On Tuesday the Russian Federation’s eighth International Aviation and Space Salon (widely known by its Russian acronym MAKS) opened to great fanfare in the city of Zhukovsky outside Moscow. Held bi-annually since 1993, the Salon has become one of the world’s most important aerospace gatherings. According to state organizers this year’s celebration, MAKS-2007, is the [...]

I always find it most difficult for me to stay abreast of current developments during the dogs days of summer. This year is no exception. Fortunately, the folks at Aviation Week and Space Technology are on the ball. They’ve just published a very good article concerning the current state of Russia’s commercial airline industry. According [...]

The Times is running a short article today on this weekend’s announcement out of Beijing that the Chinese government is committed to investing upwards of $7 billion to develop a 150-seat commercial jet capable of rivaling those sold by Boeing and Airbus. As the piece notes, the news is particularly vexing for the beleaguered Airbus [...]

Although the construction of over-sized planes has been a defining element of Russian aviation culture from the dawn of the air age (Il’ya Muromets) to the present day (Antonov An-225), Russia, of course, is hardly the only nation to have designed and built really big aircraft. The U.S. has had its fair share, too. (The [...]

Over in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at my alma mater, the University of Kansas, faculty and students are hard at work on an interesting project: the construction of the Meridian, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will use ground-penetrating radar waves to measure the thickness and conditions of Antarctica’s ice sheets.
Given the harsh climate [...]

On Wednesday, Aeroflot officials announced their long-delayed and much anticipated decision regarding the purchase of 44 new planes. The verdict? The state-run company will split the difference between the two foreign contestants by ordering 22 each from Boeing and Airbus.
The decision comes as no real surprise, indicating the Russian state’s interest in maintaining good relations [...]

Yesterday, the European consortium EADS rejected Russian demands for a seat on the company’s board of shareholders. The news comes on the heels of last week’s $1 billion stock purchase that gave Russia’s second largest bank, the state-controlled Vneshtorgbank, a 5% stake in the company that owns Airbus. President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Sergei [...]

In the spring of 1935, American Staff Sergeant John Cook undertook a “fact finding” tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the U.S. Army Air Corps to evaluate the condition of the USSR’s civilian airline service. What Cook experienced was, in his own words, “exceedingly unpleasant.” Everywhere he flew he encountered overloaded, uncomfortable, and [...]

A Tu-154 operated by Iran Airtour crashed on Friday while landing in the northern Iranian city of Mashad. Initial reports indicate that the Russian-built aircraft blew a tire shortly after touching down. A fire, sparked by a wing raking the ground, then engulfed the plane. Twenty-nine of the 148 people on board were killed.
Given the [...]

During the height of the Cold War the USSR’s military air arm earned the country international renown and the respect of US military officials. The same can hardly be said of the USSR’s domestic aviation service. The state-run airline monopoly, Aeroflot, was widely derided, rather, for its awful service, poorly maintained planes, and dicey safety [...]