executive in aircraft
manufacturing.

May marks the 60th anniversary of the first flight of
XH558, the last airworthy Avro Vulcan, which departed
the skies in 2015 after an old age delighting crowds on
the air show circuit. To mark the diamond celebration,
fans are being offered the chance to be part the Tin
Triangle’s history by having their names inscribed on her
wing. For details, contact Vulcan to the Sky Trust
Free download pdf