In 1978/79, SANSA grew out of LACSA, Costa Rica's then national airline. SANSA was tasked with handling all domestic traffic and today offers daily scheduled and charter flights out of San José International. SANSA previously operated DC-3 and Casa 212 aircraft, but currently uses 11 Cessna 208 Grand Caravans, the perfect aircraft to serve Costa Rica's many tourist destinations, some of which only maintain small airfields with a limted runway width and length, such as Nosara Beach Airstrip close to the Pacific Coast.

The Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (locally known as Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia) became an Agusta customer in 2003, when it received two A109E Power (9M-BOA and 9M-BOB). Then in 2010, the service introduced two AW139, the 2nd of which can be seen here in this attractive color scheme only recently applied. The other AW139 carries registration 9M-BOC, while two AW189 helicopters purchased in 2018 became 9M-BOE and 9M-BOF. Four Mil Mi-17's were also operated by the service since 1998, carrying military M994-* serials, but their fate is not known.

Costa Rica Green Airways is a familiy owned business established in 2018. It started off with a BN-2 Islander, followed by a Quest / Daher Kodiak 100 in 2020, while two Cessna 208B Grand Caravans joined the fleet in 2021. A single Beech F-90 King Air is used for executice charter flights. Those five aircraft give the small airline the flexibility it needs for scheduled and charter flights. Costa Rica Green Airways currently offers scheduled domestic flights to Tambor and Quepos, plus one international destination to Bocas del Toro, Panama.

The four Syrian Arab AF killmarks on this airframe were all achieved within just two days. On June 9, 1982, Moshe Melnik first took out a SyAAF MiG-23 with an AIM-7F missile, before downing a MiG-21 with a Python 3. The very next day, Noam Knaani fired Python 3's at two MiG-23, hitting both. The clash between the two Air Forces ended after five days on June 11, leaving 16 MiG-21, 19 MiG-23 and one Gazelle helicopter scattered by Israel's F-15 fleet alone. In addition, another 40+ Syrian aircraft were destroyed by other IAF assets between June 7 and 11. See previous image for 802's history.

After having received 25 F-15A/B under the FMS program "Peace Fox I" as from December 1976, the 2nd batch for Israel were already of the improved C and D versions. As such, "Peace Fox II" constisted of nine F-15C (US FY 80-0122 through 80-0130) and six F-15D (US FY 80-0131 through 80-0136), with deliveries starting in 1981. Actually, 802 shown here was Israel's very first F-15C and touched down at it's homebase Tel Nof on August 25, 1981, together with F-15Ds "80-0131" (to become "450") and "80-0132" (to become "455"). See next picture for background information on 802's four killmarks.

Built in late 2015 by AgustaWestland's US assembly line in Philadelphia, test registration N623SS. In June of 2016, it became the 2nd AW139 used by the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ). Seen here returning from a HEMS mission conducted under callsign RSCU511. In September 2023, the RACQ's AW139 fleet stands at five units based on four bases throughout Queensland. Also operated are three Bell 412's and one BK117.

I-ASAR was built in 2005 and became the 1st AB139 for Air Green. It still wears the orignal white/green/red livery (together with sistership AB139 I-GREE), while four additional Air Green AW139 carry a yellow / red paint scheme. It appears that Air Green and Babcock (now Avincis) share the HEMS contract at the hospital in Borgosesia, as they keep alternating their AW139's every 6 month.

This 2008 built airframe is owned by Air Methods. It's first HEMS assignement was in California (registered N276AM), followed by a brief contract for the University of Wisconsin Hospital in 2018/19 (registered N911UW), before being re-located to Riverside in California once again in September of 2019, becoming N738AM.

Built in 2018, HB-ZQH is one of eight H145's operated by REGA as of September 2023. Seven are of the version BK-117D-2, while one is a BK-117D-3 (equipped with five main rotor blades). Even though only a few years old, the entire H145 fleet plus all remaining AW109SP's will be replaced by 21 new H145 (BK-117D-3) as from 2024.

Delivered new to the TNI-AU in December 1979 in a grey / white livery, becoming the 1st C-130H operated by the Indonesian AF. Two more (A-1316, c/n 4840 and A-1323, c/n 4899) followed, while a single C-130H-MP (Maritime Patrol) serialled AI-1322 (c/n 4898) joined the fleet in late 1981. It was not until 2015 that more C-130H's followed, when nine ex RAAF C-130H's (becoming A-1330 through A-1338) were taken on strength, a process completed by February 2020. A-1315 shown here has since been assigned to Skuadron Udara 33, the TNI-AU's 3rd Hercules squadron based at and operating out of Makassar.

In late 1980, five stretched C-130H-30's were delivered to the TNI-AU (A-1317 through A-1321). Then in May of 1982, the airframe pictured here became the TNI-AU's sixth C-130H-30. It too got serial A-1321(2.), while the original "A-1321" (c/n 4870) became A-1341 to serve with VIP squadron 17 at Halim. All six C-130H-30 remain in service at the time of upload, while two of the six "civilian" L-100-30's transferred from Merpati and Pelita to the TNI-AU in the late 1990's were lost in accidents. A-1321 is seen here in the two tone brown camo worn by most indonesian C-130's in the early 2000's.

Built in late 1984 as version B2-H2, testflown as HB-FIO and delivered new to Mount Cook Airline in early 1985. Upgraded to version B2-H4 in 1987. Transferred to Tourism Holdings Ltd in July of 1998, and then to Aoraki Mount Cook Ski Planes in early 2003. Still current at the time of upload, along with sisterships ZK-MCN (c/n 824) and ZK-MCK (c/n 809), the latter now with Skydive Franz Josef Ltd based at Franz Josef Glacier.

After an incredible career all over the world, it ended up in Indonesia in late 2012, first serving with Trigana Air, then with Cardig Air between November 2014 and December 2019, before being bought by Jayawijaya. Registration PK-JRB has previously been assigned to a Jayawijaya -200 Series B737 (c/n 20255 / LN 234).

Manufactured in 2022 and with the Main Rotor Head / control mechanism re-designed over the previous three protoytyps, the 4th prototype of the AW09 (previously Marenco SKYe SH09) shown here is now much closer to EASA certification, specially since Kopter became part of the Leonardo Company in April 2020. PS04 also has a new Safran Arriel 2K engine installed, replacing the Honeywell 900 previously tested. The special red/white livery on this airframe - depicting swiss mountains - has been designed by Kopter employees.

As from 2001, the Indonesian AF took delivery of twelve EC120, HL-1201 being the first one. Replacing the Bell 47 as the TNI-AU's basic helicopter trainer, all Colibri's for years were operated by Skadron Udara 7 only. However, to better separate operational from training duties, a dedicated helicopter training squadron was inaugurated on September 1, 2022 ("Skadron Pendidikan 105"). The TNI-AU's helicopter display team "Dynamic Pegasus" also performs on the Colibri, temporarly drawing four helis from the two squadrons. The entire EC120 fleet is based at Kalijati / Suryadarma AF Base (WHIK).

"818" previously served with the Royal Jordanian AF as "937" (US FY # 75-0621). Between 1979 and 1989, Singapore purchased 35 new single seat F-5E and 9 new dual-seat F-5F Tiger II in five batches. In addition, seven F-5E's were obtained 2nd hand from Jordan in 1994, bringing the total number of F-5's operated by the RSAF to 51. SQN 149 "Shikra" based at Paya Lebar stopped flying the F-5's in early 2010, just to start transitioning to the newly delivered McDonnell Douglas / Boeing F-15SG Strike Eagle on April 5, 2010.

Mesco Airlines was founded in 1992 as part of the Mesco Steel Group. It operated helicopters and fixed wing aircraft under a "Non Scheduled Air Operator Permit" (NSOP). Over the years, at least six helicopters were part of the fleet: one SA-365N Dauphin (c/n 6080 registered VT-MAA), three AS-350BA (c/n 2776 VT-MAB, c/n 2838 VT-MAC and c/n 1626 VT-MAD), plus two Mil-Mi 172 registered VT-MAE (c/n 356C01) and VT-MAF (c/n 356C04). Mesco Airlines was renamed Mesco Aerospace in 2014 but it remains unclear if the company still operates aircraft.

The RTAF started to take delivery of 40 L-39's fighter trainers in October of 1993 and assigned them to squadrons 101 and 102 based at Korat (Wing 1). 101 SQN was disbanded in 2004 and it's L-39 first transferred to SQN 401 (based at Takhli) and then later to SQN 411 at Chiang Mai. Being one of the last L-39's delivered, the airframe shown here started with SQN 401, carrying military code "40124" till at least 2002, was then assigned to SQN 411, wearing code "41141" till around May 2014 before receiving code "41130". Withdrawn from use by the end of March 2021.

In March of 1966, the Royal Thai AF became an F-5 operator, and over the years introduced 81 airframes of various versions. The airframe shown here was one of six F-5F delivered to Thailand under US FY # 79-1693. It was among twelve F-5E and three F-5F upgraded to F-5T / F-5TF standard by ELBIT under a contract awarded in 2003. A 2nd modernization program by ELBIT started in 2014, bringing eleven single seat F-5T and three dual seat F-5TF to F-5TH and F-5THF "Super Tigris" respectively. As such, 91693 took part in the LIMA'23 show on the island of Langkawi, Malaysia.

Having already operated twenty F-5's of various versions since the mid 1970's, the Royal Malaysian AF in 1980 became the launch customer for the rare RF-5E Tigereye, of which two were added to the TUDM (Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia) fleet in 1983. Assigned to SQN 12 "Scorpions" at Butterworth, they were serialled M29-19 (US FY # 80-0333) and M29-20 (80-0334). Before getting the M29-xx serials, Malaysia's F-5's carried FM-22xx codes. Also in the early 1980's, two F-5E and a single F-5F were ordered as attrition replacements, bringing the total number of F-5's operated by the RMAF to 25.