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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 was 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

Traditional general aviation fixed-wing light aircraft, the most numerous class of aircraft in the sector
Traditional general aviation fixed-wing light aircraft, the most numerous class of aircraft in the sector
General aviation in the United Kingdom has been defined as a civil aircraft operation other than a commercial air transport flight operating to a schedule. Although the International Civil Aviation Organization excludes any form of remunerated aviation from its definition, some commercial operations are often included within the scope of general aviation in the UK. The sector operates business jets, rotorcraft, piston and jet-engined fixed-wing aircraft, gliders of all descriptions, and lighter than air craft. Public transport operations include business (or corporate) aviation and air taxi services, and account for nearly half of the economic contribution made by the sector. There are 28,000 Private Pilot Licence holders, and 10,000 certified glider pilots. Although GA operates from more than 1,800 aerodromes and landing sites, ranging in size from large regional airports to farm strips, over 80 per cent of GA activity is conducted at 134 of the larger aerodromes. GA is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, although regulatory powers are being increasingly transferred to the European Aviation Safety Agency. The main focus is on standards of airworthiness and pilot licensing, and the objective is to promote high standards of safety. (Full article...)

Selected image

U.S. F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier
U.S. F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier
Credit: John Gay, U.S. Navy
U.S. F/A-18 Hornet flying at transonic speeds. In aerodynamics, the sound barrier is a physical boundary that was once thought to be stopping large objects becoming supersonic. When an aircraft is near to the speed of sound, an unusual cloud sometimes forms. A drop in pressure, in this case due to shock wave formation, causes water droplets to condense and form the cloud.

Did you know

...that the Heinkel He 46, designed for the Luftwaffe in 1931, was still being used to fight the Soviets in 1943? ...that PWS-10 designed in late 1920s was the first Polish fighter to enter serial production? ... that Soviet test pilot Vladimir Kokkinaki set twenty aviation world records?

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
Read and edit Wikinews

Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

AIR VICE-MARSHAL GEORGE JONES
Air Marshal Sir George Jones KBE, CB, DFC (18 October 1896 – 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from being a private soldier in World War I to Air Marshal in 1948. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force’s top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his head of operations and nominal subordinate, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock.

Jones first saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps the following year. Initially an air mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France, achieving seven victories to become an ace. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly-formed RAAF in 1921, rising steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II.

He did not actively seek the position of Chief of the Air Staff before being appointed in 1942, and his conflict with Bostock—with whom he had been friends for 20 years—was partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. Following his retirement from the RAAF he continued to serve in the aircraft industry and later ran unsuccessfully for political office.

Selected Aircraft

Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the spacecraft which was used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consisted of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which was the space shuttle in the narrow sense.

The orbiter carried astronauts and payload such as satellites or space station parts into low Earth orbit, into the Earth's upper atmosphere or thermosphere. Usually, five to seven crew members rode in the orbiter. The payload capacity was 22,700 kg (50,000 lb). When the orbiter's mission was complete, it fired its Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enter the lower atmosphere. During the descent and landing, the shuttle orbiter acted as a glider, and made a completely unpowered ("dead stick") landing.

  • Span: 78.06 ft (23.79 m)
  • Length: 122.17 ft (37.24 m)
  • Height: 58.58 ft (17.25 m)
  • Engines: 3 Rocketdyne Block 2 A SSMEs
  • Cruising Speed: 25,404 ft/s (7,743 m/s, 27,875 km/h, 17,321 mi/h)
  • First Flight: August 12, 1977 (glider), April 12, 1981 (powered).
  • Operational Altitude: 100 to 520 nmi (185 to 1,000 km)
  • Number built: 6 (+2 mockups)
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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