Portal:Aviation
Main page | Categories & Main topics |
|
Tasks and Projects |
The Aviation Portal
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
Arkia was founded in 1949 as Israel Inland Airlines when it became clear that there was demand for a local airline to connect the north of Israel (especially Tel Aviv) with the southern region of the Negev, as a subsidiary of El Al, Israel's national airline. Flights starting the following year with the airline unsing De Havilland DH.89 aircraft, followed by Douglas DC-3s, to connect Rosh Pina in the north to the port of Eilat in the south. El Al held a 50% stake in the airline at this time with Histadrut, Israel's labour federation, being the other shareholder. The airline later evolved to become Eilata Airlines, Aviron, and then to Arkia Israel Airlines. In its first year of service, Israel Inland carried 13,485 passengers on their twice weekly flight, operated by a Curtis Commando. (Full article...)
Selected image
Did you know
...that in 1929 the Graf Zeppelin completed a circumnavigation of the globe in 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes? ...that Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris accomplished the world's first powered flight in 1856, with a glider that was pulled behind a running horse? ... that teenage aviatrix Elinor Smith, the "Flying Flapper of Freeport", had her pilot's license suspended for 15 days for flying under New York City's four East River bridges in 1928?
General images -
In the news
- May 29: Austrian Airlines cancels Moscow-bound flight after Russia refuses a reroute outside Belarusian airspace
- August 8: Passenger flight crashes upon landing at Calicut airport in India
- June 4: Power firm helicopter strikes cables, crashes near Fairfield, California
- January 29: Former basketball player Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash, aged 41
- January 13: Iran admits downing Ukrainian jet, cites 'human error'
- January 10: Fire erupts in parking structure at Sola Airport, Norway
- October 27: US announces restrictions on flying to Cuba
- October 3: World War II era plane crashes in Connecticut, US, killing at least seven
- September 10: Nevada prop plane crash near Las Vegas leaves two dead, three injured
- August 6: French inventor Franky Zapata successfully crosses English Channel on jet-powered hoverboard
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Selected biography
Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was in the United States Navy and saw action in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety of aircraft. As a research pilot, Armstrong served as project pilot on the F-100 Super Sabre A and C aircraft, F-101 Voodoo, and the Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. He also flew the Bell X-1B, Bell X-5, North American X-15, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Stratojet, KC-135 Stratotanker and Paresev. He graduated from Purdue University.
Selected Aircraft
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic fighter-bomber originally developed for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. Proving highly adaptable, it became a major part of the air wings of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Air Force. It was used extensively by all three of these services during the Vietnam War, serving as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, as well as being important in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles by the close of U.S. involvement in the war.
First entering service in 1960, the Phantom continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force; the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy; and the F/A-18 in the U.S. Marine Corps. It remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. The Phantom was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms in the Iran–Iraq War. Phantoms remain in front line service with seven countries, and in use as an unmanned target in the U.S. Air Force.
Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built. This extensive run makes it the second most-produced Western jet fighter, behind the F-86 Sabre at just under 10,000 examples.
- Span: 38 ft 4.5 in (11.7 m)
- Length: 63 ft 0 in (19.2 m)
- Height: 16 ft 6 in (5.0 m)
- Engines: 2× General Electric J79-GE-17A axial compressor turbojets, 17,845 lbf (79.6 kN) each
- Cruising Speed: 506 kn (585 mph, 940 km/h)
- First Flight: 27 May 1958
- Number built: 5,195
Today in Aviation
- 2021 - First flight of the Boeing 737 MAX 10
- 2013 – A tornado passes between Runways 34R and 34L at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, passing 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) east of the airport's A gates, causing thousands of people to take cover in stairwells, restrooms, and other safe areas. The anemometer at the airport's weather station records a peak wind gust of 97 mph (156 km/h) before breaking. Nine flights are diverted to other airports during the 40-minute tornado warning.[1][2]
- 2009 – An Indian Air Force Mikoyan MiG-21 Bison from the Chabua Air Force Station, Assam, India crashes due to a technical fault while on a routine training flight, the pilot successfully ejecting from the aircraft.
- 2004 – Airblue flies its first flight, a private airline in Pakistan
- 1986 – Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, collides with a Bell 206 helicopter over the Tonto Plateau, killing all 25 on board both aircraft.
- 1983 – Launch: Space shuttle Challenger STS-7 at 11:33:00 UTC. Mission highlights: First US woman in space Sally Ride; Multiple comsat deployments; First deployment and retrieval of a satellite SPAS.
- 1981 – First flight of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk
- 1972 – British European Airways Flight 548, a Hawker Siddeley Trident, undergoes a series of stalls as a result of pilot error, followed by a deep stall, crashing near Staines, United Kingdom; all 118 on board are killed.
- 1972 – General Dynamics F-111A, 67-0082, c/n A1-127, crashes near Eglin AFB, Florida, shortly after takeoff. Lost control after an external fuel fire and explosion. Unsuccessful ejection, crew killed.
- 1971 – Southwest Airlines is founded
- 1965 – The first B-52 Stratofortress missions are flown against North Vietnam
- 1965 – Lockheed NF-104A Starfighter, 56-0756, c/n 183-1044, assigned to Air Force Systems Command Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB, California, suffers rocket oxidizer explosion this date, blowing off portion of the tail, pilot landed safely. Repaired and flown again.
- 1965 – On the very first Operation Arc Light mission flown by Boeing B-52 Stratofortress aircraft of SAC to hit a target in South Vietnam, a total of 30 B-52Fs depart Andersen AFB, Guam just after midnight, flying in ten cells of three aircraft, to hit a suspected Viet Cong stronghold in the Bến Cát District, 40 miles N of Saigon. Unexpected tailwinds from a typhoon cause the bombers to arrive seven minutes early at their refuelling point with KC-135 tankers over the South China Sea at a point between South Vietnam and the island of Luzon. The three planes of Green Cell, in the lead, begin a 360 degree turn to make their rendezvous, and in doing so cross the path of Blue Cell and directly towards oncoming Yellow Cell. In the darkness, Boeing B-52F-105-BO Stratofortress, 57-0047, and Boeing B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress, 57-0179, both of the 441st Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, attached to the 3960th Strategic Wing, collide, killing eight crew, with four survivors, plus one body recovered. The four are located and picked up by an HU-16A-GR Albatross amphibian, 51-5287 (?), but it is damaged on take-off by a heavy sea state and those on board have to transfer to a Norwegian freighter and a Navy vessel, the Albatross sinking thereafter. Another B-52 loses a hydraulic pump and radar, cannot rendezvous with the tankers and aborts to Okinawa. Twenty-seven Stratofortresses drop on a one-mile by two-mile target box from between 19,000 and 22,000 feet, a little more than 50 percent of the bombs falling within the target zone. The force returns to Andersen except for one bomber with electrical problems that recovers to Clark AFB, the mission having lasted 13 hours. Post-strike assessment by teams of South Vietnamese troops with American advisors find evidence that the VC had departed the area before the raid, and it is suspected that infiltration of the south's forces have tipped off the north because of the ARVN troops involved in the post-strike inspection.
- 1962 – To reduce the chances of Viet Cong forces slipping away from large South Vietnamese ground units by fleeing operations areas in small groups, U. S. Marine Corps helicopters operating in South Vietnam begin to use the “Eagle Flight” tactic, in which Marine transport helicopters circle contested areas and drop off South Vietnamese troops when and where they are needed to block escaping Viet Cong forces. It will become a proven tactic by the middle of July.
- 1953 – A United States Air Force Douglas C-124A Globemaster II, 51-0137, c/n 43471, crashes at Kodaira, Japan after engine failure on take-off at Tachikawa Air Force Base, Tokyo, Japan. 129 die, making this the deadliest recorded disaster in aviation history at the time.
- 1951 – An infamous day in the history of RAF Biggin Hill when three Gloster Meteors and their pilots are killed in accidents, all three crashing in an area of about 100 yards. The first, a Mk.8 piloted by Flight Lieutenant Gordon McDonald of 41 Squadron, crashed shortly after take off, corkscrewing as pieces of structure fell from the aircraft. The aircraft hit a bungalow killing the pilot. The jet wash of his flight leader was named as a possible cause. Within seconds of this accident two Mk.4 Meteors of 600 Sqn, piloted by Sergeant Kenneth Clarkson and Squadron Leader Phillip Sandeman, both circling over the wreckage and preparing to land, collided at 2,000 feet (610 m) above the scene. Although Sandeman managed to bail out he was killed when his parachute failed to open. Clarkson was killed in his aircraft. A week after this incident, another Meteor overshot the runway, narrowly missing passing cars. After these incidents, several residents stated they would be "selling up" and there were calls for traffic lights to be sited on the Bromley road for use during take-offs and landings. Princess Elizabeth, soon to be Queen Elizabeth II, was visiting the base on this day.
- 1940 – The last deployed element of the RAF’s Advanced Air Striking Force – some Hurricane fighters – withdraws from France and the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom.
- 1939 – The first direct transatlantic seaplane service is begun by Pan American Airways. It flies from New York to Southampton, England, by way of Botwood, Newfoundland, and Foynes, Ireland.
- 1937 – First flight of the de Havilland Don
- 1937 – June 18-20, Valery Chkalov, G. F. Baidukov, A. V. Belyakov flew from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington, USA via the North Pole.
- 1935 – The Seversky SEV-2XP is heavily damaged (perhaps intentionally) while en route to Wright Field, Ohio, for the 1935 U.S. Army Air Corps competition for a new single-seat fighter. The two-seat design is reworked into a single-seater with retractable undercarriage when the Air Corps delays the competition until April 1936.
- 1932 – First flight of the Dewoitine D.500
- 1928 – A Latham 47 flying boat carrying Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen and five others on a flight to search for survivors of the Italian airship Italia disappears. Their bodies are never found.
- 1926 – First flight of the Blackburn Iris
- 1922 – The first soaring flight of one hour in slope lift (using hill currents) is made by Arthur Martens in a Vampyr sailplane designed by Wolfgang Klemmperer at the Wasserkuppe, Rhön, Germany.
- 1920 – The first aircraft were taken on strength by the Canadian Air Force. They were four Avro 504 ks, registered G-CYAA to G-CYAD.
- 1916 – First German ace Max Immelmann (17 victories) is killed at ~2215 hrs. when his Fokker E.III monoplane, 246-16, crashes after breaking up in the air when the interrupter gear malfunctions and he shoots away his own propeller. He had been engaging an F.E.2b piloted by 2nd Lt. G. R. Gubbin with Cpl. J. H. Waller as gunner. Gubbin and Waller were credited with the victory, but another theory posits that Immelmann may have taken hits from friendly AAA, as the propeller failure would not necessarily have caused the complete airframe disintegration that occurred.
- 1877 – Samuel Archer King makes a two-hour airmail flight of 26 miles between Nashville and Gallatin, Tennessee, in the balloon Buffalo.
- 1861 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe transmits the first telegraphic message ever sent from a balloon during a test at the Columbia Armory, Washington, D. C.
References
- Shortcuts to this page: Portal:Airplanes • P:AVIA