Well, it had occurred to me that over the last several weeks with all my on-the-road reporting, I had forgotten some of the old standbys on this page like Movie Monday. As it is still one of my favorite weekly traditions on this blog, I give you the Dogfights of Desert Storm. Produced by the same people who brought us Dogfights of the Tuskegee Airmen, this History Channel program takes you inside the cockpit of the F-15C during the 1991 Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm.

Parts two through five after the jump.

***Editor’s Note: In an effort to maintain the highest possible level of accuracy on this page, I have received additional information that will help clarify the engine start schedule for the week ahead. Thanks for your understanding.

Boeing’s first 787 Dreamliner is closing on another major milestone on the road to its maiden flight, with the first start of its twin Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines mounted under the wings of ZA001.

The aircraft will remain at Fuel Dock F-3 for the next several days undergoing final fuel checks, which concludes with a final drainage of the system.  Before being moved to the flight line, ZA001 will then receive a flight fuel load, an amount that enables engine and APU tests to be run for a prolonged period of time.

Presuming the current planning remains firm, ZA001 could be moved from the fuel dock to flight line as early the overnight hours of Saturday into Sunday. The sun will rise on Sunday morning with ZA001 parked in Stall 105, where the engines will be started and run at idle power as early as Thursday or Friday in combination with ongoing systems checks.

Each of the Rolls-Royce engines are fitted with two 250kVA generators, a
half megawatt of power for each engine that drive the powerplant start system, and two additional 225kVA
generators attached to the Hamilton Sundstrand APS 5000 auxiliary power
unit in the tail cone.

Dreamliner One’s engines came out of the shop in September 2008 as the 15th and 16th Trent 1000s built, and are certified up to 69,800 lbs of thrust.

Early next week, the aircraft will conduct integrated engine systems checks to verify functionality and continue validating the 787s more-electric systems architecture, ahead of first engine start later in the week.

The early engine runs will start at the idle power setting followed by more expanded testing  around the end of next week and early into the weekend, including testing at various power settings that will last 24 to 36 hours.

The end of the early engine runs will segue later this month into intermediate gauntlet testing, the second phase of three closed-loop gauntlet tests will again fool ZA001 to believe it is in flight, while putting the aircraft through various failure modes to test deeper levels of system redundancy.

Back in the factory, work continues to prepare the other five flight tests aircraft for the sky. ZA002 returned to the factory on Tuesday evening and is now parked in Building 40-24 for pressurization and additional testing before being moved outside to the flight line by the close of the month.

ZA002, which left the paint hangar May 12, is said to be tracking closely behind ZA001, with as little as 20 days estimated between maiden flights for the first two 787s.

Over on the 747 line in Building 40-22, ZA003 will undergo interior fitting as early this weekend with the installation of wall panels, overhead bins, window surrounds and electrochromatic dimmable windows.

UPDATE 1 4:12 PM: The ZA003 interior fitting will be an initial test installation of the 787 cabin features and not the final installation before joining the flight test program

ALSO SEE: Here to there: 787 pre-first flight milestones explained

Looking for that surefire way to get from your superyacht parked on the Mediterranean to your ski house in the Alps?

If this has been a long-standing dilemma for you, Lisa Airplanes believes it may have found your solution.

The all-composite Akoya light sport aircraft, weighing only 661 lbs (300 kg), sports a retractable landing gear with skis for snow and ice landings and unique hydrofoil landing gear, that bear a striking resemblance to shark fins making water landings a reality.

The Akoya is the first offering from the young company and is powered by a single tail-mounted 100hp (0.745kW) Rotax 912 piston engine with a price tag of about €300,000 ($408,195). The engine runs on 95 octane gasoline, rather than traditional 100 octane LL avgas.

The aircraft accommodates two passengers with a range of up to 700 nm (1,300 km) and was first unveiled in 2007, followed by first flight in September of that same year.

Despite the global economic downturn, the product has found itself in a solid position, due to high net-worth individuals not being largely impacted enough to slow luxury purchases, says Benoît Senellart, marketing & communication manager for Lisa.

Senellart adds that Lisa had a fruitful show, with as many as ten new potential customers identified. Lisa will invite these prospective Akoya buyers to the company’s Chambery, France facility for comprehensive briefings on the aircraft.

Lisa Airplanes is pressing forward with French and US certification, with first delivery less than a year away in the first quarter of 2010.

The company currently has two test aircraft in its certification campaign, one assigned to ground and the other flight testing.

The aircraft will be first certified with a 1091-lb (495 kg) MTOW as an ultralight in France, then as a light sport aircraft in the US with a higher 1433-lb (650 kg MTOW) for extended range.

By the end of 2010, the Akoya will earn certification under EASA’s ELA1 light aircraft classification boosting the MTOW up to 2204 lbs (1000 kg).

Lisa has partnered with Danish Yacht, which offers the aircraft as an accessory to a 125-ft (38 m) long dayboat the with a special aircraft storage platform on the aft of ship, enabled by the folding wings of the 25-foot long Akoya.

To boot, the aircraft also has a built in ballistic recovery system, virtually identical to larger general aviation aircraft like those from Cirrus Design.

The company sees a market for 50 units a year in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and 100 in North and South America.

The aircraft will first be fitted with Dynon avionics and a year later with the Garmin G600 package for the US market.

Lisa expects to produce and deliver 25 Akoyas in 2010, followed by 35 in 2011 and reach a top yearly production rate of 50 in 2011 from its Chambery facility.

The company says that first deliveries in 2010 will be to customers in France, Russia and South Africa.

Video Courtesy of Lisa Airplanes

I’m back in Washington, DC now and just wrapping up some of my EBACE coverage with a few new posts which should be out today. Here’s a round up of the big news from the show over the past three days.

In a journalistic sense, if I was to write a complete review of EBACE 2009, my lede would read as follows:

“Exhibitors and attendees breathed a collective sigh of relief upon realizing they weren’t the only ones in attendance at this year’s European Business Aviation Conference & Exposition in Geneva.”

• Project Phoenix to launch Boeing 737 variant
• Aerion sticks to its 2015 supersonic business jet target
• Asian Aerospace’s business aviation ambitions
• Grob chief executive maintains SPn ambitions
• Bombardier confident Learjet 85 is on schedule
• Honeywell readies shake-free Phenom engine technology
• Onair makes show debut
• ATR enters the business aviation market
• BBJ to deliver fuel burn improvements
• Lewis Hamilton wows Bombardier party
• Taunt spurs Gulfstream to issue a soft ‘go’ for supersonic business jet
• Avidyne delivers more functionality for electronic flight bags
• Embraer – deliveries to recover in 2012
• Orbital Premier IA sets speed record
• Learjet club targets cautious customers
• Beechcraft delivers first EASA-approved pistons
• Phenom firsts ready for global adventures
• Pelton on Cessna – the worst is behind us
• Embraer tending to Phenom 100 growing pains
• NetJets Europe slashes deliveries
• BBJ president hands over the reins
• Honeywell’s wireless communications now available to Falcon operators, with avionics upgrades to follow
• Blu-ray makes business aviation debut
• Bombardier jets targeted for Honeywell avionics upgrades
• PICTURE: Lifting a Eurocopter Stylence

Just landed in Paris, heading back to IAD soon. Saw this newborn 777-300ER (Number 777) at the gate F-GZND. Looks darn good in person. Fingers crossed this -300ER is my ride home.

Yesterday afternoon in Everett, shortly after ZA001 activated its auxiliary power system for the first time, ZA002 emerged freshly painted from Paint Hangar 45-03 wearing the company colors of 787 launch customer Japan’s All Nippon Airways.

ZA002 rolled out of Building 40-26 on May 4, after completing ground vibration testing, following more than a year of final assembly operations on Boeing’s 787 Final Assembly Line.

The aircraft rolled to the fuel dock wearing US test registration N787EX and will be the second 787-8 to fly an estimated three weeks after ZA001 first takes to the sky, says Boeing.

Even though it wears the colors of an airline customer, Dreamliner Two does not currently have a final operator, as the first six flight test aircraft were not taken up by launch customers, preferring to opt for early production aircraft that would have been available earlier.

Very special thanks to Liz Matzelle for the video.

Update 7:17 AM CEST: Boeing’s first 787, ZA001, started its Hamilton Sundstrand auxiliary power unit this afternoon (May 12) in Everett, Boeing confirms.

The APU was first started amid a cloud of smoke and fire trucks waiting nearby as a precaution, reports Everett-based photographer Matt Cawby.

Cawby says the APU was run for about 15 minutes before being shutdown.

Yesterday also saw the first daylight appearance of a 787 in the colors of Japanese launch customer All Nippon Airways.

Filed and updated wirelessly

You can’t see it really in this shot, but Lord of the Rings is playing on what looks to be a 60 inch TV. Now, where do I sign up?

You’d be hard pressed to find very many half-century old aircraft designs here at EBACE, though the rugged Pilatus PC-6 just celebrated 50 years in the sky.

The PC-6 recorded its maiden sortie 4 May 1959 and Pilatus has seen nearly 1000 airframes built for service all over the planet.

Pilatus hopes to deliver its 1000th PC-6 sometime in 2012, with between 5-10 built per year.

The 963rd PC-6, on display here at the show, will end up in the hands of Kathmandu, Nepal-based Yeti Airlines. Yeti placed an order for two of the type for cargo services, as well as business and tourist flights in the mountainous Himalayan region.

Pilatus says the aircraf’s short take off and landing capability makes it ideal for the unfinished airfields, requiring as little as 50 to 100m (164-326 ft) for a take off roll.

After the show, the aircraft will be handed over to Yeti for a ferry marathon flight from Pilatus’ nearby Stans facility to Kathmandu, with stops in Italy, Greece, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.

Pilatus customer support manager Thomas Henzi says that Yeti made its final fleet selection after watching two skydivers take a PC-6 above 29,200 feet (8,900 m), abeam with Mt. Everest after departing a nearby rugged airstrip in Shiangboche, Nepal 13,024 feet (3,970 m) above sea level.

Photo Credit Billypix

Consider this the sequel to Pimp My Dreamliner from NBAA last October. Take a look at John Croft’s side-by-side video comparisons of the Dreamliner and XWB here at EBACE. What follows is the conceptual interior rendering and floor plan for the A350-900 XWB Prestige.