Latest from Key.Aero
Explore the latest news and features by our world-class aviation journalists. Stay up to date on the latest military aviation developments, commercial airline news, historic restoration projects, flight simulation releases and much more.
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Historic
Vickers Valiant co-pilot on flying the ‘forgotten’ V-bomber
The Vickers Valiant: first of the ‘V-bombers’, and the one now most forgotten, despite how it paved the way for those that followed. A former co-pilot takes us into the Valiant’s cockpit, first in training with No 232 Operational Conversion Unit and then operationally on reconnaissance missions with No 543 Squadron, and reveals a capable but sometimes challenging aeroplane
SR-71 pilot and RSO recall operating iconic Blackbird
Flying the Lockheed SR-71A was a team effort like no other in the US Air Force. In a unique joint interview, a pilot and reconnaissance systems officer who formed just such a partnership recall operating to the very edges of the envelope
British aviation 2012-2022: mastering cutting-edge tech
Concluding a seven-part series, we examine what the picture is like for Britain’s aeronautical sector 70 years into the ‘new Elizabethan’ age
British aviation 2002-2012: government cuts begin to bite
The penultimate part of our series looking at the British aviation industry during Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign places a spotlight on activities between 2002 and 2012, when government cuts begin to bite
The perilous first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic
Portuguese aviators Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho’s Lisbon-Funchal flight was just a dress rehearsal for a much larger, more demanding endeavour: the first South Atlantic crossing, which would test Coutinho’s new integrated aerial navigation system to the utmost
Military
Engine issues with RAF’s Hawk T2 fleet may take three years to solve
BAE Systems has said that technical issues with the Hawk T2’s Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca Adour Mk 951 non-afterburning turbofan engine could take between two and three years to resolve, leaving the fleet’s flying hours greatly reduced
How the Italian Army is modernising its helicopter fleet
The Italian Army is transforming its helicopter fleet. Erik Bruijns and Mark de Greeuw assess the rotorcraft being introduced
Lockheed Martin has flown the F-16 Block 70 for the first time
Lockheed Martin revealed on January 24 that it had successfully completed its first F-16 Block 70 flight from its Greenville facility in South Carolina, marking a key milestone in the development and eventual delivery of the latest and most advanced version of the Fighting Falcon family to date
Commercial
Flying Ireland's last Fokker 50
Time is running out to catch a flight over the Emerald Isle aboard the Fokker 50. Caius Lacey joins passengers treasuring the increasingly rare turboprop
Inside one of the last remaining VFW-Fokker 614s
The VFW-Fokker 614 is famed for its misfortune. Woeful sales performance was followed by the jet being pulled from commercial service within a decade of its first flight. However, a sole example soldiers on, training next-generation engineers, as Martin Needham discovers here
Snapshot: Airliners in Libya during 2009
Chris Smith shares a glimpse of aviation in Libya from 2009, shortly before the North African state descended into revolution and civil war
The big Christmas commercial aviation quiz
Merry Christmas from all of us at KeyAero. For all the commercial aviation fans out there, here's our present to you, a 20-question bumper airliner quiz!
The curious cargoes of Air Atlantique’s DC-3s in the 1980s
Air Atlantique’s Douglas Dakotas carried all manner of cargo – from Cognac to cabbages – in their busy ’80s heyday, as Charles Woodley details in a new book charting the carrier’s history
Flight Simulation
Back to Basics - Series 4, Lesson 1
Welcome to the next stage of our Back to Basics series in which we explore basic and intermediate instrument flying and radio navigational techniques.
SIM-X Eagle PC
We review a new computer system from Wired2Fire. It’s fully optimised for those wishing to upgrade to a PC capable of running the current range of simulators, including the ever resource-hungry Microsoft Flight Simulator.
iniBuild's Airbus A 300-600 Tutorial - Part 2
In lesson two of our A300 tutorial series, we begin the process of programming the Flight Management Computer and load the route for today's flight.
