Airbus A300 in the context of Operation Entebbe

Airbus SE (/ˈɛərbʌs/ AIR-buss; French: [ɛʁbys] ; German: [ˈɛːɐ̯bʊs] ; Spanish: [ˈejɾβus]) is a European aerospace corporation. While the company's primary business is the design and manufacture of commercial aircraft, it also operates separate divisions for Defence and Space and Helicopters. Airbus has long been the world's leading helicopter manufacturer and, in 2019, emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of airliners.

Airbus originated from Airbus Industrie GIE, a consortium of European aerospace companies established in 1970 to produce a wide-body aircraft to compete with American-built airliners. In 2000, the consortium's parent firms—Aérospatiale-Matra of France, DASA of Germany, and CASA of Spain—merged to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which later acquired full ownership of Airbus Industrie. EADS rebranded as Airbus SE in 2015. Reflecting its multinational origins, the company operates offices and assembly plants in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, along with more recent additions in Canada, Malaysia, the United States, Morocco, and India.

The Entebbe raid, also known as the Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan), was a 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. It was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight (an Airbus A300) operated by Air France between the cities of Tel Aviv and Paris. During a stopover in Athens, the aircraft was hijacked by two Palestinian PFLP–EO and two German RZ members, who diverted the flight to Libya and then to Uganda, where they landed at Entebbe International Airport to be joined by other terrorists. Once in Uganda, the group enjoyed support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France Airbus A300 jet airliner with 248 passengers had been hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO) under orders of Wadie Haddad (who had earlier broken away from the PFLP of George Habash), and two members of the German Revolutionary Cells. The hijackers took hostages with the stated objective of compelling the release of 40 Palestinian and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel as well as the release of 13 prisoners in four other countries. Over 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to support the hijackers after the flight landed, and Amin, who had been informed of the hijacking from the beginning, had personally welcomed the terrorists at Entebbe. After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room. Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages.

A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air mechanic". Flight engineers can still be found on some larger fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters. A similar crew position exists on some spacecraft. In most modern aircraft, their complex systems are both monitored and adjusted by electronic microprocessors and computers, resulting in the elimination of the flight engineer's position.

In earlier days, most larger aircraft were designed and built with a flight engineer's position. For U.S. civilian aircraft that require a flight engineer as part of the crew, the flight engineer must possess an FAA Flight Engineer Certificate with reciprocating, turboprop, or turbojet ratings appropriate to the aircraft. Whereas the four-engine Douglas DC-4 did not require a flight engineer, the FAA type certificates of subsequent four-engine reciprocating engine airplanes (Boeing 307 and 377, DC-6, DC-7, Constellation) and early two-, three- and four-engine jets (Boeing 707, 727, early 747s, DC-8, DC-10, L-1011, early A300s) required them. Smaller twinjets (DC-9, 737, BAC 1-11, Caravelle, Dassault Mercure) were never complex enough to require a flight engineer, while later large two, three, and four-engine jets (Airbus A310, A300-600, Boeing 767, MD-11, 747-400, and later) were designed with sufficient automation as to eliminate the need for the position.

Aérospatiale (French pronunciation: [aeʁɔspasjal]) was a French state-owned aerospace and defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale (lit. 'National Aerospace Industrial Company') through the merger of three state-owned aerospace firms: Nord Aviation, SEREB, and Sud Aviation.

During its existence, Aérospatiale was one of the world's largest aerospace companies. It was Europe's biggest general aeronautics manufacturer and its leading exporter in the industry. Its products included civilian and military aircraft and helicopters, launch vehicles and satellites, as well as weapon systems ranging from intercontinental ballistic missiles to portable anti-tank guided missiles. The company was also a key participant in several high-profile multinational programs, including the Concorde supersonic airliner, the Ariane series of launch vehicles, and the Airbus A300, the world’s first twin-engined wide-body airliner.