http://www.nhk.or.jp/news/k10015860461000.html#
http://www.transstates.net/

“Trans States Holdings Signs LOI with Mitsubishi Aircraft for Purchase of 100 MRJ Aircraft”

2 October 2009

Saint Louis, MO – Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (MJET) announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Trans States Holdings (TSH) for an order of 100 next-generation Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) aircraft (50 firm, 50 options). TSH is based in St. Louis, Missouri and is an airline holding company that owns and operates two independent airlines both of which are large U.S. regional airlines. TSH is entrusted with feeder services for United Airlines and US Airways.

http://mil.news.sohu.com/20090927/n267023406.shtml

26 September 2009:
Hong Du claims its K-8 intermediate trainer has 80% international market share of intermediate trainers.

Presuming the reported event is real, then maybe it was an accident similar to the collision of the NF-104 and XB-70 that can be naturally explained.

] hence what happned to the Mig 25 in japan!

Disagreed. Although the dissected MiG-25 was returned to the FSU, ROCAF planes that defected to (and landed intact in) Commie China were kept by Commie China (weren’t returned to the ROC), and displayed at museums; and vice versa.

http://www.tomamin.co.jp/2009t/t09092403.html

24 September 2009:
Six F-16s of USAF Thunderbirds will perform at Chitose AB, Hokkaidou, on 15 October. First ever Thunderbirds performance in Hokkaidou.
From 13 October, 140 pilots and staff will stay in Chitose City. Flight training on 14 October. Performance on 15 October.
Performance at Misawa AB, Aomori Prefecture, too.

Tomakomai City, Hokkaidou, was notified on 21 July, and requested the Thunderbirds to not fly over Tomakomai City.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63853

“Patriot Express to resume service to Rota, Misawa”

Pacific edition, Saturday, July 25, 2009
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — The Patriot Express will resume service to Misawa in October, making official travel easier and offering space available seats that could save travelers thousands of dollars.

And does that MQ-9 pilot get a Purple Heart?

But still, could’ve just used his gun, couldn’t he?…

While I agree Real Men favour the gun and low-drag iron bombs,
http://www.afblues.com/?p=1176#comment-24875
says the kill was “at approximately 5:30 a.m. Kabul time Sept. 13”.
A low-light, pre-dawn gun kill can be… a challenge.

BTW, congrats to that Eagle driver for… possibly getting a confirmed air kill. After all, it’s a documented, witnessed, non-training kill in a combat theatre. Definitely not a QF-104 or QF-4 in CONUS.

Which reminds me of ISTR in one of the (snore) Iron Eagle movies, in the end, an US fighter shot down the protagonist’s fighter, and later, the fighter jock went to the hospital and got the protagonist to sign the witness’s document that confirmed his air kill?

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/090923/4/edio.html

30 July 1982:
Plane. Either its nickname, or its real name, is “Zi Jue”, which means “Viscount”.
Probably PLAAF.
Pilots were ZHANG Jing Hai (a PLAAF squadron deputy commander) and LAN Ding Shou (a PLAAF squadron commander).

En route from Shang Hai to Bei Jing, and carrying a party of African military representatives, for the “1 August” PLA establishment activities. Took off at about 9 AM, and while above Wu Xi, Jiang Su Province, one of the Chicom guards, ZHENG Yan Wu, suddenly went into the cockpit, holding a pistol in one hand, spilled some gasoline on the floor, and holding a lighter in the other hand.
The hijacker told the pilots to fly to Tao Yuan IAP, Taiwan. The pilots circled the plane, chatted with the hijacker, and increased the cabin ventilation, hoping to evaporate the gasoline.
The pilots turned on auto-pilot, shifted back their seats, and unfastened their seat belts. Lan suddenly pointed to the front, and said, “Look, the sea!” It was actually Tai Ping Lake, An Hui Province.
The hijacker moved to between the pilots to take a look, and Zhang’s fingers poked the hijacker’s eyes. The three wrestled in the cockpit, but the hijacker had combat training.
They bumped open the cockpit door, and waiting outside was the navigator, LIU Tie Jun, with a fire-fighting axe, which he… lethally applied to the hijacker’s head.
Zhang was shot in his leg, and the plane emergency landed at Nan Jing, where Zhang was rushed to the hospital. The reportedly clueless passengers transferred to another plane, and continued to Bei Jing.
Eventually, the pilots were awarded medals, and this incident wasn’t reported by the media until at least 10 years later.