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...)

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CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines. On Wednesday, 2 September 1998, the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from shore, roughly equidistant from the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board died—the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the second-highest of any air disaster in the history of Canada, after Arrow Air Flight 1285. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) official report of their investigation stated that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in a loss of control and the crash of the aircraft. Swissair Flight 111 was known as the "U.N. shuttle" due to its popularity with United Nations officials; the flight often carried business executives, scientists, and researchers. (Full article...)

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Did you know

...that in 1943 British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 was shot down by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was an attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill? ...that Pepsi offered a Harrier fighter jet in their Pepsi Billion Dollar Sweepstakes game and the Pepsi Stuff game for people accumulating a certain number of points? ... that while flying accidents were commonplace at RAAF training establishments during World War II, No. 8 Service Flying Training School's first fatality was from drowning?

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

Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was a pioneering aviator, engineer, industrialist and film producer. He was widely known as a playboy and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He is famous for setting multiple world air-speed records; building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules airplanes; producing Hell's Angels and The Outlaw; and, for his debilitating and eccentric behavior later in life. Hughes was born in Houston, Texas on December 24, 1905, although his exact birthdate is debated by some biographers. His parents were Allene Gano Hughes and Howard R. Hughes Sr., who patented the tri-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes Sr. founded Hughes Tool Company in 1909 to commercialize this invention.

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 25

  • 2012 – The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of both day and night flight thanks to its batteries charged by solar power, completes the first leg of its first intercontinental flight, arriving at Madrid, Spain, after a flight from Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland. During the flight, it sets a world distance record for a solar-powered flight between pre-declared waypoints of 1,099.3 km (683.1 mi) and a world distance record for a solar-powered flight along a course of 1,116 km (693 mi). The second and final leg of the flight will take HB-SIA to Rabat, Morocco, the following month.[1][2]
  • 2011 – First flight of the e-Genius, German manned electric airplane, two seated side by side high wing configuration aircraft completely manufactured of fibre composites and equipped with a retractable landing gear, propulsion realized by a permanent magnet synchronous motor with an electrical driven variable pitch propeller.
  • 2008 – Kalitta Air 2008 Boeing 747-209 F/SCD cargo overran runway 20 at Brussels Airport. The plane broke in three and came to a complete stop in a field bordering the runway. There were four crew members and one passenger on board, and no injuries were reported.
  • 2005 – A chartered Maniema Union Antonov An-28 aircraft, owned by Victoria Air, crashed into a mountain near Walungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo about 30 min after takeoff. All of the 22 passengers and 5 crew members were killed.
  • 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747-200B, disintegrates in mid-air above the Taiwan Strait, apparently because of metal fatigue; all 206 passengers and 19 crew members – a total of 225 – are killed.
  • 2000 – Reginald Chua hijacks Philippine Airlines Flight 812, an Airbus A330-301 with 290 other people on board, just before landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila, the Philippines. He demands the passengers place their valuables in a bag, and then attempts to jump from the plane via the rear door using a homemade parachute, but panics and instead clings to the door; a male flight attendant then pushes him from the door and he falls from the plane over Antipolo, Rizal. His body is found three days later near Llabac in Real, Quezon.
  • 1998 – PIA Flight 544, a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27, was hijacked shortly after it took off from Gwadar International Airport, by three armed men belonging to Baloch Students Organization (BSO). The aircraft, with 33 passengers and 5 crew members aboard, had just arrived from Gwadar International Airport, Baluchistan,and was sat to land in Hyderabad Airport, Sindh. The Army’s SSG’s Haideri Company, 7th Commando Zarrar Battalion, SSG Division, accompanied with elite members of Army Rangers stormed the aircraft, while the Pakistan Police surrounded the plane. The operation concluded with all three hijackers arrested and sentenced to death by Pakistan, with no human casualties.
  • 1998 – A Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force Yakovlev Yak-40, RDPL-34001, '001', c/n 9431835, crashes into a mountain during heavy rain killing all of the 26 on board, including Lt. Gen. Dao Trong Lich, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese Peoples' Army.
  • 1996 – Death of David Wayne Howe, American WWII flying ace and later test pilot for Bell.
  • 1995 – A combined force of NATO aircraft attack a Serb ammunition depot near Jahorinski Potok.
  • 1993 – In an 1844 hrs. flight deck accident aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, the undercarriage of an McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet attempting a wave-off from the carrier due to still fouled deck, strikes the vertical fin on Grumman A-6E Intruder, BuNo 164382, '500', shearing away a large portion of the empennage, as the A-6 was taxiing away from the arresting gear. The Hornet dropped its underwing tanks and safely recovered to the carrier. Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ai7nnJNIwuU
  • 1986 – A prisoner in a Parisian jail escapes when his wife rescues him in a helicopter
  • 1982 – VASP Boeing 737-2 A1 on landing procedures at Brasília during rain, made a hard landing with nose gear first. The gear collapsed and the aircraft skidded off the runway breaking in two. Two passengers out of 118 occupants died.
  • 1982 – HMS Coventry (D118), Type 42 (Sheffield Class) destroyer of the Royal Navy, is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks during the Falklands War.
  • 1982 – A RAF Hawker-Siddeley/McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II piloted by Roy Lawrence and Alistair Inverarity was engaging a Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguar GR1, XX963, 'AL', piloted by Flt. Lt. D. Steve Griggs in training exercises. During the encounter the Phantom shot a live AIM-9 Sidewinder forcing the Jaguar pilot to eject.
  • 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, crashes on takeoff from O'Hare International Airport after an engine falls off, killing all 271 on board and 2 on the ground; prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, this was the deadliest airliner occurrence in American history, and it remains the worst single-aircraft airliner accident on US soil.
  • 1976 – First Flight Boeing E-3 Sentry (E-3), U. S. military airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft based on the Boeing 707 that provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications.
  • 1973 – Launch of Skylab 2, first manned mission to Skylab, the first U. S. orbital space station.
  • 1968 – Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger" F, commanded by sub-Cmdr. Alexander Pliyev, crashes into the Norwegian Sea after a low pass by the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9). The bomber had flown by the ship just 15 meters above the sea.
  • 1966 – Launch of Explorer 32 (also known as Atmosphere Explorer-B (AE-B)), satellite launched by the United States for studying the Earth's upper atmosphere.
  • 1965 – The Soviet Union announces the construction of surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam around Hanoi.
  • 1964 – Birth of Ivan Bella, Slovak Air Force officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space
  • 1961 – Brigadier General Barnie B. McEntire, Jr., commander of the South Carolina Air National Guard, is killed when his Lockheed F-104A-25-LO Starfighter, 56-0853, suffers engine failure on take off from Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, and he stays with the jet to crash into the Susquehanna River rather than risk it crashing into populated areas of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Congaree Air National Guard Base near Eastover, South Carolina is subsequently renamed in his honor in October 1961 by Governor Ernest F. Hollings.
  • 1960 – A Vickers Valiant of No.214 Squadron, captained by Squadron Leader J. H. Garstin, takes off for the first non-stop flight between the UK and Singapore.
  • 1958 – USAF Lockheed RC-121D-LO Warning Star, 55-123, of the 551st AEWCW, burns out on the ramp at Otis AFB, Massachusetts, 0 dead.
  • 1955 – Convair B-36J-5-CF Peacemaker, 52-2818A, c/n 374, of the 6th Bomb Wing, call sign Abbott 27, on a routine training flight, crashes at ~2305 hrs. CST, in the SW corner of Glasscock County, Texas, on the Drannon Ranch, ~18.5 miles (29.8 km) SW of Sterling City, Texas. The aircraft had apparently disintegrated due to thunderstorm or tornadic activity, losing its outer wing panels and all tail control surfaces, and impacted in a flat attitude with little forward motion. Aircraft wreckage was found in a 25 X 3-mile (4.8 km) path on a heading of 66 degrees true. None of the 15 members of crew L-22 were able to escape the damaged bomber and all hatches and ports were found still in place. The wings and forward fuselage burned on impact, with only the rear fuselage remaining. The aircraft had been preparing to land at Walker AFB, New Mexico, when it was lost. Due to the extended period that the crash site was kept secured while crew remains were recovered and identified, and wreckage from the disintegration was searched for (almost a week), there was some question as to whether the B-36 was armed with a nuclear weapon, but there is no evidence to support this.
  • 1954 – United States Navy (USN) ZPG2 airship, flown by Commander M. H. Eppes and crew, lands at Key West Florida after being airborne for just over 200 hours.
  • 1951 – First delivery of The English Electric Canberra B2, first-generation jet-powered light bomber, to replace the Lincolns of No. 101 Squadron at Binbrook, Lincolnshire.
  • 1950 – The first prototype of Arsenal VG 90 turbojet strike fighter design for the Aéronavale, VG-90.01, F-WFOE, first flown 27 September 1949, crashes this date killing the pilot Pierre Decroo.
  • 1943 – (Overnight) 759 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fail to concentrate markers on the target and the raid fails when the bombers spread their bombs widely throughout the countryside.
  • 1949 – Silverplate Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 44-27299, of the 97th Bomb Group, Biggs AFB, Texas, suffers fire in number 4 (starboard outer) engine shortly after take-off for routine navigation and radar training mission. Unable to extinguish blaze, crew bails out but navigator's parachute does not open and he is killed - believed that he had struck his head on nose gear operating assembly while departing bomber. B-29 makes two-mile circle, then comes down 35 miles NE of El Paso, Texas, exploding on impact.
  • 1939 – Sole Grumman XSBF-1, BuNo. 9996, (the XSF-2 airframe modified with a triangular frame beneath the engine mounting to carry one 500 lb (227 kg) or two 100 lb (45 kg) bombs, flown 18 February 1936), crash lands near Leonardtown, Maryland, killing one crew.
  • 1938 – During the Spanish Civil War the Italian Aviazione Legionaria bombs of Alicante.
  • 1937 – The first letter to encircle the world by commercial air mail despatched from New York via San Francisco to Hong Kong, Penang, Amsterdam and Brazil is back to New York.
  • 1937 – First flight of the Gasuden Koken, Japanese long-range research aircraft, single-engined low wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable undercarriage designed to break the world record for longest flight.
  • 1929 – Lieutenant William Gosnell Tomlinson, USN, took first place in the Curtiss Marine Trophy race held at Naval Air Station Anacostia. He flew the XF7 C-1 with an average speed of 162.52 MPH. He completed the 100-mile race course before his nearest competitor had entered the final 20 miles
  • 1928 – First flight of the Sikorsky S-38, American twin-engined 8-seat amphibious aircraft sometimes called "The Explorer's Air Yacht" and Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat.
  • 1928 – Umberto Nobile's Airship Italia crashes on the ice on the attempt to reach the North Pole. Radio operator Biagi salvages radio, constructs a radio mast and begins transmitting SOS.
  • 1927 – Lieutenant James Doolittle was the first person to do an outside loop in an Army Racer.
  • 1919 – A Handley Page V/1500, flying from Risalpur piloted by Captain Halley and with Lt E. Villiers as observer reached Kabul in three hours and bombed the Royal Palace during the Third Anglo-Afghan War, being the first decisive use of strategic bombing.
  • 1917 – French WWI fighter ace Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer, scores 4 victories this day.
  • 1917 – A mass air-raid by 21 Gotha G.V bombers attacks Folkestone in Kent, England, killing 95 people and injuring 174. Seventy-four British aircraft take off to intercept, but shoot down only one Gotha. It is the first of 22 German heavier-than-air raids on England during World War I.
  • 1917 – Death of René Pierre Marie Dorme, French WWI fighter ace, killed in action in his SPAD VII.
  • 1913 – Birth of Oskar-Heinz (Heinrich) "Pritzl" Bär, German Luftwaffe flying ace who served throughout WWII in Europe. He flew over a thousand combat missions, and fought in all major German theatres of the war, including the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean fronts. On 18 occasions he survived being shot down and he was credited with 220 aerial victories, around 16 of which were in a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.
  • 1912 – First plane of the Royal Norwegian Navy to arrive in Norway is the HNoMS Start, an Etrich Taube (fighter, bomber, surveillance plane and trainer).
  • 1910 – Orville Wright takes his 82-year-old father for his first airplane ride. Also on this day, Wilbur and Orville fly together for the only time in a six-and-one-half minute flight at Simms Station, near Dayton, Ohio.
  • 1905 – Ferdinand Ferber makes his first aerial tests in Chalais-Meodon, France with his No.6 bis glider fitted with a 12-hp Peugeot motor.
  • 1902 – Birth of Henri Guillaumet, pioneer of French aviation in the Andes, the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic.
  • 1898 – Birth of Harry Christopher Travers Gompertz, British WWI flying ace (Observer).
  • 1889 – Birth of Léon Jean Pierre Bourjade, French WWI fighter ace and leading balloon busting ace. Post-war, he completed his theological studies and devoted the remainder of his life to service as a medical missionary to lepers.
  • 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, American aviation engineer who developed the first successful helicopter was born.
  • 1866 – The Aereon N°2, American dirigible airship, flew over New York City.
  • 1864 – Birth of Anne Löwenstein-Wertheim Princess of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (born Lady Anne Savile), British aviation pioneer.

References

  1. ^ Solar Impulse: What Happened in 2012?
  2. ^ Solar Impulse: Solar Impulse's HB-SIA Obtains Two New World Records
Edit today's anniversaries – May Archive – All anniversaries...


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