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Portal:Aviation

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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747 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...)

Selected image

Hapag-Lloyd Express
Hapag-Lloyd Express
Credit: Hapag-Lloyd Express
Hapag-Lloyd Express was a no-frills, high-frequency, express airline based in Hanover, Germany.

Did you know

...that the pioneer American airman Lowell Smith participated in the first mid-air refueling, the first aerial circumnavigation and held 16 records for military aircraft in speed, endurance and distance? ...that the Ryan X-13 Vertijet aircraft landed by using a hook on its nose to hang itself on a wire? ... that a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed shortly after take-off at Bakers Creek, Queensland in 1943, killing 40 of the 41 service personnel on board and making it Australia's worst aviation disaster?

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

Elizabeth Muriel Gregory "Elsie" MacGill (27 March 1905 – 4 November 1980), known as the Queen of the Hurricanes, was the world's first female aircraft designer. She worked as an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War and did much to make Canada a powerhouse of airplane construction during her years at Canada Car and Foundry (CC&F) in Fort William, Ontario. After her work at CC&F she ran a successful consulting business. Between 1967–1970 she was a commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, published in 1970.

Selected Aircraft

The Convair B-36 was a strategic bomber built by Convair for the United States Air Force, the first to have truly intercontinental range. Unofficially nicknamed the "Peacemaker", the B-36 was the first thermonuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the largest piston aircraft ever to be mass-produced, and the largest warplane of any kind.

The B-36 was the only American aircraft with the range and payload to carry such bombs from airfields on American soil to targets in the USSR, as storing nuclear weapons in foreign countries was diplomatically delicate. The nuclear deterrent the B-36 afforded may have kept the Soviet Army from fighting alongside the North Korean and Chinese armies during the Korean War. Convair touted the B-36 as an "aluminum overcast," a "long rifle" to give SAC a global reach. When General Curtis LeMay headed SAC (1949-57) and turned it into an effective nuclear delivery force, the B-36 formed the heart of his command. Its maximum payload was more than four times that of the B-29, even exceeding that of the B-52.

  • Span: 230 ft 0 in (70.10 m)
  • Length: 162 ft 1 in (49.40 m)
  • Height: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
  • Engines: 6× Pratt & Whitney R-4360-53 "Wasp Major" radials, 3,800 hp (2,500 kW) each
  • Cruising Speed: 230 mph (200 kn, 380 km/h) with jets off
  • Range: 6,795 mi (5,905 nmi, 10,945 km) with 10,000 lb (4,535 kg) payload
  • First Flight: 8 August 1946

Today in Aviation

September 11

  • 2004 – A Hellenic Army Boeing-Vertol CH-47SD Chinook, EZ-916, of 4 TEAS, ditches into the Aegean Sea off Mount Athos, Greece around 1056 hrs. killing all 17 on board. Among those killed was Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria.
  • 2003 – While landing aboard USS George Washington, operating off the Virginia Capes, an McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18D-32-MC Hornet (Lot 13), BuNo 164198, c/n 961/DO63, 'AD 432', of VFA-106, goes off the angle at ~1600 hrs. when the arresting cable parts, pilot ejects and is recovered. The broken cable, whipping back across the deck, injures eleven deck crew, the most serious of which are airlifted to shore medical facilities. Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxMox2Kdxs&feature=related
  • 2001 – United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200 with 44 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Newark, New Jersey; passengers struggle with the hijackers, and the aircraft crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all on board.
  • 2001 – American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757-200 with 64 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Dulles International Airport and is flown into The Pentagon; all on board are killed as well as 125 people in the building and on the ground
  • 2001 – United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767-200 with 65 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Boston and is flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; all on board are killed as well as others on the ground and in the building; the collapse of both towers brings the total death toll from the two crashes to at least 2,759.
  • 2001 – American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-200ER with 92 people on board, is hijacked after taking off from Boston, and is flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City; all on board are killed as well as others on the ground and in the building.
  • 1997 – NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.
  • 1996 – First flight of the Boeing Bird of Prey, an American black project aircraft, intended to demonstrate stealth technology.
  • 1994 – Death of Friedrich Schmiedl, Austrian Rocket pioneer.
  • 1991 – Death of Rudolf Kaiser, German glider designer who worked for Alexander Schleicher GmbH & Co.
  • 1991 – Continental Express Flight 2574, an Embraer 120RT Brasília, crashes on descent in Eagle Lake, Texas, killing all 14 people on board. Maintenance crews traded work shifts during repairs to the horizontal stabilizer, inadvertently leaving 47 bolts missing. Reformers pointed to this error and called for development of a "safety culture".
  • 1983 – First flight of the Agusta A129 Mangusta, an Italian attack helicopter and First attack helicopter to be designed and produced wholly in Western Europe.
  • 1982 – At an airshow in Mannheim, Germany, celebrating the 375th anniversary of that city, a United States Army Boeing-Vertol CH-47C Chinook, 74-22292, of the 295th Assault Support Helicopter Company—"Cyclones", located at Coleman Army Airfield, Coleman Barracks, near Mannheim, carrying parachutists crashed, killing 46 people. The crash was later found to be caused by an accumulation of ground walnut shells that had been used to clean the machinery.
  • 1981 – Giovanni Carta (John Carta) becomes the First man to land with a parachute on the top of the World Trade Center. (he sustained a 50$ fee).
  • 1973 – JAT Airways Flight 769, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, crashes into Mt. Maganik near Kolašin, Montenegro, killing all 41 on board.
  • 1972 – General Dynamics F-111A, 65-5703, c/n A1-21, of the 6510th Test Wing, used in spin tests out of Edwards AFB, California, crashes this date, impacting in the desert ~10 miles from the base in a near vertical dive at ~500 knots after the crew ejected in their escape capsule. Crew of Winters and Sharp, okay.
  • 1971 – Lockheed C-121 Constellation of the West Virginia Air National Guard, carrying five state governors to a conference in Puerto Rico, experiences engine problems, force-lands at Homestead AFB, Florida. Governors of Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, Texas and Utah, transfer to another aircraft to continue flight.
  • 1970 – First flight of the Britten-Norman Trislander (more formally designated the BN-2 A Mk III Trislander), a British 18-seat three-engined piston-powered civilian utility aircraft.
  • 1968 – Air France Flight 1611, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle, crashes off Nice, France, after a fire in the cabin, killing 95 passengers and crew.
  • 1968 – Second prototype Grumman/General Dynamics F-111B, BuNo 151971, c/n A2-02, crashes into the Pacific Ocean killing Hughes pilot Barton Warren and his RIO Anthony Byland.
  • 1966 – Death of Collett Everman Woolman, one of four founders of Delta Air Lines.
  • 1956 – Death of William Avery “Billy” Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED, Canadian WWI flying ace, officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace, and according to some sources, the top ace of the British Empire.
  • 1946 – A Lockheed P2 V-1 Neptune “The Truculent Turtle” sets a new distance record of 11,235 miles (18,082 km), Landing in Columbus, Ohio from Perth, Australia, after a 55 h and 18 min unrefueled flight and with a nine-month-old gray kangaroo, a gift from Australia for the Washington, D. C. zoo.
  • 1937 – Birth of Robert Laurel Crippen, US Navy pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1935 – Birth of Gherman Stepanovich Titov, Soviat air force pilot and cosmonaut.
  • 1933 – First flight of the Breguet 521, a French long-range military reconnaissance flying boat.
  • 1927 – The only Short Crusader, British racing seaplane, crashed during flying tests.
  • 1926 – First flight of the Vickers Type 123, a British single-seat biplane fighter prototype built as a private venture.
  • 1920 – Edison Mouton flies into Marina Field, San Francisco, to complete the First US transcontinental airmail flight. Having left from New York, it took Mouton and his crew over 75 hours to complete the feat.
  • 1917 – Birth of Donald James Matthew Blakeslee, USAF pilot whose career began as a pilot in the RCAF and flew Spitfire fighter aircraft, during WWII and became a member of the RAF Eagle squadrons. He flew more combat missions against the Luftwaffe than any other American fighter pilot.
  • 1912 – Lieutenant Riccardo Moizo, Italian pilot, is the First pilot to be captured in warfare when his Nieuport makes a forced landing at Azizia during the Libyan campaign. Moizo, at the time of his capture, was the longest serving pilot in the theatre with 11 months and 82 sorties to his name.
  • 1911 – Robert Grant Fowler takes off in a Wright biplane from San Francisco to Jacksonville, Florida, for a west to east coast-to-coast journey. It will take four months to complete the journey.
  • 1910 – Robert Loraine makes the First aeroplane flight across the Irish Sea, from Holyhead to Howth, in his Farman biplane, but fails to reach the Irish coast when his engine cuts out.
  • 1900 – Birth of Semyon Alekseyevich Lavochkin, Soviet aerospace engineer and Soviet aircraft designer.
  • 1893 – Birth of James Martin CBE DSc CEng FIMechE FRAeS, British engineer who, with Captain Valentine Baker, was the founder of the Martin-Baker aircraft company which is now a leading producer of aircraft ejection seats.
  • 1890 – Birth of Armando de Dominicis, Italian aviation pioneer and WWI pilot.

References

Edit today's anniversaries – September Archive – All anniversaries...


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