It’s that time of the year again, with finals charging down the hill at full tilt. The weather is getting crappier, keeping the majority of our instructor class grounded – it’s like I brought Seattle’s weird post-Thanksgiving storm back with me. If the TAF for tomorrow holds, I might be able to get up and finish the first of two stage flights – here’s hoping.

A few interesting developments in the airline world – Lufthansa has ordered twenty 747-8 Intercontinentals and placed options for a further 20, the first sales for the passenger model. This will probably lead to several more orders for the updated jumbo (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Emirates are particularly likely) as several airlines have sprung for the 747-8 Freighter already and have been waiting for a major legacy carrier to move on the -8I. On the freight end of things ILFC has followed FedEx and cancelled its 5 A380F orders, switching them to the passenger version and pushing back their delivery dates. With the added A350 development costs, the A380 is currently a gigantic weight on the back of Airbus. Time will tell if enough hub-to-hub routes will exist that can support the A380 to the extent Airbus would prefer.

Dad finished flying the AA-1 up to Everett a couple days ago – thankfully, with no further hardware issues! We’ll be doing some minor cleanup and upgrades to the airplane over the next year or so. Overall, though, it’s in good shape – my mom thinks it’s ‘cute’ – and I’m looking forward to getting checked out when I arrive home for break. Expect some photos in the next few weeks.