* maybe some stuff about aviation photography
* more letters
* deeper look into certain stories, more background. For instance the reasons UA is in the mess it is now. I know the basics but would like to know more…
* MAybe an monthy review of an aviation museum?

(and it seems I found back the password of my old account, still not sure if I will be using this one or continue with Tenthije :D)

I’ve got it! 😮
It is the Il-18. For more information follow the link.

http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/il-18-1.html

Copied from the website above:
The first aircraft to be named Il-18. Passenger/cargo for medium-
to-long airlines, very similar by its type and characteristics to Tu-
70. Pressurized fuselage of circular cross-section, engines
without superchargers (not ready in time) rotated four-bladed
propellers.
First flight took place on August 17, 1946 – three months ahead
of the ‘rival’. Preliminary trials were successful and ended on July
30, 1947. But at the time project was cancelled. Supercharged
ASh-73TK engines, planned for the production model were not
received. Most importantly, similar Tu-70 used 3/4 parts of the
mass built Tu-4.
There also was more serious reason behind failure if the Il-18 (as
well as its rival). Shortly after the War country could not afford
large passenger aircraft, and demand of passenger
transportations was well satisfied by fleet of smaller Li-2, Il-12
and Il-14.
Only ten years later Il-18 was ‘re-born’ in form of new aircraft

I think Aer Lingus will actually go for the 737. 😮

Aer Lingus is a close partner of American Airlines, and AA has a lot of 737s on the order book. At the moment AA can not use these planes because they have an overcapacity already.

Cancelling this order will be expensive due to the fees and everything. AA can avoid the fees by accepting the 737s and selling them on to Aer Lingus.

This will make Boeing happy because no planes are cancelled. Moreover, it would make Aer Lingus a future candidate for more 737NG’s and possibly even 7E7’s(?).
AA would be very happy because they do not have to renegotiate their delivery schedule, prices etc. As a bonus it helps out a partner in need.
Aer Lingus will be happy because they receive good planes at a bargain rate. A bonus is that the planes will be delivered quickly (they are already on the production line), and are interoperable (sp?) with AA.

Mongu:

The reason that no stretch F100 was made was because of politics and money.

Fokker was developing the F130 when they were taken over by German company DASA. DASA was itself already working on a new 130-odd seater jet. This jet was called “Fax” (if anyone can provide any information, pictures etc I would appreaciate it a lot).

Anyway, DASA did not want competition between the F130 and the Fax. The reason for that (unofficially) is that they were afraid for the competition, since the F130 had a family.

DASA made Fokker design the F70, therefore the F70 was released before the F130.

Even though DASA did not want Fokker to do so, Fokker continued developing the F130 for just in case the Fax project folded. When DASA disposed of Fokker, Fokker quickly introduced the F130 to the catalogues. Not quick enough though, because Fokker went bankrupt before the design could be finished.

I have a picture of this plane in a book, but I am affraid I do not have a scanner. The book is the (Dutch language) book that was released by the Aviodome shortly after the bankruptcy.

If the DC-2 is coming it will indeed be the DC-2 from the DDA. This DC-2 is the only one still in flying condition. I included a picture I made from this plane. Unfortunately I do not know how to add it in, so you I have included a link.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/223101/L/

Well, KLM wanted to replace them with the FD728. Now FD went down and noone seems to be interested in restarting the 728 line. For the moment KLM will have to stick with the Fokkers.