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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

The air flow from the wing of this agricultural plane is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's wake vortex, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane.
The air flow from the wing of this agricultural plane is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's wake vortex, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane.
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Understanding the motion of air (often called a flow field) around an object enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. Typical properties calculated for a flow field include velocity, pressure, density and temperature as a function of position and time. By defining a control volume around the flow field, equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be defined and used to solve for the properties. The use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximation and wind tunnel experimentation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.

External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket is an example of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine.

The ratio of the problem's characteristic flow speed to the speed of sound comprises a second classification of aerodynamic problems. A problem is called subsonic if all the speeds in the problem are less than the speed of sound, transonic if speeds both below and above the speed of sound are present (normally when the characteristic speed is approximately the speed of sound), supersonic when the characteristic flow speed is greater than the speed of sound, and hypersonic when the flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree over the precise definition of hypersonic flow; minimum Mach numbers for hypersonic flow range from 3 to 12. Most aerodynamicists use numbers between 5 and 8. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: User:Anynobody
Sequence of events leading to the collision between X - PSA 182 and ♦ - Cessna 172

Did you know

...the study of airmail is known as aerophilately? ...that one of the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic was the Italian Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boat, which went on to serve in the Luftwaffe in WWII? ... that to open the swing door on the General Aircraft Hamilcar glider and allow vehicles to emerge, pilots had to climb out of the glider's cockpit and slide down 15 feet of fuselage?

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

Selected biography

Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as "Lucky Lindy" and "The Lone Eagle", was a pioneering United States aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his single-engine aircraft The Spirit of St. Louis.

He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. Early on he showed an interest in machinery, especially aircraft. After training as a pilot with the Army Air Service Lindbergh took a job as lead pilot of an airmail route in a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane. He was renowned for delivering the mail under any circumstances.

Lindbergh is recognized in aviation for demonstrating and charting polar air-routes, high altitude flying techniques, and increasing aircraft flying range by decreasing fuel consumption. These innovations are the basis of modern intercontinental air travel.

Selected Aircraft

AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.
AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift transport aircraft built by Antonov, and was the world's largest powered aircraft before its destruction in February 2022. Mriya (Мрія) means "dream" (inspiration) in Ukrainian.

With a maximum gross weight of 640,000 kg (1,400,000 lb), the An-225 was the world's heaviest aircraft. Although its wingspan is less than that of the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", the latter never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off more than once. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The An-225 was also larger than the Airbus A380.

  • Span: 88.40 m (291 ft 2 in)
  • Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
  • Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)
  • Engines: 6× ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229 kN (51,600 lbf) each
  • Cruising Speed: 750 km/h (400 knots, 465 mph)
  • First Flight: December 21, 1988

Today in Aviation

June 6

  • 2009 – Myanma Airways Flight 409, a Fokker F28-4000, registration XY-ADW, overruns the runway at Sittwe Airport, Myanmar. The aircraft is damaged beyond repair.
  • 1994 – China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, a Tupolev Tu-154M, breaks up in mid-air and crashes near Xian, China, killing all 160 on board. The deadliest airplane crash ever to occur in China is attributed to a maintenance error.
  • 1992 – Copa Airlines Flight 201, a Boeing 737-200 Advanced, crashes near Darién, Panama, killing all 47 passengers and crew on board; a faulty attitude indicator is the cause.
  • 1982 – Aeroflot Flight 411, an Ilyushin Il-62, crashes after take-off from Sheremetyevo International Airport; all 90 on board are killed.
  • 1982 – Westland Gazelle AH1 XX377 is shot down by friendly fire from HMS Cardiff during the Falklands War
  • 1976 – Royal Air force receives first F-16.
  • 1976 – The Double Six Tragedy, also known as the Double Six Crash, was a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The plane, operated by Sabah Air, coming from Labuan crashed in the sub-district of Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu upon approaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport. The crash killed everyone on board the flight, including Tun Fuad Stephens, the Chief Minister of Sabah at that time.
  • 1973 – The 1973 Paris Air Show crash was the crash of the second production Tupolev Tu-144 at Goussainville, Val-d’Oise, France, which killed all six crew and a further eight people on the ground. The crash, at the Paris Air Show, damaged the development program of the Tupolev Tu-144. One theory is that a French Mirage jet sent to photograph the aircraft without the knowledge of the Russian crew caused the pilots to take evasive maneuvers, resulting in the crash. Another theory is that in a rivalry with the Anglo-French Concorde, the pilots attempted a maneuver that was beyond the capabilities of the aircraft.
  • 1971 – A United States Marine Corps McDonnell-Douglas F-4B Phantom II fighter jet collides with Hughes Airwest Flight 706, a Douglas DC-9, which crashes into the San Gabriel Mountains near Duarte, California, killing all 49 people aboard; the pilot of the Phantom also dies, while his radar intercept officer successfully bails out.
  • 1970 – A USAF Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, 68-0212, c/n 500-0015, fifteenth off the production line, but first to be delivered to any operational Military Airlift Command wing, loses one tire and blows another on landing at Charleston AFB, South Carolina for the 437th MAW.
  • 1967 – First transcontinental carrier-to-carrier jet flight. From USS Bonhomme Richard in the Pacific to USS Saratoga in the Atlantic, 03 h:28 m, in a Vought F8U Crusader flown by USN Capt Robert Dose & LCdr Paul Miller. Distance unstated.
  • 1966 – Gemini 9 landed in the Pacific after 45 orbits of Earth during the 72 h 20 min flight.
  • 1964 – Over Laos, Pathet Lao antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U. S. Navy RF-8 A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann. It is the first U. S. Navy aircraft and first American fixed-wing aircraft lost over Indochina in the Vietnam War era.
  • 1964 – The historic aircraft collections of the Canadian War Museum, National Aviation Museum, and the Royal Canadian Air Force were displayed together for the first time at the Rockcliffe RCAF Station. The three collections together were designated the National Aeronautical Collection.
  • 1964 – Silver City Airline announces that it has airlifted its one millionth car between England and continental Europe.
  • 1945 – The Boeing B-29 Superfortress that led the first B-29 raid on Tokyo on 24 November 1944, 42-24592, named "Dauntless Dotty", of the 869th Bomb Squadron, 497th Bomb Group, 73rd Bomb Wing, 20th Air Force, departs Kwajalein at 0306 hrs. for the second leg of a ferry flight back to the United States, commanded by Capt. William A. Kelley, of Tifton, Georgia. Forty seconds after takeoff, the aircraft strikes the Pacific Ocean and sinks, killing 10 of 13 on board instantly. Co-pilot 1st Lt. John Neville, of Bradley, Illinois, tailgunner S/Sgt. Glenn F. Gregory, of Waldron, Illinois, and left gunner S/Sgt. Charles McMurray (also spelt McMurry in one source), of Memphis, Tennessee, are thrown from the wreckage and are recovered by a rescue boat after some 45 minutes in the water. A search for the lost airframe by the National Underwater and Marine Agency Australia has been proposed.
  • 1944 – A huge airborne armada, nine planes wide and 200 miles long, carries American and British troops across the British Channel for the D-Day invasion of Europe.
  • 1944 – Thirty-seven RCAF bomber, fighter and coastal squadrons took part in operations for the invasion of Normandy. The Allied invasion of France is spearheaded by paratrooper drops and assault glider landings. The Luftwaffe offers almost no resistance to the invasion.
  • 1943 – (6-9) Allied aircraft drop an average of 600 tons (544,316 kg) of bombs per day on Pantelleria
  • 1942 – The first nylon parachute jump occurred (Hartford, Ct).
  • 1942 – Flying 112 sorties, carrier aircraft from Enterprise and Hornet sink the Japanese heavy cruiser Mikuma as she withdraws from the Midway area, bringing the Battle of Midway to an end. Three TBD Devastators participate; it is the last combat flight of the Devastator.
  • 1942 – Four U. S. Army Forces B-24 Liberator bombers led by Major General Clarence L. Tinker take off from Midway to attack the Japanese bomber base on Wake Island. Tinker’s plane disappears after take-off and no wreckage or bodies are ever found.
  • 1939 – Adolf Hitler reviews 14,000 veterans of the Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion in Berlin.
  • 1936 – Aviation gasoline first produced commercially Paulsboro NJ.
  • 1931 – Barker Field was opened at Toronto by Mrs. W. G. Barker and L/Col W. A. Bishop.
  • 1917 – The world’s first landplane designed for use as a torpedo bomber, a Sopwith Cuckoo, is completed for the Royal Naval Air Service.
  • 1915 – LZ 37 becomes the first Zeppelin destroyed in air-to-air combat when it is bombed by Flt Sub-Lt Reginald Warneford, RNAS.
  • 1914 – First air flight out of sight of land (Scotland to Norway).
  • 1910 – Robert Martinet wins the first cross-country air race, between Angers and Saumur, France (27 miles), in a Farman; he takes 31 min and 35 seconds.
  • 1903 – After several stationary stability trials, Ferdinand Ferber makes the first full trial of his glider No.6. It fails to take off in Nice, France.

References

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