Portal:Aviation

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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747

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 craft 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. 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

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive sport where pilots fly un-powered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes. Properly, the term gliding refers to descending flight of a heavier-than-air craft, whereas soaring is the correct term to use when the craft gains altitude or speed from rising air. After launching glider pilots search for rising air to gain height. If conditions are good enough, experienced pilots can fly many hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers before returning to their home airfields. However if the weather deteriorates, they must often land elsewhere, but some can avoid this by using engines. While many glider pilots merely enjoy the sense of achievement, some competitive pilots fly in races round pre-defined courses. These competitions test the pilots' abilities to make best use of local weather conditions as well as their flying skills. Local and national competitions are organized in many countries and there are also biennial World Gliding Championships. Powered aircraft or winches are the most common methods of launching gliders. These and other methods (apart from self-launching motor-gliders) require assistance from other participants. Gliding clubs have thus been established to share airfields and equipment, train new pilots and maintain high safety standards. (Full article...)

Selected image

F-15 Eagle in a near vertical climb
F-15 Eagle in a near vertical climb
Credit: Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Allen, USAF
An F-15D Eagle from the 325th Fighter Wing based at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida releasing flares. The F-15 is a multi-role tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas. The first flight of the F-15A was in July 1972, but since then it has been produced in six model variations with both single seat and dual seat versions. The original and largest operator of the F-15 is the United States Air Force, but it is also operated by the air forces of Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

Did you know

...that Luftwaffe ace Erich Rudorffer flew more than 1000 missions during World War II, and was shot down sixteen times by enemy flak and fighters? ...that the Alexander Aircraft Company, which produced Eaglerock biplanes in Colorado, was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world for a brief period between 1928 and 1929? ...that a Cambridge University society has launched high altitude balloons that have taken a picture of the earth's curvature from a height of 32 km?

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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Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

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

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

An A400M flying
An A400M flying

The Airbus A400M Atlas is a four-engine turboprop aircraft, designed by Airbus Military (now Airbus Defence and Space) to meet the demand of European nations for military airlift. Since its formal launch, the aircraft has also been ordered by Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia.

The A400M is assembled at the Seville plant of Airbus Military. The first test flight occurred in December 2009.

  • Span: 42.4 m (139 ft 1 in)
  • Length: 45.1 m (148 ft)
  • Height: 14.7 m (48 ft 3 in)
  • Engines: 4 EPI TP400-D6 (8,250 kW power)
  • Cruising Speed: 780 km/h (480 mph, 420 knots)
  • First Flight: 11 December 2009
  • Number built: 119 as of 31 August 2023
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

May 3

  • 2010 – Death of Günter F. Wendt, German-American engineer noted for his work in the U. S. manned spaceflight program. "There is no reason to say I am narrow-minded. Just do it my way and you will have no problem at all."
  • 2009 – XM715, a Handley Page Victor, briefly becomes airborne during a fast taxi run at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, United Kingdom. The aircraft is not airworthy and was not intended to have flown.
  • 2009 – Táchira helicopter crash: A Fuerzas Terrestres Venezuela Mil Mi-17 Hip helicopter crashes on a border patrol with Colombia with 18 fatalities including the Venezuelan General Domingo Faneite. The accident occurred near the town of El Alto de Rubio, in Táchira state, Venezuela.
  • 2007 – Death of Walter Marty Schirra, Jr., American test pilot, US Navy officer, and one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for the Project Mercury. He is the only person to fly in all of America's first three space programs (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo), fifth American and the ninth human to ride a rocket into space. He was the first person to go into space three times.
  • 2007 – A Chicago businessman who owned a ranch near Twin Bridges and his passenger were killed Thursday morning when the small jet they were flying crashed while trying to land at the Beaverhead County Airport at Dillon. At about 1040 mountain daylight time (MDT), a Cessna Citation S550, N22HP, collided with terrain during a circling instrument approach at Dillon, Montana.
  • 2006 – Armavia Flight 967, an Airbus A320, crashes into the Black Sea near the Russian city of Sochi, killing all 113 on board.
  • 2005 – Airwork Flight 23, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crashes in Taranaki, New Zealand killing both crew members.
  • 2002 – 2002 Jalandhar India MiG-21 crash: An Indian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 pilot ejects after takeoff, with the aircraft crashing into a Jalandhar bank building, killing eight on the ground.
  • 1998 – STS-90, Space Shuttle Columbia mission is back on earth
  • 1986 – Air Lanka Flight 512, a Lockheed L-1011, is bombed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, killing 21 of 148 on board.
  • 1985 – Aeroflot Flight 8381, a Tupolev Tu-134, collides with a Soviet Air Force Antonov An-26; both aircraft crash near Zolochev, Ukraine, killing all 94 on board both aircraft.
  • 1983 – The first CC 134 Challenger Jet was delivered to 412 Squadron.
  • 1982 – A Gulfstream II from Algerian government is shot down above the border between Iran and Turkey. Both Iran and Iraq rejected responsibility.
  • 1982 – Iraq shoots down an aircraft bound for Tehran, Iran, carrying Algerian Foreign Minister Mohammed Ben Yahia and 12 of his colleagues. The incident ends an Algerian attempt to mediate between Iran and Iraq and bring an end to the Iran-Iraq War.
  • 1977 – Shortly after 1100 hrs. English Electric Canberra PR.9 aircraft, XH137, of No. 39 Squadron was returning to its base at RAF Wyton, near Huntingdon, after a routine training flight. About two miles from the end of the runway, it crashed by some houses in the estate of Oxmoor in the village of Hartford, north-east of Huntingdon. Three young children were killed and five people were injured, of whom two are detained in hospital. The two RAF members of the crew were also killed, said Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Frederick Mulley.
  • 1976 – A Pan Am Boeing 747SP makes a record around-the-world flight, taking 1 day 22 hours.
  • 1973 – Death of Louis Prosper Gros, French WWI flying ace who served also in WWII.
  • 1968 – Death of Bernard Artigau, French WWI flying ace, pioneering commercial pilot who also served in WWII
  • 1968 – Braniff Flight 352, a Lockheed L-188A Super Electra en route from Houston, Texas to Dallas, breaks up in mid-air in a thunderstorm and crashes near Dawson, Texas; killing its five crew and 80 passengers. Nine years earlier Braniff Flight 542 crashed 49 miles (79 km) away in Buffalo.
  • 1965 – The U. S. Marine Corps's first attack helicopters, modified UH-1 Es of Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2), arrive at Da Nang, South Vietnam, to begin operations in the Vietnam War.
  • 1961 – The Boeing Airplane Company changes its name to Boeing Company.
  • 1955 – The first pre-series Sud-Ouest SO 9050 Trident II was flown.
  • 1952 – The first landing at the North Pole is made by Americans Lt. Col. William P. Benedict and Lt. Col. J. O. Fletcher on a ski-and-wheel equipped Air Force Douglas C-47.
  • 1950 – HMS Ark Royal (R09) is Launched at Birkenhead. Audacious-class aircraft carrier, Royal navy's last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier and world's first aircraft carrier to be commissioned with an angled flight deck.
  • 1950 – The 2nd prototype Blackburn B-54 Y. A.8. with a crew of three makes his first flight.
  • 1949 – Birth of Albert Sacco, Jr.,American chemical engineer who flew as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia on shuttle mission STS-73 in 1995.
  • 1949 – First launch, of Viking 1.( Viking Rocket) It attained an altitude of 50 miles (80 km). The altitude was limited by a premature engine cut-off, eventually traced to steam leakage from the turbine casing.
  • 1948 – Second Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak, BuNo 37971, NACA 141, crashes on takeoff on 20th flight for NACA (46th total take-off) at Edwards AFB, California, due to compressor disintegration that cut control runs in fuselage, killing NACA pilot Howard C. Lilly. Lilly is the first NACA pilot to die while on duty, and the first pilot who had flown at supersonic speed to be killed.
  • 1945 – Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers sink the German passenger ships SS Cap Arcona and SS Deutschland and the German cargo ship SS Thielbek in the Bay of Lübeck, unaware that the ships are carrying more than 10,000 concentration camp prisoners. About 5,000 people die aboard Cap Arcona (the second-greatest loss of life in a ship sinking in history) and about another 2,750 aboard Thielbek, and there also is a heavy loss of life aboard Deutschland.
  • 1945 – (3-4) The fifth Japanese Kikusui attack on ships off Okinawa includes 125 kamikazes. They sink three destroyers and two smaller ships and damage the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, the light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62), four destroyers, a destroyer-minelayer, and three smaller ships.
  • 1943 – During an inspection tour, Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews (1884–1943) is killed in crash of Consolidated B-24D-1-CO Liberator, 41-23728, of the 330th Bomb Squadron, 93d Bomb Group, 8th Air Force,[193] out of RAF Bovingdon, England, on Mt. Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula after an aborted attempt to land at the RAF Kaldadarnes, Iceland. Andrews and thirteen others died in the crash; only the tail gunner, S/Sgt. George A. Eisel, survived. Others KWF included pilot Capt. Robert H. Shannon, of the 330th BS, 93rd BG; six members of Andrews' staff, including Maj. Ted Trotman, B/Gen. Charlie Barth, Col. Marlow Krum, and the general's aide, Maj. Fred A. Chapman; and Capt. J. H. Gott, navigator. Andrews was the highest-ranking Allied officer to die in the line of duty to that point in the war.[194] At the time of his death, he was Commanding General, United States Forces, European Theatre of Operations. Camp Springs Army Air Field, Maryland, is renamed Andrews Field (later Andrews Air Force Base), for him on 7 February 1945.
  • 1942 – Tragedy at Kufra - Three Bristol Blenheim Mk. IVs, Z7513, Z7610, and T2252, of No. 15 Squadron, South African Air Force, detached to support Allied ground forces garrisoning the oasis at Kufra in Libya, become lost whilst on a familiarization flight and land in the Libyan Desert. They are not found until 11 May by which time only one of twelve crew survive. Z7610 and T2252 are flown out in May but damaged Z7513 is abandoned in place.
  • 1942 – In a raid on the Arctic convoy PQ 15, six Heinkel He 111 s of the Luftwaffe’s I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 26, make Germany’s first torpedo bomber attack of World War II. They sink two merchant ships outright and damage a third, which a German submarine later sinks. Three of the He 111 s are lost.
  • 1937 – Death of Cosimo Rennella, Italian born Ecuadorian WWI flying ace, and pioneering aviator in South America Pre and post WWI war.
  • 1941 – (3-6) RAF aircraft continue to attack Iraqi positions surrounding RAF Habbinya and Iraqi airfields, eventually forcing Iraq forces to withdraw on May 6.
  • 1928 – Imperial Japanese Army Air Corps aircraft see action in China during the Tsinan Incident.
  • 1928 – USN LT’s Arthur Gavin and Zeus Soucek, takes off in a PN-12 seaplane for a world duration record for Class C seaplanes.
  • 1926 – Birth of Georgi Konstantinowitsch Mossolow, Soviet test Pilot.
  • 1924 – Birth of Robert Kenneth "Ken" Tyrrell, British WWII flying mechanic, Formula 2 racing driver and founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor
  • 1923 – U. S. Air Service Fokker T-2 pilots Lts. Oakley G. Kelly and John A. Macready complete the first non-stop flight across the United States in 26 hours, 50 min, 38.4 seconds from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Wickenburg, Arizona.
  • 1918 – Atlantic City, New Jersey became the first US municipal airport (Bader Field).
  • 1918 – Death of Samuel Parry, Welsh WWI flying ace, killed in a flying accident in a Bristol F.2b.
  • 1918 – Death of Omer Paul Demeuldre, French WWI flying ace, Killed in action in his Spad.
  • 1907 – The Wright brothers are elected honorary members of the Vienna Aviation Club, Austria.
  • 1896 – Birth of Louis Marcel Germain 'Marcel' Doret, French Aerobatic, Record breaker and test pilot.
  • 1896 – Birth of Karl Allmenröder, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1891 – Birth of William Graham Westwood, South African WWI flying ace
  • 1866 – Birth of Richard von Kehler, German Balloon pioneer.
  • 1812 – Birth of William Samuel Henson, pre-Wright brothers aviation engineer and inventor.
  • 1695 – Birth of Henri Pitot, French hydraulic engineer and the inventor of the Pitot tube.

References

  1. ^ http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/04/18050052-two-bodies-found-at-us-plane-crash-site-in-kyrgyzstan-third-crew-member-still-missing?lite
  2. ^ Associated Press, "Kyrgyzstan: 2 Americans' Bodies Found at Crash Site," The Washington Post, May 5, 2013, p. A8.
  3. ^ Sly, Liz, and Suzan Haidamous, "Syrian Report: Israel Bombs Outskirts of Damascus For Second Time in Recent Days," washingtonpost.com, May 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m. EDT.
  4. ^ "'IAF strike in Syria targeted arms from Iran'". Jerusalem Post. May 4, 2013.
  5. ^ Cohen, Gili (May 5, 2013). "'Israel overnight strike targeted Iranian missile shipment meant for Hezbollah'". Ha'aretz. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
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