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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

Air Force One

Air Force One (the ATC callsign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President) has, since 1990, consisted of two specifically-configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft, known as the VC-25. The planes' three floors (4,000 square feet – 372 m²) include multiple modifications including the president's executive suite which includes a private dressing room, workout room, lavatory, shower, and private office. (Full article...)

More selected articles

Selected image

Bell X-1

Credit: NASA

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 Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan houses the only SR-71B Blackbird in existence? ... that the Tony Jannus Award for distinguished achievement in commercial aviation is named for the pilot of the first scheduled commercial airline flight?

General images -

The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Cathay Pacific's first class cabin on board a Boeing 747-400 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917 (from History of aviation)
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  The business class cabin on an A350 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
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  French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)
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  The Wright Military Flyer aboard a wagon in 1908 (from History of aviation)
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  One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
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  Félix du Temple's 1874 Monoplane (from History of aviation)
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  1928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
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  D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
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  "Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
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  "Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
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  The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
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  Daedalus working on Icarus' wings (from History of aviation)
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  Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
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  The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
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  First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
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  Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
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  Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
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  Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
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  General aviation aircraft at Cheb Airfield in Czech Republic (from General aviation)
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  Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
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  Some wide-body jets: a Boeing 777 of United in the foreground, one Boeing 787s and one Boeing 777 of Air Canada, and two Airbus A380s; one of Singapore Airlines and the other of Thai Airways International. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Nieuport IV, operated by most of the world's air forces before WW1 for reconnaissance and bombing, including during the Italian-Turkish war (from History of aviation)
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  Santos-Dumont's "Number 6" rounding the Eiffel Tower in the process of winning the Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize, October 1901 (from History of aviation)
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  Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
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  Robinson R22, a light piston-engine helicopter (from General aviation)
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  The economy class cabin of an Airbus A350 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Experimental helicopter by Enrico Forlanini (1877), exposed at the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy (from History of aviation)
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  Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter design (from History of aviation)
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  Sailplane, a Rolladen-Schneider LS4 (from General aviation)
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  First female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, reviews her Breguet 19 (from History of aviation)
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  Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the Moon (from History of aviation)
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  Cessna CitationJet/M2, part of the Citation family of business jets (from General aviation)
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  Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
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  1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
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  Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
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  The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
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  Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
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  Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (from History of aviation)
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  Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)
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  La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
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  Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
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  Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal

• 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:

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  Commons
  Free media repository

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  Wikibooks
  Free textbooks and manuals

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  Wikidata
  Free knowledge base

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  Wikinews
  Free-content news

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  Wikiquote
  Collection of quotations

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  Wikisource
  Free-content library

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  Wikiversity
  Free learning tools

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  Wikivoyage
  Free travel guide

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  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

Selected biography

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He is most famous for his design of the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and the suborbital rocket plane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004.

Selected Aircraft

F-4E from 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron dropping 500 lb (230 kg) Mark 82 bombs

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

October 21

• 2011 – An electric-powered multicopter achieves sustained flight without ground assistance for the first time, when the battery-powered, 16-rotor e-volo VC1 helicopter achieves an altitude of 3 meters (10 feet) for 90 seconds at Karlsruhe, Germany. The VC1 reportedly can remain airborne for 20 minutes on a single charge. The flight will win e-volo the Lindbergh Prize for advances in environmentally friendly ("green") aviation.

• 2011 – First flight of the e-volo VC1

• 2009 – Northwest Airlines Flight 188, an Airbus A320-212 with 149 people on board, lands in Minneapolis, Minnesota, an hour late after its pilots overshoot Minneapolis when they become distracted by a discussion of their schedules.

• 2009 – Agreement announced for sale of London Gatwick Airport from BAA Limited to Global Infrastructure Partners, to comply with Competition Commission requirements.

• 2009 – Azza Transport Flight 2241, a Boeing 707-330C, crashes on take off from Sharjah International Airport, United Arab Emirates; all 6 crew members are killed.

• 1989 – Tan-Sahsa Flight 414, a Boeing 727, crashes into a mountain known as Cerro de Hula near Tegucigalpa, Honduras due to pilot error; 127 of 146 on board die.

• 1986 – British Airways is offered for public sale by the British government

• 1982 – A Swiss Air Force Sud Alouette III crashed near Urnasch, six killed.

• 1978 – A man named Frederich Valentich mysteriously disappears while flying a Cessna 182L over the Bass Strait in Australia, after encountered an unidentified flying object. During six minutes after first asking air traffic control about other aircraft in the area, he continued to describe a craft of some sort that did not resemble an airplane and was moving all around him as he flew. His transmission ultimately ended with 17 seconds of metallic scraping sounds before cutting. No trace of him or his aircraft were ever found.

• 1971 – First flight of the Italair Pegaso

• 1970 – Caledonian Airways takes over British United Airways.

• 1967 – During a Laughlin AFB, Texas, airshow, USAF Thunderbirds No. 6, a North American F-100D-20-NA Super Sabre, 55-3520, piloted by Capt. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak, crashes, but he succeeds in ejecting as the plane breaks up. As McPeak pulls up to begin a series of vertical rolls, the wing center box fails at ~6.5 Gs, and the engine catches fire as the center fuel tank ruptures, dumping fuel into the engine bay. The pilot ejects and lands near to the crowd. This crash limited flying on all USAF Super Sabres to 4G. This was the first Thunderbird crash during a performance.

• 1966 – First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-40

• 1961 – First flight of the Breguet Atlantic

• 1961 – Vought F8U-1 Crusader, BuNo 145357, 'AB 12', of VF-11, arrestor hook and right landing gear broke during heavy landing on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, with aircraft catching alight and going over port side. A series of nine photographs taken by Photographer's Mate L.J. Cera showed the crash sequence with pilot Lt. J.G Kryway ejecting in Martin-Baker Mk. F-5 seat just as the fighter leaves the deck. These images were widely distributed in the Navy to assure pilots that the seat could save them. Kryway escapes with minor injuries, being picked up by helicopter ten minutes later. Joe Baugher notes that date of 21 August 1961 has also been reported.

• 1954 – XA546, a Royal Air Force Gloster Javelin FAW.1 on a pre-delivery test flight, crashes into the Bristol Channel.

• 1950 – First flight of the Martin 4-0-4

• 1947 – First flight of the Leduc 0.10

• 1947 – First flight of the Northrop YB-49 jet-powered Flying Wing

• 1944 – A Japanese plane carrying a 200-pound (91 kg) bomb crashes into HMAS Australia off the coast of the Philippines.

• 1942 – A Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress, 40-3089, of the 5th Bomb Group/11th Bomb Group, with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, America's top-scoring World War I ace (26 kills), aboard on a secret mission, is lost at sea in the central Pacific Ocean when the bomber goes off-course. After 24 days afloat, he and surviving crew are rescued by the U.S. Navy after having been given up for lost, discovered by OS2U Kingfisher crew.

• 1941 – First prototype Saro Lerwick, L7248, on strength with the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment, crashes into hill at Faslane, probably as a result of engine failure, with seven crew killed.

• 1937 – Nationalist aircraft sink the Republican destroyer Ciscar at Gijón.

• 1936 – Pan American World Airways initiates six-day-a-week passenger service between San Francisco, California, and Manila in the Philippine Islands via Honolulu, Hawaii.

• 1929 – The Colonial Flying Service and Scully Walton Ambulance Company organize the United States' first civilian air ambulance service.

• 1926 – British airship R.33 makes further parasite fighter tests, releasing two Gloster Grebes from 2,500 feet (760 m).

• 1921 – First flight of the Thomas-Morse MB-6, a later redesignated Thomas-Morse R-2.

References

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