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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

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

C-17 Globemaster III releasing a flare
C-17 Globemaster III releasing a flare
C-17 Globemaster III releasing a flare.

Did you know

...that Alejandro Maclean, Spanish television producer and Red Bull Air Race World Series pilot, is nicknamed "The Flying Matador"? ...that No. 112 Squadron RAF was the first unit from any air force to use the "Shark Mouth" logo on P-40 fighter planes? ... that the first exhibition at the Boeing Galleries was a series of photographs taken from helicopters and hot air balloons?

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

Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was a German Luftwaffe ace and the fourth recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade, the Oak Leaves, was awarded by the Third Reich to recognise extreme bravery in battle or successful military leadership. It was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Helmut Wick.

Born in Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940 and posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.

Selected Aircraft

Airbus A380
Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport. Commercial flights began in late 2007 after months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer Singapore Airlines. During much of its development phase, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX, and the nickname Superjumbo has also become associated with the A380.

The A380 is double decked, with the upper deck extending along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin, with the A380 in standard three-class configuration to seat 555 people, up to maximum of 853 in full economy class configuration. Only one model of the A380 was available: The A380-800, the passenger model. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world superseding the Boeing 747. The other launch model, the A380-800F freighter, was canceled and did not join the ranks of the largest freight aircraft such as the Antonov An-225, An-124, and the C-5 Galaxy.

  • Span: 79.8 m (261 ft 10 in)
  • Length: 73 m (239 ft 6 in)
  • Height: 24.1 m (79 ft 1 in)
  • Engines: 4 * Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 (311 kN or 69,916 lbf)
  • Cruising Speed: 0.85 Mach (approx 1,050 km/h or 652 mph or 567 kn)
  • First Flight: 27 April 2005
  • Number built: 254 (including 3 prototypes)
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

February 28

  • 2013 – The United States Department of Defense announces that its F-35 Lightning II fleet, grounded since 22 February, will resume flying after an investigation determines that a cracked engine blade found in a U.S. Air Force F-35A was due to unique circumstances and is not a fleetwide problem.[1]
  • 2012 – A Russian Sukhoi Su-30Mk2 crashed in the far east of Russia on a test flight prior to delivery to Vietnamese People's Air Force. Both pilots ejected.
  • 2012 – A United States Coast Guard HH-65C crashed during a training flight in Alabama. All four crew were killed.
  • 2012 – A Guatemala Air Force Bell UH-1H crashed in bad weather near Chacalte killing all ten on board.
  • 2009 – Carpatair Flight 128, a Saab 2000, registration YR-SBI, lands at Traian Vuia International Airport, Romania, with the nosewheel stuck in the raised position. An emergency landing is successfully made on a partially foamed runway. The nose area of the aircraft is damaged.
  • 2009 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5563, a Canadair CRJ-200ER, registration N830AS, suffers a fire on the ground at Tallahassee Regional Airport, United States. The crew evacuate, and the fire is extinguished after burning through the cockpit wall, the flight deck being significantly damaged.
  • 2008 – Boston-Maine Airways, operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection, ceased operations.
  • 2005 – February 28-March 3 – Steve Fossett completes the first solo, nonstop, non-refueled aerial circumnavigation of the globe by airplane in a jet-propelled airplane specially designed for this event.
  • 1991 – The US calls a ceasefire in Iraq, with airpower having neutralized practically all of the country's ability to make war.
  • 1990 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-36 at 2:50:22 EST. Mission highlights: Sixth classified DoD mission; Misty reconnaissance satellite deployment.
  • 1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H is broadcast in the US, becoming the most watched television episode in history, with 106–125 million viewers in the U. S. (estimate varies by source).
  • 1983 – W. O. John Croker became the first service man in the Canadian Forces to exceed 10,000 hours on a C 130 Hercules.
  • 1980 – An military Ka-27 helicopter on a ferry flight from the manufacturer runs out of fuel and crash lands on a busy intersection in the city of Kazan, damaging a tram. In the Post-Soviet states the crash is known as The Collapse of the Kamov-27 in Kazan. While no one was killed in the crash, rumors circulated in the Soviet Union that supposedly numerous people in the tram had been killed by the rotor blades and that the Soviet government would want to hide the alleged disaster.
  • 1979 – Since, Tanzania has shot down 19 Ugandan aircraft during the Uganda-Tanzania War. The losses drive the Ugandan Air Force out of the war.
  • 1966 – NASA astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett, original Gemini 9 crew, are killed when their Northrop T-38A-50-NO Talon, 63-8181, N901NA, crashes into a building while attempting to land in fog at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri.
  • 1964 – The Toronto International Airport terminal building opened.
  • 1961 – Model Was KC-97 .. Mount Clemens, Mich. (AP) -- A loaded Air Force tanker plane smashed in a flaming smear across a busy highway late Tuesday, destroying two buildings and narrowly missing a tavern and a tulip farm house. The pilot had just veered his stricken ship, loaded with 9,500 gallons of fuel, away from a crowded housing project. The pilot, LT. JOHN C. BIBBLE, 24, Urbana, Ill., and the four other airmen aboard lost their lives. A housewife, RUTH KING, 32, said the four-engine, prop-driven KC97 from nearby Selfridge Air Force base struck "in a great big billow of flame and smoke." The big pot-bellied ship, crashing moments after takeoff, left a wake of burning wreckage. Pieces hung from overhead power lines and clogged U.S. 25, the highway leading from nearby Detroit. An Air Force spokesman said the ship was on a routine refueling mission when it apparently suffered a power failure on target. The ship veered away from a Selfridge Base housing project of 380.
  • 1948 – Two Army Air Force crew are killed in the crash of an North American T-6C-NT Texan, 41-32589, near Cowan, Tennessee when their aircraft impacts in mountainous terrain while flying from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Murphy, North Carolina. A search was begun when they were reported overdue on Sunday, 29 February. Rescuers labored for several hours to reach the wreckage which had been spotted earlier by a search plane. Capt. R. M. Howard of the Air Forces rescue service identified the victims as Frank Dreher, of West Columbia, South Carolina, a February 1948 Pre-med graduate of Clemson College; and Hubert Wells, of Murphy, North Carolina
  • 1947 – U. S. Army Air Forces Captain Robert E. Thacker (pilot) and Lieutenant John M. Ard (co-pilot) in the North American P-82 B Twin Mustang fighter Betty Jo on a single flight make both the longest nonstop flight without aerial refueling by a fighter aircraft, about 4,968 statute miles (7,994 km) from Hickam Field in Hawaii to La Guardia Field in New York City, and the fastest flight between Hawaii and New York City up to that time, 14 hours 31 min 50 seconds at an average speed of 342 mph (550 km/hr). It remains both the longest non-stop flight by a piston-engined fighter and the fastest Hawaii-to-New York City flight by a piston-engined aircraft in history.
  • 1943 – Aircraft of the U. S. Army Air Forces’ Eleventh Air Force have dropped 150 tons (136,079 kg) of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during the month, although half of their sorties have suffered from icy and corroded bomb racks that fail to release bombs.
  • 1942 – Since February 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II has flown 2,497 sorties against Malta, including 222 attacks against airfields alone.
  • 1940 – Germany begins the scrapping of the second Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, Flugzeugträger B, while she still is incomplete on the building ways. Scrapping is completed four months later.
  • 1929 – An amendment to the Air Commerce Act, effective in June, provides for the federal licensing of flying schools.
  • 1921 – Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot, was born (d. 2006). Colstermann was a French flying ace, author, engineer and politician.
  • 1919 – The first international air passenger by heavier than air machine arrived in Canada. W. E. Boeing was flown to Vancouver, BC from Seattle Washington, in a Boeing C-700 seaplane by Edward Hubbard.
  • 1918 – Regulation of the airways begins as US President Woodrow Wilson issues an order requiring licenses for civilian pilots and owners. Over 800 licenses are issued.
  • 1907 – Cabinet-maker Charles Voisin begins tests of the airplane made by his company for Lèon Delagrange. He takes off for a hop of several feet, but the fuselage breaks up.

References

  1. ^ Mount, Mike, "Military Clears F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Fly," CNN, March 1, 2013, 6:42 a.m.
  2. ^ Siddique, Haroon; Gabbatt, Adam; Owenwork, Paul (28 February 2011). "Libya Uprising – Live Updates". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
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