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Airbus A350 MSN001: First Flight and Developmental Timeline

Written two days before the A350 XWB's first flight on 14 June 2013, this piece covers why the A350 exists, what MSN001 is, and the step by step timeline that led to the first flight test aircraft.

Radu BalasUpdated 18 Oct 20263 min read

News

The A350's First Flight Crew: Focus on Fernando Alonso

It is every pilot's 2 faced moment: the first flight of an unproven airplane. Although coming from a company that has made some of the finest airliners over the years, every new airplane is a new airp

Radu Balas · 19 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas3 min read

Updated 19 Oct 2026

Airlines

The 747-8: Lufthansa-Boeing's Mistake

A 2013 look at the Boeing 747-8: how Lufthansa and Boeing worked together, why only 100 orders came in, and how the A380 and 777 took its markets.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

A320 Sharklets: Factory Installation vs Production Retrofit

How Airbus A320 Sharklets were fitted either at the factory or later as a production retrofit, and why JetBlue's N821JB and AirAsia's 9M-AQQ each made a small piece of history in 2013.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Indian Aviation Sector Going to Be Better

What IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said about the airline business at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2013, from penny pinching to why India needs more aircraft rather than more airlines.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Project Airbus Tech

Announcing Project Airbus Tech (PAT) in February 2013: a free, FCOM sourced bank of technical questions and answers on the Airbus A320 for flight crew.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Air Costa: Set to Fly with Embraer E170 Jets

(I so badly wanted to title this: "India's second ERJ 170 series operator: Air Costa". But we've learnt our lessons of a volatile industry, the hard way.) Air Costa, the Vijayawada based operator that

Radu Balas · 19 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 19 Oct 2026

Careers & crew

Hindustan Group of Institutions: An Aviation University

Our 2014 introduction to the Hindustan Group of Institutions in Chennai, which had quietly run a flight school, aeronautical engineering colleges and maintenance schools together since 1994, long before the National Aviation University.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Radka Machova

An interview with Radka Machova, formation lead of the Flying Bulls Aerobatic Team, on 42 years of flying, the Zlin 50LX, G forces and tight formation work.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas6 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Careers & crew

Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS): Hindustan University

A visit to the aeronautical and aerospace engineering department at Hindustan University in Chennai: its aircraft and labs, flight simulator and in-flight lab sessions, enrolment, research plans and career options.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

2013: A Year Flown By

A review of 2013 in global and Indian civil aviation: first flights of the A350, 777X programme and CSeries, Indian airline results, safety, regulation, training and air traffic.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Jets

A topic page on regional and mainline jets from the old Flying Engineer blog, built around the story of how Bombardier's C Series was born.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

General Aviation Flight Simulator

A Cessna 172 based flight simulator prototype, built for basic and instrument training, with a 225 degree visual system and a configurable cockpit.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Shining the Green Laser: A Detriment to Flight Safety

A cheap green laser pointed at a landing airplane can light up the whole cockpit and blind the pilot at the worst moment. Here is why it is so dangerous.

Marius Stefan · 18 Oct 2026

By Marius Stefan2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Diving into the A320: Dive Speeds

What the A320 dive speed is, why fly-by-wire protections keep the aircraft away from it, and the numbers: MD/VD Mach 0.89 / 381 kt.

Radu Balas · 19 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 19 Oct 2026

News

Airbus A380

A topic page for the Airbus A380 tag, built from the post on A320 dive speeds, high speed protection and A380 dive testing.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

India Aviation 2012: Exhibitors

A page about the exhibitors at India Aviation 2012, the civil aviation show held at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, in March 2012. The original exhibitor list was not preserved.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

787

A topic page on the Boeing 787 from the old Flying Engineer blog: the India Aviation 2012 tour, an Air India ferry hop, the A330 comparison and more.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

NFTI: Rising to the Top, and How

A visit to NFTI Gondia, a CAE Global Academy, on 16 to 18 January 2012, and why it rose to the top of Indian flight schools, compared with IGRUA: fleet, instructors, facilities, cost and job placement.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas4 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

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