Exclusive interview with Dr Reinhard Opitz - German WW2 veteran and one of the few pilots to have flown the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 fighter.

In December NASA Astronaut Dr Piers Sellers (who was awarded an OBE in the latest UK New Years Honours List) gave the Wilbur and Orville Wright Lecture at the Royal Aeronautical Society, as well as meeting the young winners of the Society’s Meet an Astronaut competition.

We caught up with him to ask him questions on the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, space tourism, a manned Mars mission and NASA’s future focus.

This week, the Royal Aeronautical Society has been featured in a segment on  one of the web’s most popular aviation podcasts, Airplane Geeks, with Aerospace International Editor Tim Robinson being interviewed for the show.

This weekly podcast is the no1 aviation-related podcast on iTunes and in the past has featured other aviation journalists, analysts and commentators to talk about current issues in the aerospace community, such as airline strategy, safety and Required Navigation Performance (RNP). It covers commercial, general and military aviation news stories.

Why not head over to airplanegeeks.com to listen to this week’s episode (131) highlighting the RAeS and check their other episodes!

from the Royal Aeronautical Society

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An in-depth analysis of China’s new Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter, which made its first flight on 11 January, and why it may not only represent a threat to Western fighter pilots, but also to the Russian aerospace industry.

In 2010 an ash cloud from an eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland caused the closure of much of Europe’s airspace for six days from 16-21 April. A conference at the Royal Aeronautical Society on 9 November focused on the events and their consequences and looked at what lessons could be learned for the future. BILL READ reports.