A Pilot’s Blog
A blog about aviation, aviation news, and space.

This may be the first time that I’ve seen a full purple livery on an aircraft. Quite gorgeous if you ask me.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

Now this is what I call flying in style. One could have a lot of fun climbing aboard this aircraft and doing a little Hawaiian island-hopping, or a scenic tour over the Grand Canyon.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

With slightly over a week left to go in 2006, it looks as if Boeing will come out on top of all aircraft orders this year, beating Airbus by as much as 400.

The Boeing Co. has won orders for 38 more jets worth about $3 billion at list prices, moving it within striking distance of having its second consecutive year with more than 1,000 orders.

The latest orders were for three 787s and 35 737s. That gives Boeing 904 net orders this year.

It is also not unconceivable that Boeing will top 1000 total orders for the year as well. However, I wouldn’t put it past Airbus to be unscrupulously holding back a number of orders in an attempt to circumvent Boeing’s triumph.

Boeing has not beaten rival Airbus in orders since 2000, but will likely do so this year unless Airbus, which had more than 600* orders through November, has another remarkable December. Last year, Airbus won more than 400 firm orders in December.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, but regardless, way to go Boeing!

*I was able to confirm the exact order total for Boeing from their website, however, I could only find company-lifetime cumulative order numbers on Airbus’ website and no exact total for just this year.

Update: Boeing’s Randy Baseler has a much more detailed round-up over at his blog.

F-22A Raptor. Very, very sweet.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

The Osprey is a very unique aircraft, able to takeoff and land both like a fixed-wing aircraft and also a helicopter. Quite versatile.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

A very skillful bit of formation flying by the RAF. Nice job, chaps!

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

Now this is my kinda speedboat.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

Here’s another one of the amazing photos that you will only see on Airliners.net. This appears (from the description) to be some sort of new “hybrid” blimp design coming out of Lockheed Martin. I’m not sure what sort of weight/passenger capacity this might have, but it looks cool enough to be the carrier for my “Blimpline” idea. Wonderful shot.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

The ultimate game of chicken.

Picture courtesy of Airliners.net.

According to reports released yesterday, Boeing recieved several military contracts from both the US Navy and US Air Force worth approximately $93 million.

The Navy said Friday it awarded a contract modification worth $56.9 million to a joint program of Boeing Co. and a unit of Textron Inc., to provide logistics services for the CV-22 aircraft.

The Navy on Friday said it awarded a contract modification worth $23.2 million to a subsidiary of Boeing Co.

The U.S. Air Force on Friday awarded a nearly $13 million contract modification to a unit of Boeing Co. for small diameter bomb test hardware supporting integration of the weapons on various aircraft.

It looks as if the recent challenge of another Air Force contract by Lockheed hasn’t hurt them as of yet. Keep up the good work, Boeing!

Related: Air Force Order Challenged | Boeing Wins Military Orders