For the majority of our listeners it’s warm and getting warmer down here in the Southern Summer with Christmas just around the corner. Not so in London where it’s bleak and somewhat miserable (and that’s the economy, let alone the weather). Saj Ahmad from FleetBuzz Editorial is based in London and recently returned from the scorching skies of Dubai where he’d been attending the Dubai Airshow 2009. Saj generously took some time away from his family to record with us last Sunday (morning his time, evening our time), trying not to look out the window at the winter weather while we discussed the warmth Melbourne was experiencing. The discussion covers the Dubai Airshow, Middle East airlines and their flights to Australia, aircraft orders and the (then) pending first flight of the 787. It’s an enlightening chat and we’ll be sure to have Saj on again early in the new year.

In addition to our chat with Saj, we also recorded some news items to round out the episode. We actually recorded these on the same day the 787 flew and, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, have spliced it all together into a single show. Neat, hey! :)

Topics in this episode include:

• The 787 finally flew – you can check out Boeing’s ‘first flight’ site for all the videos
• Jet star’s check-in system goes down and then a few days later, so does Virgin Blue’s:
• Check-in system problem delays Jetstar flights (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Airport chaos as system goes down (ABC News)
• Stranded airline passengers booked into hotels (ABC News)
• Expect major delays, Virgin tells passengers (ABC News)
• Airline struggles to clear backlog of flights (ABC News)
• Former doctor Geoffrey Edelsten crashes his helicopter on his first solo
• Lucky escape as Edelsten’s chopper crashes (ABC News)
• Geoffrey Edelsten in helicopter crash landing at Moorabbin Airport (Wayne Flower @ The Herald Sun)
• Delta & V Australia tighten their alliance in steps towards the full Delta-V marriage
• Virgin’s V Australia agrees key deal with Delta Air Lines (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• V Australia and Delta sign lounge and loyalty agreements (Australian Aviation)
• Discussion with Saj Ahmad
• Air New Zealand opens direct Sydney to Rotorua flights
• Rotorua: International Air Service Begins (Scoop NZ)
• Trouble on first Rotorua trans-Tasman flight (Stuff.co.nz)
• The Garuda pilot who was convicted for negligence in the cause of a fatal crash has his conviction quashed
• Garuda pilot’s conviction quashed (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Garuda crash pilot obsessed with flying again (ABC News)
• Garuda pilot wins appeal against jail sentence
• The Australian Federal Government releases their eagerly awaited aviation white paper
• A National Aviation Policy Statement – the Aviation White Paper (download it from the federal government)
• Albanese releases Aviation White Paper (Australian Aviation)
• Sydney Flight Training Centre collapses leaving many students with debts (Pilot pupils left grounded after flight school collapse (Andrew Carswell @ the Daily Telegraph))
• A DC-10 fire bomber arrives for the Victorian forest fire season
• DC-10 firebomber arrives at Avalon (Australian Aviation)
• Giant water bomber ready for fire season (ABC News)
• First use of a SkyCrane fire bomber this season (Air crane used on Blue Mountains blaze (ABC News))
• David Vanderhoof’s aviation history down under segment (at last – Grant forgot to include it in episode 19 – ooops)
• Listener mail, including George from New Zealand with his super sexy Falco aircraft
• There’s a chartered Air New Zealand 747 flying to Oshkosh 2010 (details with Avtours Australia) and we’re dreaming of being on it (it’s only AUS$4k each including accommodation – anyone want to help donate to get us there? :)

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5” by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.