Well, just about back in the time zone after getting back from ARSAG...
The joys of international airport faffs (90 min late out of Frankfurt, thanks to a security flap) and 2 hours from arriving at the gate at Orlando until leaving the airport. No fault of the US Homeland Security, just the dozy idiots who, despite hours on their flights, hadn't bothered to have the right forms filled out and ready....
Nett result was that we missed the cockers P to which we'd been invited by those very nice people at Cobham.... But the First Class upgrade from Lufthansa had been pretty generous on the flight over...
Good to see so many familiar faces from the past! Of great interest were the EADS and Boeing stands.
Airbus Military gave a couple of good presentations, including a summary of the A330MRTT flight test progress which is going very well. Some honest facts and figures too. The FSTA looked good in the photos, hopefully it won't be long before it is airborne in the AAR role.
The JASDF gave a very good brief on their KC-767J, which is now operational. The Italians still 'hope' to get their KC-767I 'soon'. The Boeing presentation glossed over the passenger and payload issues of the yet-to-be-flown KC-767A and was almost a 'made for TV' version of the far better Japanese presentation, with a glossy video tacked on. The video
still didn't show 2 receivers in contact taking fuel together, we all noted, whereas the A330MRTT video certainly did.
The KC-767A has now sprouted huge winglets. It isn't known which of the exisiting KC-767 deficiencies these are supposed to fix - the runway performance requirements or the pod/pylon aerodynamics and wing flutter......
They've also taken the significant risk of including the 7-late-7 flight deck displays on the KC-767A...
Despite the recalcitrant AV system which caused problems for all those of us who gave presentations, this was an excellent gathering of the AAR clan and much useful work was done - or will develop as a result.