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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

Hot air balloon
Hot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the Montgolfier brothers.

A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule) which carries the passengers and a source of heat. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.

Recently, balloon envelopes have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of commercial products. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships. (Full article...)

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Schlieren photography (from the German word for "streaks") allows the visualization of density changes, and therefore shock waves, in fluid flow. Schlieren techniques have been used for decades in laboratory wind tunnels to visualize supersonic flow about model aircraft, but not full scale aircraft until recently. Dr. Leonard Weinstein of NASA Langley Research Center developed the first Schlieren camera, which he calls SAF (Schlieren for Aircraft in Flight), that can photograph the shock waves of a full sized aircraft in flight. He successfully took a picture which clearly shows the shock waves about a T-38 Talon aircraft on December 13, 1993 at Wallops Island, MD. The camera was then brought to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center because of the high number of supersonic flights there.

Did you know

...that the mysterious objects known as Black Triangles may actually be hybrid airships? ...that the Aerocar Coot was a two-seat amphibious aircraft designed for home-building by Moulton Taylor? ... that Samuel Frederick Henry Thompson, a British flying ace of World War I, scored 30 kills in five months of service and won both the DFC and MC?

More Did you know facts

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

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Wikinews Aviation portal
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Selected biography

AIR VICE-MARSHAL GEORGE JONES
Air Marshal Sir George Jones KBE, CB, DFC (18 October 1896 – 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from being a private soldier in World War I to Air Marshal in 1948. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force’s top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his head of operations and nominal subordinate, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock.

Jones first saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps the following year. Initially an air mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France, achieving seven victories to become an ace. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly-formed RAAF in 1921, rising steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II.

He did not actively seek the position of Chief of the Air Staff before being appointed in 1942, and his conflict with Bostock—with whom he had been friends for 20 years—was partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. Following his retirement from the RAAF he continued to serve in the aircraft industry and later ran unsuccessfully for political office.

Selected Aircraft

Concorde at Heathrow
Concorde at Heathrow

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST), along with the Tupolev Tu-144, was one of only two models of supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service.

Concorde had a cruise speed of Mach 2.02 (around 2170 km/h or 1,350 mph) and a maximum cruise altitude of 60,000 feet (18 300 metres) with a delta wing configuration and a reheat-equipped evolution of the engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. The engines were built by Rolls-Royce. Concorde was the first civil airliner to be equipped with an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system. Commercial flights, operated by British Airways and Air France, began on January 21, 1976 and ended on October 24, 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on November 26 that year.

Construction of the first two prototypes began in February 1965. Concorde 001 was built by Aerospatiale at Toulouse and Concorde 002 by BAC at Filton, Bristol. Concorde 001 took off for the first test flight from Toulouse on March 2, 1969 and the first supersonic flight followed on October 1. As the flight programme of the first development aircraft progressed, 001 started off on a sales and demonstration tour beginning on September 4, 1971. Concorde 002 followed suit on June 2, 1972 with a sales tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to commemorate its opening.

  • Span: 84 ft 0 in (25.6 m).
  • Length: 202 ft 4 in[2] (61.66 m)
  • Height: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m )
  • Engines: 4× Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 610 afterburning turbojets 170 kN each.
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 2.04 (1,350 mph, 2,170 km/h)
  • First Flight: March 2, 1969
  • Number built: 20 (including prototypes)

Today in Aviation

July 16

  • 2011 – Launch of GPS IIF-2, GPS satellite.
  • 2009 – N350AN, a Boeing 767-323ER operated by American Airlines, is substantially damaged when the nosewheel collapses on the ground at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, United States, during post-maintenance checks.
  • 2009 – A Pakistan Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16A Block 15AQ OCU Fighting Falcon, 92729, ex-92-0405, on a routine night training exercise from No. 9 Squadron from Mushaf Airbase crashes 105 km south-west of Sargodha, Pakistan resulting in the death of the pilot, Squadron Leader Saud Ghulam Nabi. Another source gives the accident date as 17 July.
  • 2007 – A US F-16, serial 92-3901, from the 35th FW crashed. The pilot survived. The crash was attributed to under-inflation of the landing gear tires.[1]
  • 2005 – An Equatorial Express Antonov An-24 crashes into a mountain side near Baney, Equatorial Guinea; all 60 on board die.
  • 2004 – Death of Major General Charles W. Sweeney, USAAF WWII pilot and the pilot who flew the "Fat Man" atomic bomb to Nagasaki.
  • 2002 – Bristow Helicopters Sikorsky S-76 A crash: G-BJVX, a commercial Sikorsky S-76 A helicopter operated by Norwich-based Bristow Helicopters, crashed in the southern North Sea while it was making a ten minute flight between the gas production platform Clipper and the drilling rig Global Santa Fe Monarch, after which it was to return to Norwich Airport. The accident caused the death of all those on board (two crew members and nine Shell workers as passengers). The body of the eleventh man has never been recovered.
  • 1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr. plane crash: A Piper Saratoga piloted by John F. Kennedy, Jr. – The son of President John F. Kennedy – crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, killing all three people on board: Kennedy, his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette.
  • 1989 – European air traffic is halted due to industrial action by French air traffic controllers.
  • 1986 – Launch of Soyuz T-15, Soviet manned mission to both space stations Mir and Salyut 7.
  • 1986 – The Atlas Cheetah, fighter aircraft built as a major upgrade of the Dassault Mirage III by the Atlas Aircraft Corporation (later Denel Aviation) of South Africa, is First unveiled.
  • 1969 – Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.
  • 1965 – First launch of the Proton, expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches.
  • 1962 – NASA civilian Test pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,600 m.
  • 1957 – KLM Flight 844, a Lockheed Super Constellation, crashes after takeoff from Biak-Mokmer Airport, Indonesia, killing 58 of 68 on board.
  • 1957 – Flying a Vought F8U-1P Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft, United States Marine Corps Major John H. Glenn sets a North American transcontinental speed record, flying from Los Alamitos, California, to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City nonstop in 3 hours, 28 min, 50 seconds, at an average speed of 723.517 mph (1,165.084 km/hr) with three aerial refuelings.
  • 1956 – First flight of The Lavochkin La-250 "Anakonda", Soviet high-altitude interceptor aircraft prototype.
  • 1954 – Canadian fighter pilots, flying Sabre Mk.Vs, participated in Exercise “Dividend” in the skies over Great Britain to test the British air defence system.
  • 1953 – USAF Lieutenant Colonel W. F. Barnes, flying a North American F86D Sabre, sets the world's first speed record over 700mph
  • 1951 – First flight of the Iberavia I-11 EC-AFE (Or Iberavia I-11), Spanish low-wing monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed, tricycle undercarriage and a large, bubble canopy over the two side-by-side seats.
  • 1950 – Okinawa-based U. S. Navy PB4Y-2 Privateers of Patrol Squadron 28 (VP-28) begin patrols of the coast of the People’s Republic of China.
  • 1950 – Birth of Valery Yevgenyevich Maksimenko, Soviet Air Force Test Pilot.
  • 1950 – First flight of the Boisavia Chablis, French 2-seat high wing monoplane light sport aircraft prototype
  • 1948 – Catalina seaplane Miss Macao (VR-HDT), operated by a Cathay Pacific subsidiary, with 23 passengers and 3 crew on board flying from Macau to Hong Kong is hijacked mid-way over the Pearl River Delta by a group of 4 hijackers attempting to rob the passengers on board. The pilot is attacked and the aircraft loses control during the ensuing struggle in the cockpit. The subsequent crash kills all on board except one passenger, who was later identified to be the lead hijacker. This is the first known case of airliner hijack.
  • 1947 – Geoffrey Tyson test-pilots the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 TG263, the first jet fighter to be modified as a flying boat.
  • 1945 – 471 B-29 s drop 3,678 tons (3,336,660 kg) of bombs on Numazu and other cities in Japan.
  • 1945 – First atomic weapon is successfully detonated at the Trinity test site at Alamogordo in New Mexico, USA.
  • 1944 – Royal Navy Vought Corsair I out of NAS Brunswick, Maine, is destroyed when it flies into Sebago Lake near Raymond, Maine; crew condition unknown.
  • 1943 – An Italian torpedo bomber damages the British aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable off Cape Passero, forcing her to proceed to Gibraltar for repairs.
  • 1941 – The Hillson Bi-mono, British experimental aircraft designed to test the idea of "slip-wings", where the aircraft could take off as a biplane, jettison the upper, disposable wing, and continue flying as a monoplane, successfully dropped over the Irish Sea the upper wing with no great change in trim and a few hundred feet in altitude being lost
  • 1935 – Death of Käthe Paulus, German Balloonist, aerobatic pilot and early parachute designer.
  • 1934 – Death of Kurt Wahmke, German Rocket pioneer, along with 2 technicians, when the chamber exploded during a test. First and only deaths of technicians in the history of German rocket development
  • 1930 – Birth of Francis Herbert Goldsborough, American aviator who held the junior transcontinental air speed record, dying from wounds after His plane crashed in Vermont the day before.
  • 1930 – Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) is formed when Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express merge.
  • 1927 – Ernie Smith and Emory Bronte complete the first civilian non-stop flight from North America to the Hawaiian Islands when their Travel Air monoplane, the City of Oakland, crashes on Molokai after a flight from Oakland, California. They survive the crash.
  • 1925 – Early example of a production Fokker D.XIII is used to set four new world airspeed records: the airspeed record for carrying a 500 kg/1,102 lb payload (265.7 km/h or 165.7 mph), the record for carrying the same payload over a distance of 200 km (264.2 km/h or 164.7 mph), at the same time setting the same records for carrying a 250 kg (551 lb) payload.
  • 1922 – At Hampton Roads, Virginia, the United States Navy’s only balloon ship, the lighter-than-air craft tender USS Wright (AZ-1), flies her balloon for the last time. She soon is rebuilt as a seaplane tender (AV-1) with no balloon capability.
  • 1921 – First flight of the Avro 552, a British light biplane aircraft, Evolution of the AVro 504.
  • 1921 – Cambridge wins the first air race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, using S. E. 5 as. airplanes.
  • 1918 – Death of Awdry Morris "Bunny" Vaucour, British WWI flying ace, Killed in a "friendly fire" incident, when an Italian Hanriot pilot shot his Sopwith Camel.
  • 1918 – Death of Hans Kirschstein, German WWI fighter ace, killed in a crash on a return flight from Fismes in a Hannover CL.II piloted by Leutnant Johannes Markgraf
  • 1918 – Death of Lionel Arthur Ashfield, British WWI flying ace, killed in his Airco de Havilland DH.4 along with his Observer, Irish Maurice Graham English.
  • 1912 – Naval torpedo launched from an airplane patents by B A Fiske.
  • 1911 – The LZ 10 Schwaben enters commercial service. It will go on to become the first commercially successful passenger aircraft.
  • 1910 – First flight of The Duigan pusher biplane (or often simply the Duigan biplane), unnamed early aircraft which made the First powered flight by an Australian-designed and -built machine.
  • 1892 – Birth of Michel Joseph Callixte Marie Coiffard, French WWI fighter ace
  • 1878 – Birth of Aldo Corazza, Italian aviation pioneer and early aircraft designer.

References

  1. ^ "U.S. F-16 warplane crashes in Iraq, pilot uninjured". Xinhua News Agency. 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
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