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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

Flight 11 flightpath
Flight 11 flightpath
American Airlines Flight 11 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport. It was hijacked by five men and deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City as part of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the hijackers injured at least three people, forcefully breached the cockpit, and overpowered the pilot and first officer. Mohamed Atta, who was a known member of al-Qaeda, and trained as a pilot, took over the controls. Air traffic controllers noticed the flight was in distress when the crew stopped responding to them. They realized the flight had been hijacked when Atta mistakenly transmitted announcements to air traffic control. On board, two flight attendants contacted American Airlines, and provided information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew.

The aircraft crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46 local time; the impact killed all 92 people aboard, including the hijackers. Many people in the streets witnessed the collision, and Jules Naudet captured the impact on video. News agencies began to report on the incident soon after and speculated that the crash had been an accident. The impact and subsequent fire caused the North Tower to collapse, which resulted in thousands of additional casualties. During the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site, workers recovered and identified dozens of remains from Flight 11 victims, but many other body fragments could not be identified. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: NASA Langley Research Center
Coloured smoke reveals a vortex of air created by the wing of an airplane, also known as wake turbulence or jetwash. This turbulence can be especially hazardous during the landing and take off phases of flight, where an aircraft's proximity to the ground makes a timely recovery from turbulence-induced problems unlikely.

Did you know

...that the hyper engine was a hypothetical aircraft engine design meant to deliver 1 horsepower from 1 cubic inch of displacement? ...that one of the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic was the Italian Savoia-Marchetti S.55 flying boat, which went on to serve in the Luftwaffe in WWII?

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

Sophie Blanchard
Sophie Blanchard (25 March 1778 – 6 July 1819) was a French aeronaut and the wife of ballooning pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist, and after her husband's death she continued ballooning, making more than 60 ascents. Known throughout Europe for her ballooning exploits, Blanchard entertained Napoleon Bonaparte, who promoted her to the role of "Aeronaut of the Official Festivals", replacing André-Jacques Garnerin. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1814 she performed for Louis XVIII, who named her "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration".

Ballooning was a risky business for the pioneers. Blanchard lost consciousness on a few occasions, endured freezing temperatures and almost drowned when her balloon crashed in a marsh. In 1819, she became the first woman to be killed in an aviation accident when, during an exhibition in the Tivoli Gardens in Paris, she launched fireworks that ignited the gas in her balloon. Her craft crashed on the roof of a house and she fell to her death. She is commonly referred to as Madame Blanchard and is also known by many combinations of her maiden and married names, including Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard, Marie Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard, Marie Sophie Armant and Madeleine-Sophie Armant Blanchard.

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
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

January 23

  • 2013 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Al-Masna`Ah, Yemen, killing six Islamic militants, including two senior al-Qaeda commanders.[1]
  • 2010 – A United States Navy Beechcraft T-34C Turbo-Mentor, an upgraded version of the T-34 Mentor, crash-landed in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. One pilot was rescued and the other was missing. The plane, on a routine nighttime instrument training mission, crashed about 1845 hrs. and was 1-nautical-mile (1.9 km) north of Lakefront Airport in New Orleans on an apparent approach to land. Coast Guard teams rescued the student pilot about 9 p.m. with mild hypothermia and moderate injuries from the 57 degree water. The pilot, Lt. Clinton Wermers, 33, from Mitchell, South Dakota, was presumed dead. He had been assigned to Naval Air Station Whiting Field since March 2007. A memorial service was held for Lt. Wermers on 1 February at Whiting Field.
  • 2008 – crashes: A Polish military airplane EADS CASA C-295, '019', c/n S-043, crashed in forested area near Polish city Miroslawiec killing all 20 people aboard - 16 Polish Air Force officers (incl. one general, Gen. Andrzej Andrzejewski, who survived an ejection from a Su-22M-4K on 18 August 2003, and six colonels) and 4 crew.
  • 2007 – A Blackwater USA MD 530F helicopter is shot down by hostile fire in Baghdad. All of the 5 man crew are killed in the incident, likely executed after surviving the crash. The remaining survivor was also killed under unclear circumstances, when another Blackwater helicopter descended to the crash site.[2][3]
  • 2004 – ESA announced the discovery of water ice in the South Polar ice cap, using data taken on January 18 with the OMEGA instrument of Mars Express.
  • 2004 – An OH-58D Kiowa (93-0950) from 3–17 Cavalry Regiment crashes just after take-off outside Mosul, killing both pilots.
  • 2003 – The final communication is made between Earth and Pioneer 10, a spacecraft intended to fly past Jupiter. It was launched in 1972, and its last trajectory would have the craft the first artificial object to leave the solar system.
  • 2001 – Yemenia Flight 448, a Boeing 727, is hijacked 15 minutes after takeoff from Sana'a International Airport; the crew makes an emergency landing at Djibouti; the hijacker is subdued with no casualties to the 101 on board.
  • 1998 – First flight of the AEA Explorer (sometimes called the Explorer Explorer), an Australian large single-engine utility aircraft.
  • 1991 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U. S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8 B Harrier II and a U. S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes. U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders attack Iraqi ships, disabling a tanker, sinking a Winchester-class hovercraft refueling from the tanker, and sinking a Zhuk-class patrol boat.
  • 1990 – Mid-air collision between two Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 aircraft during a practice session at El Centro. One airplane, Angel Number 2, BuNo 161524, piloted by Capt. Chase Moseley (ejected) was destroyed and the other, Angel Number 1, badly damaged but managed to land safely. Both pilots survived unharmed.
  • 1982 – World Airways Flight 30, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, overshoots the runway at Boston, Massachusetts; two passengers were reported missing.
  • 1979 – Aeronautica Militare Italiana, Italian Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules MM62000, '46-14', c/n 4497, of the 46 Aerobrigata, jumped chocks during engine run-up, hit tree, written-off. Parts used to support c/n 4491, MM61995 damaged in hard landing, Pisa, January 1999. Hull at Milan-Malpensa, Italy, December 1979, 1989.
  • 1972 – The United States suspects that SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles have become operational in North Vietnam.
  • 1970 – Launch of ITOS-1, NASA operational sun-synchronous meteorological spacecraft.
  • 1961 – Death of Redford Henry “Red” Mulock, first Canadian WWI flying ace and the first in the RNAS, High ranking RCAF post WWI before joining Canadian Airways.
  • 1960 – Birth of Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver, skysurfer and BASE jumper.
  • 1957 – First Flight of the Nord 1500-02 Griffon II, 2nd experimental ramjet-powered fighter aircraft, evolution of the Griffon I.
  • 1953 – First peacetime award of DFC to member of the RCAF granted to F/L Ernie Glover for his Korean fighter exploits (3 Migs destroyed, 2 damaged).
  • 1951 – Birth of Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, American airliner pilot, safety expert, and accident investigator, famous for having ditched an Airbus A320-214 in the Hudson River off Manhattan, New York City, saving the lives of all 155 people on the aircraft.
  • 1949 – Birth of Robert Donald Cabana, USMC test pilot and NASA astronaut.
  • 1946 – Death of Heinrich Bongartz Pour le Merite, Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross, German WWI fighter ace. He also served as a night fighter commander in WWII.
  • 1944 – Off the Anzio beachhead, a raid by 55 German aircraft sinks the British destroyer HMS Janus with a torpedo and damages the destroyer HMS Jervis with a Fritz X radio-guided bomb.
  • 1943 – The pilot of a Japanese Nakajima A6 M2-N (Allied reporting name “Rufe”) floatplane fighter discovers that American forces have occupied Amchitka. Japanese aircraft from Kiska begin frequent raids against Amchitka that day and continue them for almost four weeks.
  • 1939 – Sole prototype Douglas 7B twin-engine attack bomber, designed and built as a company project, suffers loss of vertical fin and rudder during demonstration flight over Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport, California), flat spins into parking lot of North American Aviation, burns. Another source states that the test pilot, in an attempt to impress the Gallic passenger, attempted a snap roll at low altitude with one engine feathered, resulting in the fatal spin. Douglas test pilot Johnny Cable bails out at 300 feet, chute unfurls but does not have time to deploy, killed on impact, flight engineer John Parks rides airframe in and dies, but 33-year old French Air Force Capt. Paul Chemidlin, riding in aft fuselage near top turret, survives with broken leg, severe back injuries, slight concussion. Presence of Frenchman, a representative of foreign purchasing mission, causes furor in Congress by isolationists over neutrality and export laws. Type will be developed as Douglas DB-7.
  • 1930 – Birth of William Reid Pogue, USAF test pilot and NASA Astronaut.
  • 1929 – Clennell Haggerston “Punch” Dickins delivered the first airmail to the Northwest Territories. A flight into the high Arctic, travelling through Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, and into Aklavik on the Arctic Circle. A feat challenged further by the fact his compass did not work because of its proximity to the magnetic pole, forcing him to fly by sight.--Bikeal (talk) 19:50, 29 October 2012 (UTC)
  • 1925 – First flight of the Blériot 118, Twin seat twin engine high wing monoplane amphibian Fighter/trainer prototype.
  • 1918 – First American Expeditionary Force (AEF) balloon ascent is made at the Balloon School at Cuperly in France.
  • 1917 – Death of Hans Imelmann, German WWI flying ace, killed when gun fire from a B. E.2c struck his fuel tank Near Miraumont.
  • 1916 – Birth of Siegfried Schnell, German WWII flying ace.
  • 1911 – First flight of the Siemens-Schuckert I, German dirigible.
  • 1909 – First flight of the Blériot XI, light and sleek monoplane constructed of oak and poplar. The flying surfaces were covered with cloth. One of the most successful monoplanes designed and built before WWI.
  • 1899 – Birth of George Pearson Glen Kidston, British record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver.
  • 1898 – Birth of Ulrich Neckel, German WWI fighter ace.
  • 1897 – Birth of Ernst Zindel, German Engineer and designer of the Junkers Ju-52.
  • 1894 – Birth of Eric Landon Simonson, Australian WWI flying ace.

References

  1. ^ Almasmari, Hakim, "Drone Strike Kills Six Suspected Militants in Yemen," CNN, January 24, 2013, 6:40 a.m. EST,
  2. ^ "5 die in private U.S. helicopter crash in Iraq". CBC news. 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
  3. ^ "4 of 5 Blackwater employees shot after crash; fighting flares in Baghdad". MSNBC. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
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