Bernie Condon posted a photo:

chris murkin posted a photo:

VH-HET 1945 Supermarine Spitfire HF.VIII RAF as MV239 RAAF A58-758 Marked up as A58-602 RG-V Grey Nurse
Photo Taken at Warbirds over Scone NSW Australia March 2026

Bernie Condon posted a photo:

chris murkin posted a photo:

G-AHAG 1945 De Havilland Dragon Rapide DH-89A RAF RL944
This Aircraft was built by Brush Coachworks Ltd which was at Loughborough in Leicestershire Brush Coachworks Ltd, DH89A in the livery of Scillonia Airways and is based at Membury airfield in Berkshire
A number of Rapides were used during WWII to provide internal flights under the control of National Air Communications
Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Wings & Wheels Air Show 30th May 2026
HAH_8767

chris murkin posted a photo:

G-AHKX Avro Anson C19 RAF TX176 Royal Air Force
The Avro Anson was constructed in Manchester
This Anson has now been painted in the colours of one that would have been used by RAF based at Coningsby Station Flight
Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Air Show 10th May 2026
HAA_1419

chris murkin posted a photo:

G-KAPW Hunting Percival Provost RAF XF603
This Aircraft Served with the Royal Air force from 1953 until 1965
Photo taken at Old Warden Shuttleworth Wings & Wheels Air Show 30th May 2026
HAH_9045

Manuel Gual posted a photo:

A Cinematic Journey Through the History of Aviation

Description:
A wide cinematic collection celebrating the evolution of aviation, from fragile early biplanes and daring pioneer pilots to flying boats, wartime fighters, classic airliners, supersonic icons, stealth aircraft, and futuristic aerospace designs. The series combines golden hour light, dramatic skies, ocean crossings, misty runways, military silhouettes, retro travel atmosphere, and science fiction concepts to create a visual timeline of flight as both engineering achievement and human dream.

These images have been generated by Artificial Intelligence.

BubbaMN posted a photo:

2022 Wings of the North Air Expo

BubbaMN posted a photo:

2024 Duluth Air and Aviation Expo

JUNE 11 — If you’ve flown recently, you’ve felt it. The cancellations. The ticket prices. The carbon footprint. The uncomfortable truth: the aviation industry isn’t just having a bad year. According to a new analysis, the sector is facing a “perfect storm” of three serious, simultaneous crises. And unlike a cracked engine, you can’t just bolt a patch on these problems.

Let’s break down the three demons haunting the business. You might think that with all the tech in the cockpit — auto-pilot, AI, satellite navigation — we need fewer pilots. Wrong. We’re running out. Fast. The authors point out that thousands of seasoned captains hit mandatory retirement age every year. Meanwhile, the pipeline of new pilots is bone dry. Why? Because flight school now costs as much as a medical degree, and the hours required to get a license are brutal. During Covid, airlines encouraged early retirements and buyouts. Now, they’re shocked — to find that those pilots aren’t coming back.

For the common man, this means your regional flight to the small city is getting cancelled not because of weather, but because there is literally no one legally allowed to land the plane. Airlines are scraping the bottom of the barrel, lowering hiring standards, and burning out the pilots they have with mandatory overtime. The result? Exhausted crews and a safety net that is stretching thinner than it has in decades.

The Second Demon: The aging fleet & the “Spare Parts Apocalypse”. Remember the supply chain mess that emptied grocery store shelves? It hit airplanes ten times harder. The researchers highlight a terrifyingly mundane problem: spare parts. Modern planes are wonders of engineering, but they rely on hyper-specialised components made by single factories in single countries. When those factories shut down during the pandemic — or when geopolitical fights like in Ukraine cut off titanium and nickel supplies — the whole system seized up.

The aviation industry isn’t just having a bad year. According to a new analysis, the sector is facing a perfect storm of three serious, simultaneous crises. — AFP pic

Airlines are now keeping their old, gas-guzzling Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s flying years past their intended retirement dates because they can’t get the parts to build new ones. We are literally flying museum pieces. This isn’t just inefficient; it’s expensive. Older planes break more often, leading to the “mechanical issue” delays that ruin your connection. The industry calls it “fleet aging” or duct-tape engineering at 35,000 feet.

The Third Demon: The Green Paradox. Here is the cruellest irony. The aviation industry knows it has a carbon problem. It accounts for about 2.5 per cent of global CO2 — and that’s rising fast. So, what’s the solution? According to the paper, the proposed fixes — Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), hydrogen engines, electric planes — are either decades away or laughably impractical. Right now, SAF costs three to five times more than regular jet fuel. To make a dent, you’d have to cover a landmass the size of Spain in crops just to grow the fuel. So, the industry is stuck. If they fly less, they go bankrupt. If they fly the same, they cook the planet. If they raise ticket prices to pay for green fuel, they lose passengers to high-speed rail or Zoom calls. The researchers call this the “sustainability trap”. We want guilt-free flying, but the physics of lifting 200 tons of metal into the sky means there is no guilt-free option.

What does the study actually tell us? It tells us that aviation’s golden age is over. The era of cheap, reliable, guilt-free flights was a historical anomaly powered by cheap oil, a surplus of ex-military pilots, and zero carbon accountability. Now, the bill has come due. Passengers will face three new realities: Expensive (to pay for green fuel and pilot wages), Unreliable (due to old planes and missing parts), and Controversial (because flying will be seen like smoking — a habit you know is bad).

The researchers don’t offer magic wands. They offer a warning. The next time you’re sitting on a tarmac, delayed for the third hour because “the crew timed out” or “a sensor is on backorder”, don’t just blame the airline. Blame a decade of kicking the can down the runway. 

* The author is affiliated with the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies at UCSI University and is an Adjunct Professor at the Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies, Universiti Malaya. 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

BIKEPILOT posted a photo:

Compton Abbas Airfield, EGHA, Dorset, UK. 2026/05/15.