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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

A Ryanair Boeing 737 on the landing roll at Bristol Airport
A Ryanair Boeing 737 on the landing roll at Bristol Airport
Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 209 low-fare routes to 94 destinations across 17 European countries. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline, running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving costs down. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. It operates a fleet of 74 Boeing 737s, and currently has firm orders for an additional 225 Boeing 737-800 airplanes by 2010, with options on a further 193. Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial companies, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry. Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its labor union policies, and have charged that it practises deceptive advertising. (Full article...)

Selected image

Airport traffic pattern diagram
Airport traffic pattern diagram
An airfield traffic pattern is a standard path followed by aircraft when taking off or landing at an airport.The pattern (or circuit) is used to coordinate air traffic, and differs from straight-in approaches and departures in that aircraft remain in close proximity to the airport. Circuits are usually employed at small general aviation (GA) airfields and military airbases.

Did you know

Fokker Spin
Fokker Spin

...that the Fokker Spin (pictured) was the first aircraft built by Anthony Fokker, in which he taught himself to fly and earned his pilot license? ...that the Tenerife disaster remained the deadliest aircraft incident in history until the September 11, 2001 attacks and neither plane was in flight when the accident occurred. ... that teenage aviatrix Elinor Smith, the "Flying Flapper of Freeport", had her pilot's license suspended for 15 days for flying under New York City's four East River bridges in 1928?

More Did you know facts

General images - load new batch

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

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
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Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Selected biography

Portrait of Flynn taken in 1929.

The Reverend John Flynn (25 November 1880 – 5 May 1951) was an Australian Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance.

Throughout his ministerial training, Flynn had worked in various then-remote areas through Victoria and South Australia. As well as tending to matters spiritual, Flynn quickly established the need for medical care for residents of the vast Australian outback, and established a number of bush hospitals. By 1917, Flynn was already considering the possibility of new technology, such as radio and the aeroplane, to assist in providing a more useful acute medical service, and then received a letter from an Australian pilot serving in World War I, Clifford Peel, who had heard of Flynn's speculations and outlined the capabilities and costs of then-available planes. Flynn turned his considerable fund-raising talents to the task of establishing a flying medical service.

The first flight of the Aerial Medical Service was in 1928 from Cloncurry. In 1934 the Australian Aerial Medical Service was formed, and gradually established a network of bases nationwide. Flynn remained the public face of the organisation (through name changes to its present form) and helped raise the funds that kept the service operating.

Selected Aircraft

The Yakovlev Yak-42 is a line of tri-jet aircraft produced by the aircraft company Yakolev. The Yak 42 was produced from 1980-2003.

Historically, the yak-42 was competition for older Russian aircraft companies. The Yak-42 was only made in one passenger variant, but it was used in many tests of equipment.

  • Crew: 3
  • Span: 114 ft 5 in (34.88 m)
  • Length: 119 ft 4 in (36.38 m)
  • Height: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
  • Engines: 3× Lotarev D-36 turbofan
  • Cruise Speed: 740 km/h (399 knots, 460 mph) (economy cruise)
  • Range: 4,000 km (2,158 nmi, 2,458 mi) (with maximum fuel)
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

February 2

  • 2011 – An Indian Army HAL Cheetah helicopter crashed at Nashik, western India, killing both crew.
  • 2007 – A HAL Dhruv helicopter, part of the Saarang Helicopter Aerobatics team, loses altitude and crashes while practicing for the Aero India-2007 at the Yelahanka Air Base near Bangalore, India. The pilot is severely injured, and the co-pilot is killed. The Saarang team continue their planned performance for the airshow.
  • 2001 – First flight of the Prototype General Atomics RQ-1 Predator B, later redesignated MQ-9 Reaper.
  • 1998 – Cebu Pacific Flight 387, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-9, crashes into a mountain near Mount Sumagaya in Misamis Oriental in the Philippines. The plane is flying an unfamiliar route not well documented in maps following an unscheduled stop in Leyte to drop off two mechanics. All 104 passengers and crew members are killed.
  • 1996 – An Grumman F-14A Tomcat crashes in the northern Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy announces a three-day stand down for F-14 operations. The safety standdown will allow the service "to assess all aspects of operations and procedures", a Navy spokeswoman said. She said the review will "assess available information to determine if any procedural or other modifications to F-14 operations are warranted."[337]
  • 1991 – Coalition aircraft attack Iraqi Navy vessels at the Al Kalia naval facility, hitting a missile boat with two laser-guided bombs and straddling another with twelve 500-pound (227-kg) bombs; helicopters from the American guided-missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47) engage four Iraqi patrol boats near Maradim Island, destroying one and damaging two; and U.S. Navy A-6 Es destroy an Iraqi patrol boat in Kuwait Harbor with two laser-guided bombs. The Coalition claims to have sunk or damaged 83 Iraqi Navy vessels thus far in the Gulf War, with Coalition aircraft inflicting most of the losses. Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder near Kuwait City, Kuwait, an Iraqi short-range surface-to-air missile downs a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, and a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 J SeaCobra crashes due to non-combat causes while returning from an armed escort mission.
  • 1989 – The first prototype JAS 39 Gripen crashed on its sixth flight when landing in Linköping as a result of pilot-induced oscillation. The accident was filmed in a now famous recording by a crew from Sveriges Television's Aktuellt. The pilot remained in the tumbling aircraft, and escaped miraculously with just a fractured arm.
  • 1987 – After racking up an unmanageable amount of debt in only four years of existence, Newark-based PEOPLExpress Airlines ceases operations and merges with Continental.
  • 1971 – Two USAF crew are found dead in the escape module after their General Dynamics F-111 crashes near Mandeville, Louisiana three weeks earlier. A parachute was found hanging from a nearby tree, but it did not deploy in time to save the airmen.
  • 1970 – An Convair F-106A-100-CO Delta Dart, 58-0787, of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, out of Malmstrom AFB, (the Cornfield Bomber), piloted by Capt. Gary Faust, enters a flat spin during air combat maneuvering (ACM) over Montana. Faust follows procedures and ejects from the aircraft. The resulting change of balance causes the aircraft to stabilize, and it lands wheels up in a snow-covered field, suffering almost no damage. The aircraft is then sent back to base by rail, repaired and returned to service. Preserved initially at Griffiss AFB, New York, it is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
  • 1968 – The personnel and organization of the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force were unified into a single organization, the Canadian Armed Forces.
  • 1964 – NASA space probe Ranger 6 impacted the Moon on the eastern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility).The orientation of the spacecraft to the surface during descent was correct, but no video signal was received and no camera data obtained.
  • 1962 – At Halls Beach N.W.T. a 412 Squadron North Star 17520 lost power to three engines in quick succession just after takeoff. The pilot turned back and lined up to land and the fourth engine began to lose power. A wheels – up landing was made safely in the snow to the right of the runway. All on board were safe.
  • 1957 – Death of Antonio Lippi, Italian Aviator who flew with Italo Balbo on transatlantic flights.
  • 1954 – Japan Air Lines inaugurates its first international service: a twice-weekly route to San Francisco.
  • 1951 – First flight of the Douglas DC-6 B, extended version All-passenger variant of DC-6 A, without cargo door.
  • 1944 – First flight of the Republic XP-72, American prototype interceptor fighter developed as a progression of the P-47 Thunderbolt design.
  • 1941 – Eight Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal attack the dam at San Chiar d’Ula, Sardinia, with torpedoes, but inflict no visible damage on the dam.
  • 1938 – Death of Enrico Comani, Italian Aviator on a return trip from Brazil with a CANT Z.506 B floatplane. After engines failure, they Ditched in a rough sea. To avoid fire and explosion the crew jumped in the water. Only one member over 5 survived to sharks.
  • 1931 – Austrian Friedrich Schmiedl launches his V7 mail rocket with 100 letters aboard from Schoeckel bei Graz to Sankt Radegund, Austria, a distance of 2 km.
  • 1929 – The Boeing Airplane and Transport Corp. changes its name to United Aircraft and Transportation Corp. and by the end of the year had expanded its operations to include Chance Vought Corp., Hamilton Metalplane Division, Boeing Aircraft of Canada, Stout Airlines, Northrop Aircraft Corp., Stearman Aircraft Co., Sikorsky Aviation Corp., Standard Steel Propeller Co. and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Co.
  • 1925 – A Breguet 19 flown by Captain Ludovic Arrachart and Captain Henri Lemaître takes off from Paris to Villa Cisneros (Sahara) for a new distance record flight in straight line.
  • 1919 – Death of Leslie Jacob "Rummy" Rummell, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1918 – The first operational squadrons of the American Expeditionary Force are formed in France.
  • 1916 – Zeppelin LZ54 (L19), damaged and with 3 engines over 4 failing, came under Dutch fire. It sank in the North Sea, drowning all crew members.
  • 1916 – The only Imperial Russian Navy seaplane carrier to see service in the Baltic Sea during World War I, Orlitza, is commissioned.
  • 1914 – Birth of Nicolas Roland Payen, French engineer and first designer of the Delta wing. Builder of the world's smallest jet aircraft (Pa-49).
  • 1904 – Birth of Valery Pavlovich Chkalov, Russian aircraft test pilot.
  • 1898 – Birth of Richard Pearman Minifie, Australian WWI fighter ace who also served as a squadron leader in the Air Training Corps of the RAAF during WWII.
  • 1897 – Birth of Jeffery Batters Home-Hay, Canadian WWI flying ace, pioneering bush pilot, Commercial Pilot who served In the RCAF during WWII. He took part in the first Canadian transcontinental flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Vancouver.
  • 1897 – Birth of Lucien Marcel Gasser, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of Ramón Franco y Bahamonde Salgado Pardo de Andrade, Galician pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later dictator Francisco Franco.
  • 1872 – French navy-engineer Dupuy de Lome achieves 9 to 11 km/h with his muscle powered airship.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "Mali: French Planes Pound Islamist Sites in North," The Washington Post, February 4, 2013, Page A8.
  2. ^ Associated Press, "Mali: French Planes Pound Islamist Sites in North," The Washington Post, February 4, 2013, Page A8.
  3. ^ "Military: U.S. Apache Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq". Foxnews.com. 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  4. ^ "US helicopter 'shot down' in Iraq". BBC News. 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
  5. ^ Bassem Mroue (2007-02-02). "Fourth Army copter downed in Iraq; 2 crew killed". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
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