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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 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

Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a Boeing 737-8EH, registration PR-GTD, on a scheduled passenger flight from Manaus, Brazil, to Rio de Janeiro. On 29 September 2006, just before 17:00 BRT, it collided in midair with an Embraer Legacy business jet over the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. All 154 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737 died when the aircraft broke up in midair and crashed into an area of dense rainforest, while the Embraer Legacy, despite sustaining serious damage to its left wing and tail, landed safely with its seven occupants uninjured. The accident, which triggered a crisis in Brazilian civil aviation, was the deadliest in that country's aviation history at the time, surpassing VASP Flight 168, which crashed in 1982 with 137 fatalities near Fortaleza. It was also the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737 aircraft at that time. It was subsequently surpassed by Air India Express Flight 812, which crashed at Mangalore, India, on 22 May 2010 with 158 fatalities. The accident was investigated by both the Brazilian Air Force's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with a final report issued on 10 December 2008. CENIPA concluded that the accident was caused by errors committed both by air traffic controllers and by the American pilots, while the NTSB determined that all pilots acted properly and were placed on a collision course by a variety of "individual and institutional" air traffic control errors. (Full article...)

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Did you know

...that Ansett Airlines Flight 232 from Adelaide to Alice Springs in 1972 was the first aircraft hijacking to take place in Australia? ...that on May 3, 2002 a military MiG-21bis aircraft crashed into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight? ...that the Pterodactyl Ascender (pictured) has been one of the most influential designs in ultralight aviation?

More Did you know facts

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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

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.

During his formative years Trenchard struggled academically, failing many examinations and only just succeeding in meeting the minimum standard for commissioned service in the British Army. As a young infantry officer, Trenchard served in India and in South Africa. During the Boer War, Trenchard was critically wounded and as a result of his injury, he lost a lung, was partially paralysed and returned to Great Britain. While convalescing in Switzerland he took up bobsleighing and after a heavy crash, Trenchard found that his paralysis was gone and that he could walk unaided. Some months later, Trenchard returned to South Africa before volunteering for service in Nigeria. During his time in Nigeria, Trenchard commanded the Southern Nigeria Regiment for several years and was involved in efforts to bring the interior under settled British rule and quell inter-tribal violence.

In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School. He held several senior positions in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, serving as the commander of Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. Returning as Chief of the Air Staff under Winston Churchill in 1919, Trenchard spent the following decade securing the future of the Royal Air Force. He was Metropolitan Police Commissioner in the 1930s and a defender of the RAF in his later years.

Selected Aircraft

The Beechcraft King Air is a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation (now the Beechcraft Division of Hawker Beechcraft). The King Air has been in continuous production since 1964, the longest production run of any civilian turboprop aircraft. It has outlasted all of its previous competitors and as of 2006 is one of only two twin-turboprop business airplanes in production (the other is the Piaggio Avanti).

Historically, the King Air family comprises a number of models that fall into four families, the Model 90 series, Model 100 series, Model 200 series, and Model 300 series. The last two types were originally marketed as the Super King Air, but the "Super" moniker was dropped in 1996. As of 2006, the only small King Air in production is the conventional-tail C90GT.

  • Span: 50 ft 3 in (15.33 m)
  • Length: 35 ft 6in (10.82 m)
  • Height: 14 ft 3 in (4.35 m)
  • Engines: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-21 turboprops, 550 shp (410 kW) each
  • Cruising Speed: 284 mph (247 knots ,457 km/h)
  • First Flight: May 1963
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Today in Aviation

October 30

  • 2012 – The Syrian Air Force carries out scores of airstrikes around Syria, the most widespread bombing in a single day since the Syrian Civil War began 19 months before, according to anti-regime activists. Maarat al-Numan is among the hardest-hit places,[1] and air strikes level areas of Douma, leaving 18 people dead.[2]
  • 2012 – Syrian Air Force Major General Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khalidi is assassinated in Damascus, Syria.
  • 2003 – AH-64D Apache　00-5211 (ex AH-64A 86-9009) of 6–6th Cavalry Regiment crashes near Balad AAF, Iraq, and burned out. Both crewmembers are safe.[3]
  • 1985 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-61-A at 17:00:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Spacelab-D1, Germany funded mission, last successful mission of Challenger.
  • 1981 – A United States Air Force Boeing B-52D Stratofortress, 55-078, of the 22d Bomb Wing, March AFB, California, crashes on the eastern Colorado prairie near La Junta at 0630 hrs. while on a low-level (400 foot altitude) training mission, killing all eight crew. No weapons were on board.
  • 1976 – Pan Am Flight 50, operated by the 747SP named Clipper New Horizons (N533 PA), lands back in San Francisco 54 hours 7 min 12 seconds after it left, thereby setting a new speed record for a round-the-world polar flight. Over 170 passengers paid $2222 (economy) to $3333 (first class) for the privilege of flying over the North and South Poles with musicians, a hair dresser and a Gucci fashion show on board. The flight also made stops in London, Cape Town and Auckland along the way. Earlier that year, the same aircraft (though named Clipper Liberty Bell at the time) set a speed record for circumnavigating the globe around the Equator.
  • 1963 – Mrs. Hester Dunlap, spouse of A/M CR Dunlap, christened the first production Canadair CL-41 for the RCAF, “Tutor”.
  • 1962 – Third prototype Hawker Siddeley P.1127, XP972, first flown 5 April 1962, is severely damaged when the Bristol-Siddeley Pegasus 2 fails following a main bearing seizure during a high-G turn. Hawker's chief experimental test pilot Hugh Merewether attempts forced landing at RAF Tangmere, but the undercarriage collapses, followed by a titanium fire. Pilot escapes unhurt but the airframe is not repaired.
  • 1961 – The Soviet Union detonates Tsar Bomba over an island in the Arctic Ocean. The 58 megaton bomb remains the largest manmade explosive ever detonated.
  • 1959 – Piedmont Airlines Flight 349, a Douglas DC-3, crashes on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Charlottesville, Virginia, killing the crew of three and 23 of 24 passengers; the sole survivor is seriously injured; the cause is a navigational error during an Instrument Landing System approach.
  • 1945 – No. 166 Squadron was disbanded.
  • 1944 – Kamikazes damage the aircraft carriers USS Franklin (CV-13) and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) off Leyte.
  • 1942 – F/O DF Raymes and crew in a Douglas B-18 Digby of No. 10 (BR) Squadron destroyed the German submarine U-520 far out in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1942 – F/O EL Robinson and crew in a Lockheed Hudson of No. 145 (BR) Squadron, destroyed the German submarine U-658, 320 miles east of St. John’s Newfoundland.
  • 1938 – Another Nationalist counteroffensive begins in the Battle of the Ebro, preceded by a three-hour bombardment of Republican positions by artillery and over 100 Nationalist aircraft.
  • 1935 – The United Airlines Cheyenne test crash occurred on 1935 during a flight to check the instruments of a Boeing 247D. The aircraft was seen to enter a turn, drop its nose, impact the ground and burst into fire. The Probable Cause was the pilot’s initiation of an abrupt maneuver with insufficient altitude for safety.
  • 1918 – Flying a SPAD XIII fighter, Eddie Rickenbacker shoots down a German observation balloon near Remonville, France, for his 26th and final aerial victory. His 26 victories (22 aircraft and four balloons) will make him the top-scoring American ace of World War I.
  • 1908 – Henry Farman performs the first cross-country flight in Europe as well as the first flight between two towns.

References

  1. ^ "Syrian regime attacks strategic northern city", Associated Press
  2. ^ "Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera".
  3. ^ "2000 USAF Serial Numbers". Retrieved 2010-02-17.
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