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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

A Ryanair Boeing 737 on the landing roll at Bristol Airport
A Ryanair Boeing 737 on the landing roll at Bristol Airport
Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 209 low-fare routes to 94 destinations across 17 European countries. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline, running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving costs down. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. It operates a fleet of 74 Boeing 737s, and currently has firm orders for an additional 225 Boeing 737-800 airplanes by 2010, with options on a further 193. Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial companies, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry. Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its labor union policies, and have charged that it practises deceptive advertising. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker (USAF)
A P-51 Mustang in a heritage flight during an airshow at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, USA. The P-51 was a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II. It remained in service with some air forces until the early 1980s.

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 the Ryan X-13 Vertijet aircraft landed by using a hook on its nose to hang itself on a wire? ... that when Lilian Bland built an aircraft in 1910, she used her aunt's ear-trumpet and a whisky bottle to feed petrol to the engine?

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

April 2

  • 2010 – An Embraer EMB 312 Tucano of the Brazilian Air Force "Smoke Squadron" crashed during an airshow at the Aeroporto Federal de Lages. The pilot, aged 33, died in the crash.
  • 2009 – Chemtrad Aviation Britten-Norman Islander RP-C764 crashes at Baggao, Philippines, killing all thirteen people on board. The aircraft was destroyed.
  • 2009 – A Spanish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet crashes in northern Spain. Pilot ejects safely.
  • 2005 – Royal Australian Navy Westland Sea King Mk50a, N16-100, '(9)02', helicopter Shark 02 of 817 Squadron RAN crashes on the Indonesian island of Nias while providing humanitarian support following the 2005 Sumatra earthquake, killing 9 Australian Defence Force personnel on board.
  • 2003 – A UH-60A Black Hawk (94-26557) of B Company, 2–3rd Aviation Regiment is shot down near Karbala, killing 7 soldiers and injuring 4 more.[4]
  • 2003 – F/A-18C Block 46 Hornet 164974 of VFA-195 is shot down by a US Patriot missile, killing the pilot.[5][6]
  • 2002 – A United States Navy Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon of HM-14 BuNo 163051 crashed on the runway at Bahrain International Airport. All 18 men and woman on board survived with only a few cases of minor injuries.
  • 1997 – A Boeing 777, powered by twin Rolls-Royce Trent 892 turbofans, returns to Seattle to set a new Eastbound speed around the world record of 553 mph. En route, the twinjet sets a Great Circle distance without landing record of 12,455.34 miles when flying from Seattle to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • 1997 – Craig D. Button (November 24, 1964—April 2, 1997), a United States Air Force pilot, dies when he mysteriously crashes an Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft in the Colorado Rockies. Before the incident, Captain Button inexplicably flew hundreds of miles off-course without radio contact, appeared to maneuver purposefully and did not attempt to eject before the crash. His death is regarded as a suicide because no other theory explains the events. His aircraft carried live bombs, which were never recovered. It took three weeks to find the crashsite. During that time, there was widespread public speculation about Captain Button's intentions and whereabouts.
  • 1986 – TWA Flight 840, a Boeing 727, is bombed by Palestinian militants, killing four out of 121 people on board. The plane manages to land safely in Athens.
  • 1984 – Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched aboard Soyuz T-11, and becomes the first Indian in space.
  • 1982 – The Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island.
  • 1982 – An Armada de la República Argentina (ARA) Westland Lynx HAS.2 from the 1ra Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Helicópteros supporting the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands crashes into the sea near the ARA Santísima Trinidad.
  • 1971 – Last internal Yukon flight from Victoria to Trenton.
  • 1956 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, ditches into Puget Sound after takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after the cowl flaps are incorrectly set for takeoff; four passengers and a flight attendant die, probably of hypothermia, while waiting for rescue; 33 survive.
  • 1955 – Trans-Canada Airlines introduced the Vickers Viscount airliner into regular service, making it the first North American airline to use turbine power aircraft.
  • 1944 – The first United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress arrives at Calcutta, India, after an 11,530-mile (18,567-km) trip from Kansas, which includes stops at Presque Isle, Maine; Gander, Newfoundland; Marrakech, Morocco; Cairo, Egypt; and Karachi, and a 2,700-mile (4,348-km) non-stop transatlantic flight between Gander and Marrakech.
  • 1937 – Swedish airplane manufacturer Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAA is established in Trollhättan, Sweden.
  • 1917 – The prelude to the battle of Vimy Ridge began as the Canadian gunners started pounding the German defences, from small howitzers to huge naval guns, using a nearly limitless supply of ammunition. It was the largest artillery poundings in history up to that point, using over one million shells. The attack lasted for seven days, and was loud enough to be heard in London. Germans in the front line trenches later called it “the week of suffering. ”

References

  1. ^ "Plane crashes in Siberia with 43 on board". News.ninemsn.com.au. AFP via Nine-MSN. November 28, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  2. ^ "Russian plane crash kills 31 in Siberia". BBC. April 2, 2012. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  3. ^ Heritage, Timothy (April 2, 2012). "Russian plane crash kills 31, exposes safety record". Reuters. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  4. ^ "Iraq Shot down US F/A-18 Hornet, Black Hawk Helicopter". People's Daily Online. 2003-04-03. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
  5. ^ Canadian Pugwash Group (2004-04-26). "Open Letter to Canadian Ministers". Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  6. ^ James Dao (2003-04-15). "A Trail of Pain From a Botched Attack in Iraq in 2003". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
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