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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747 in 1978 operated by Pan Am

Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as hot air balloons and airships.

Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through buoyancy. Clément Ader built the "Ader Éole" in France and made an uncontrolled, powered hop in 1890. This is the first powered aircraft, although it did not achieve controlled flight. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world. (Full article...)

Selected article

Hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.

A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule) which carries the passengers and a source of heat. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.

Recently, balloon envelopes have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of commercial products. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships. (Full article...)

Selected image

A Polish Yakovlev Yak-18; Góraszka Air Picnic 2008

Did you know

...that BŻ-1 GIL was the first Polish experimental helicopter? ...that Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was only twenty-eight years old when he helped found Pan American World Airways? ... that in the middle of building Fagernes Airport, Leirin, the authorities changed their minds and gave the airport more than twice the runway length?

More Did you know facts

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The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
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Associated Wikimedia

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Selected biography

Jeana Yeager (born May 18, 1952, in Fort Worth, Texas) is an aviator, most famous for flying with Dick Rutan on a non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Voyager aircraft from December 14 to December 23, 1986. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds and covered 24,986 miles (40,211 km), more than doubling the old distance record. She received the US annual Harmon Trophy for outstanding international achievements in the aeronautics, and is the first woman recipient of the Collier Trophy for "the greatest achievement in aeronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety" of aircraft.

Despite her surname, Jeana Yeager is not related to Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier in level flight.

Selected Aircraft

British Airways Boeing 747-400
British Airways Boeing 747-400

The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced. Manufactured by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit in the United States, the original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.

The four-engine 747 uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. It is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. Boeing designed the 747's hump-like upper deck to serve as a first class lounge or (as is the general rule today) extra seating, and to allow the aircraft to be easily converted to a cargo carrier by removing seats and installing a front cargo door. Boeing did so because the company expected supersonic airliners (whose development was announced in the early 1960s) to render the 747 and other subsonic airliners obsolete; while believing that the demand for subsonic cargo aircraft would be robust into the future. The 747 in particular was expected to become obsolete after 400 were sold but it exceeded its critics' expectations with production passing the 1,000 mark in 1993. As of September 2023, 1,574 aircraft have been built, with the final delivery in January 2023.

The 747-8, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.855 (564 mph or 908 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,730 nautical miles (14,320 km; 8,900 mi). The 747-8I (passenger version) can accommodate 467 passengers in a typical three-class layout. The 747-8 completed production on 6 December 2022 and the final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air on 31 January 2023.

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Today in Aviation

April 3

  • 2009 – Quebec Service Aérien Canadair CL-415 C-GQBG makes a belly landing at Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport, Canada and suffers substantial damage.
  • 2006 – USAF Lockheed C-5B Galaxy, 84-0059, of 436th Airlift Wing/512th Airlift Wing AF Reserve, crashes in a field one mile (1.6 km) short of the runway during landing approach to Dover AFB, Delaware. All 17 on board survive, although three are seriously injured. The cause was found to be aircrew error as the pilots and flight engineers did not properly configure, maneuver and power the aircraft during approach and landing.
  • 1996 – 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash: A USAF Boeing CT-43, 73-1149 (c/n 20696), call sign IFO 21, of the 76th Airlift Squadron, 86th Airlift Wing, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on an official trade mission, crashed on approach to Dubrovnik Airport, Croatia, killing United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 other people. The crash board findings, announced 7 June 1996, blamed the crash on a failure of command, aircrew error and an improperly designed instrument approach procedure.
  • 1985 – First Kamov V-80-01, prototype of Kamov Ka-50 "Hokum", '010', crashes, killing the pilot.
  • 1970 – A USAF Boeing B-52D-60-BO Stratofortress, 55-089, c/n 464-17205, of the 28th Bomb Wing caught fire and crashed during landing at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, skidding into a brick storage building containing 25,000 gallons of jet fuel. Heroic efforts by crash crew save all nine on board, although one suffered broken limbs, and three firefighters were injured. One of the eight jet engines ran for forty minutes following crash.
  • 1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration restricts American bombing of North Vietnam to targets south of the 19th Parallel.
  • 1965 – United States Air Force and U. S. Navy aircraft begin covert Operation Steel Tiger armed reconnaissance flights over southeastern Laos.
  • 1965 – The first jet-to-jet combat of the Vietnam War occurs. Although all American aircraft involved return safely, the North Vietnamese Air Force claims to have shot down a U. S. Navy Vought F-8 Crusader fighter and in future years celebrates April 3 as "North Vietnamese Air Force Day. "
  • 1965 – The U. S. Air Force mounts the first and largest U. S. air strike against the Thanh Hoa Railroad and Highway Bridge in North Vietnam, which the bridge survives. Despite 873 sorties against it over the next seven years, the bridge will not be destroyed until April 1972.
  • 1954 – Qantas introduces tourist-class services on its Kangaroo route from Sydney to London.
  • 1952 – A United States Air Force Boeing B-29A-65-BN Superfortress, 44-62164, crashes at night. Suspected reason – Fuel line issues. The crew bailed out over a farmer's field 8 miles (13 km) N/5.5 miles W of Onaga, Kansas, United States. The captain died in the crash and one airman perished when his parachute failed to open. In addition, several cattle were killed. The surviving crew was fired at by the farmer, who believed them to be invading "ruskies".
  • 1951 – Sole prototype Hawker P.1081, converted from second prototype Hawker P.1052, VX279, with 5,000 lb (2,300 kg). s.t. Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet, first flown 19 June 1950, crashes this date at high speed on the South Downs, killing pilot Squadron Leader T. S. "Wimpy" Wade, DFC, AFC, Hawker's chief test pilot. He attempts ejection but his non-Martin-Baker seat fails. Cause was never fully established, but aircraft may have gone out of control during dive and exceeded limitations, witnesses reported hearing sonic boom as it came down. Australian interest in building type under license disappears, both they and the Royal Air Force acquiring Canadair Sabres to fill requirement for a high-speed fighter. Program abandoned.
  • 1948 – Alitalia recommences services to the United Kingdom
  • 1944 – American aircraft raid Wotje.
  • 1944 – The U. S. Army Forces’ Fifth Air Force resumes attacks on Japanese airfields around Hollandia on New Guinea with the heaviest raid yet, including nearly a hundred Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers. They encounter only sporadic Japanese resistance.
  • 1944 – In Operation Tungsten, a raid launched from the British aircraft carriers HMS Victorious, HMS Furious, HMS Emperor, HMS Fencer, HMS Pursuer, and HMS Searcher, 42 Fleet Air Arm Fairey Barracuda aircraft escorted by 40 fighters scores 14 hits with 1,600-lb (726-kg) bombs on the German battleship Tirpitz in Altenfjord, Norway, badly damaging her and killing 122 of her crew. Two Barracudas are lost.
  • 1942 – The US 303rd Bomb Group, activated at Pendleton Field, Oregon, on 3 February 1942, suffers its first fatal aircraft accident when three flying officers and five enlisted crew are killed in the crash of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-9053, six miles (10 km) N of Strevell, Idaho during a training mission.
  • 1939 – First flight of the Gloster F.9/37 (or Gloster G.39), a British twin-engined design for a cannon-armed fighter.
  • 1933 – The Royal Air Force reinstates the squadron of nine to 12 planes as the basic organizational unit for its aircraft assigned to Royal Navy aircraft carriers, retaining the six-plane flight as the basic organizational unit only for aircraft assigned to operate from battleship and cruiser catapults.
  • 1926 – Gus Grissom, American astronaut, was born (d. 1967). Virgil Ivan Grissom, more widely known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot. He was the second American to fly in space. Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a training exercise and pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at the Kennedy Space Center. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and, posthumously, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

References

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