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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

Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world, entered commercial service in 2007.
Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world, entered commercial service in 2007.
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace consortium. Based in Toulouse, France and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners. Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. Consolidation of European defence and aerospace companies around the turn of the century allowed the establishment of a simplified joint stock company in 2001, owned by EADS (80%) and BAE Systems (20%). After a protracted sale process BAE sold its shareholding to EADS on 13 October 2006. Airbus employs around 57,000 people at sixteen sites in four European Union countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Final assembly production is at Toulouse (France) and Hamburg (Germany). Airbus has subsidiaries in the United States, Japan and China. (Full article...)

Selected image

An overlay diagram showing four of the largest wide-body aircraft ever built, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (the "Spruce Goose", aircraft with the greatest wingspan), the Antonov An-225 Mriya (the largest freight aircraft), the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental (soon to be the largest version of the Jumbojet), and the Airbus A380-800 (the largest passenger aircraft).

Did you know

...that Alejandro Maclean, Spanish television producer and Red Bull Air Race World Series pilot, is nicknamed "The Flying Matador"? ...that the crash of Crossair Flight LX498 was initially attributed to cell phone use, and led to bans of cell phones in airplanes in several countries? Two pilots of No. 7 EFTS RAAF discuss the day's flying next to their Tiger Moth training biplanes. ... that No. 7 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF (aircraft of unit pictured) was the only Royal Australian Air Force training unit to be based in Tasmania during World War II?

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

Elizabeth Muriel Gregory "Elsie" MacGill (27 March 1905 – 4 November 1980), known as the Queen of the Hurricanes, was the world's first female aircraft designer. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of airplane construction during her years at Canada Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario. After her work at CC&F she ran a successful consulting business. Between 1967–1970 she was a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, published in 1970.

Selected Aircraft

Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006
Avro Arrow replica at CASM Arrow rollout in 2006

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) in Malton, Ontario, Canada, as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding 50,000 ft (15,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond. Not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate. The controversy engendered by the cancellation and subsequent destruction of the aircraft in production, remains a topic for debate among historians, political observers and industry pundits. "This action effectively put Avro out of business and its highly skilled engineering and production personnel scattered... The incident was a traumatic one... and to this day, many mourn the loss of the Arrow."

  • Span: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
  • Length: 77 ft 9 in (23.71 m)
  • Height: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
  • Engines: 2×Pratt & Whitney J75-P-3
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 0.91 (607 mph, 977 km/h) at 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
  • First Flight: 25 March 1958
  • Number built: 5
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

January 20

  • 2013 – A Syrian Air Force strike against rebel-held areas in al-Barika reportedly kllls seven people.[1]
  • 2013 – Islamist rebel forces withdraw from Diabaly, Mali, to avoid further airstrikes after days of bombing by French aircraft. French aircraft have flown 140 bombing sorties since the French intervention in Mali began.[2]
  • 2012 – Launch of WGS-4, (Wideband Global SATCOM system) American high capacity satellite communications system.
  • 2011 – Launch of USA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49), American reconnaissance satellite.
  • 2011 – Launch of Elektro-L No.1, also known as Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite No.2 or GOMS No.2, Russian geostationary weather satellite.
  • 2009 – Two Spanish Air Force Dassault Mirage F1 on a training flight, collide in midair. The three pilots were found dead in the debris of the airplanes.
  • 2009 – The Dominican Civil Aviation Institute suspends Caribair from operating for "operational irregularities".[3]
  • 2007 – A UH-60 Black Hawk from C Company, 1–131 Aviation Regiment[5] shot down by a combination of several heavy machine guns and a shoulder-fired missile north-east of Baghdad. All 12 crew and passengers on board are killed in the incident.[5][6]
  • 1997 – A new balloon absolute distance record of 16,722 km (10,363 miles) is set by Steve Fossett, during his unsuccessful non-stop, round the world flight, which he is forced to abandon in India.
  • 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320, crashes in the Vosges Mountains on approach to Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of 96 people on board.
  • 1991 – Five Coalition aircraft are lost in combat – All to Iraqi ground fire – And two to non-combat causes.
  • 1988 – Death of Robert Miles Todd, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1980 – Death of André Dubonnet, French WWI flying ace, WWII fighter pilot, athlete, racecar driver, and inventor.
  • 1977 – AA USCG Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard, 1448, strikes three electrical transmission wires and crashes into the ice-filled Illinois River. The crew had been performing an aerial ice patrol along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. The names of the personnel killed in the incident were: LTJG Frederick William Caesar III USN, LTJG John Francis Taylor (CG Aviator #1620), AT2 John B. Johnson, Mr. Bill Simpson (Civilian). The Air Station the aircraft and/or crew were assigned to was AIRSTA Chicago.
  • 1977 – Death of Ernest Archibald "Ernie" McNab, Canadian WWII fighter pilot, first scoring pilot for the RCAF in WWII.
  • 1975 – Death of Howard Burdick, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1974 – First 'accidental' flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, US multirole jet fighter aircraft, during a high-speed taxi test. While gathering speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the port-side wingtip-mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The GD test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid crashing the machine, and safely landed it six minutes later.
  • 1969 – Death of Arthur Eyguem De Montaigne 'Jacko' Jarvis, Canadian WWI flying ace.
  • 1965 – Death of Ludwig "Lutz" Beckmann, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1965 – Death of Friedrich Hefty, Austro-Hungarian WWI flying ace.
  • 1952 – Death of Ronald Malcolm Fletcher, British WWI observer/gunner ace in two-seater fighters in conjunction with his pilot, Lt. S. F. H. Thompson.
  • 1948 – Birth of Jerry Lynn Ross, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1941 – Death of Frederick Erastus Humphreys, American aviator, one of the original three military pilots trained by the Wright brothers and the first to fly solo.
  • 1940 – First flight of the Arsenal VG-34, a French light fighter aircraft prototype developed from the VG-33.
  • 1938 – First flight of the Latécoère 523, a 6 engine high wing monoplane reconnaissance Flying boat for the French Navy, Based on the 521, variant of the 522
  • 1936 – Italian troops take the Ethiopian town of Negele Boran without firing a shot. Its inhabitants have all fled after Italian aircraft drop 40 tons (36,288 kg) of bombs on the town during the Battle of Genale Doria.
  • 1934 – First flight of the Boeing P-29 (originated as the Model 264), a US Fighter prototype, fully-cantilever wings, wing flaps, enclosed "greenhouse" canopy, and retractable undercarriage.
  • 1933 – The sole prototype Consolidated XA-11 attack plane, 32-322, crashes due to structural failure, killing Lieut. Irvin A. Woodring.
  • 1928 – Death of George Augustine Taylor, Australian artist, journalist, and aviation pioneer, first person in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft.
  • 1920 – Birth of Ferruccio Serafini, WWII Italian fighter ace.
  • 1916 – The first airship raid on Britain. Zeppelins of the Imperial German Navy Airship Division dropped bombs on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk, killing 5 people. The RFC flew its first ever night sorties against the raiders, but two aircraft failed to intercept.
  • 1913 – Attempting to establish a new women’s altitude record, Bernetta Miller is covered with oil and temporarily blinded when her oil flow indicator smashes. She makes a safe emergency landing in New York.
  • 1913 – Birth of Gheorghe Popescu-Ciocanel, Romanian WWII fighter ace.
  • 1896 – Birth of James Dudley Beane, American WWI flying ace.
  • 1893 – Birth of Howard John Thomas Saint, Welsch WWI flying ace.
  • 1892 – Birth of Ludwig Hanstein, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1890 – Birth of Arthur Whitehair "Wiggy" Vigers, British WWI fighter ace, 3d ranking of the aces who flew the Sopwith Dolphin.
  • 1890 – Birth of Pierre Henri Edmond Dufaur de Gavardie, French WWI flying ace.
  • 1889 – Birth of Alfred Mohr, German WWI flying ace.
  • 1888 – Birth of Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC, Norwegian aviator, explorer and author, first pilot to cross the North Sea.

References

  1. ^ [Anonymous, "Airstrike Kills at Least 7 Near Syrian Capital," Associated Press, January 21, 2013.]
  2. ^ Felix, Bate, "French Troops Take Central Mali Towns, Rebels Slip Away," Reuters, January 21, 2013.
  3. ^ "News item". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  4. ^ Richard Mauer (2008-02-09). "Gallantry during attack in Iraq earns Silver Star". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2010-02-23. The brigade's third Silver Star honoree, Master Sgt. Thomas Ballard, helped lead a team that protected an Apache helicopter shot down in the Najaf attack while under fierce fire themselves.
  5. ^ a b "ARMY AIR CREWS: Blackhawk Crewmembers Line of Duty Deaths". Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  6. ^ Jonathan Karl (2007-01-22). "Black Hawk Likely Shot Down in Iraq". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
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