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A Boeing 747

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

PanAm Airbus A310-222

Pan American World Airways, most commonly known as "Pan Am", was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Originally founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company; it was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century, and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States. Pan Am went through two incarnations after 1991. The second Pan Am operated from 1996 to 1998 with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean. The current incarnation, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and known as the Pan Am "Clipper Connection", is operated by Boston-Maine Airways. The airline currently flies to destinations in the northeastern United States, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. (Full article...)

More selected articles

Selected image

F-22 Raptor

Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by TSgt Ben Bloker

Lt. Col. James Hecker (front) and Lt. Col. Evan Dertein line up their F/A-22 Raptor aircraft behind a KC-10 Extender to refuel while en route to Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Colonel Hecker commands the first operational Raptor squadron -- the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va. The unit went to Hill for operation Combat Hammer, the squadron's first deployment, Oct. 15. The deployment has a twofold goal: complete a deployment and to generate a combat-effective sortie rate away from home.

Did you know

...that Chris Phatswe committed suicide by crashing his Air Botswana plane into two other planes belonging to the airline, effectively crippling operations? ...that Berlin Airlift "Candy Bomber" Gail Halvorsen would wiggle the wings of his plane to identify himself to children below? ... that Teddy Air was the first airline to win a public service obligation in Norway?

General images -

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

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  "Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
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  Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
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  Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
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  Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter design (from History of aviation)
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  Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
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  Daedalus working on Icarus' wings (from History of aviation)
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  Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (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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  Félix du Temple's 1874 Monoplane (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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  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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  "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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  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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  1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
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  The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
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  Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (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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  German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917 (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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  The economy class cabin of an Airbus A350 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (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 Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
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  Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (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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  Sailplane, a Rolladen-Schneider LS4 (from General aviation)
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  Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
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  The business class cabin on an A350 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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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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  La France flying in 1885 (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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  Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
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  General aviation aircraft at Cheb Airport in Czech Republic (from General aviation)
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  Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
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  Cathay Pacific's first class cabin on board a Boeing 747-400 (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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  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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  The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (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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  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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  First female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, reviews her Breguet 19 (from History of aviation)
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  Robinson R22, a light piston-engine helicopter (from General 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

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Selected biography

Neil Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on the Moon. His first spaceflight was aboard Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the command pilot. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft together with pilot David Scott. Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission on July 20, 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2.5 hours exploring while Michael Collins orbited. Armstrong is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

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

British Airways Boeing 747-400

The Boeing 747 is a widebody commercial airliner, often referred to by the nickname Jumbo Jet. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first widebody ever produced. Manufactured by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit in the United States, the original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.

The four-engine 747 uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. It is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. Boeing designed the 747's hump-like upper deck to serve as a first class lounge or (as is the general rule today) extra seating, and to allow the aircraft to be easily converted to a cargo carrier by removing seats and installing a front cargo door. Boeing did so because the company expected supersonic airliners (whose development was announced in the early 1960s) to render the 747 and other subsonic airliners obsolete; while believing that the demand for subsonic cargo aircraft would be robust into the future. The 747 in particular was expected to become obsolete after 400 were sold but it exceeded its critics' expectations with production passing the 1,000 mark in 1993. As of September 2023, 1,574 aircraft have been built, with the final delivery in January 2023.

The 747-8, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.855 (564 mph or 908 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,730 nautical miles (14,320 km; 8,900 mi). The 747-8I (passenger version) can accommodate 467 passengers in a typical three-class layout. The 747-8 completed production on 6 December 2022 and the final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air on 31 January 2023.

Today in Aviation

June 10

• 2012 – The Free Syrian Army reports that Syrian government attack helicopters have helped drive its forces out of the government' air defense base at Al-Ghantu, which they had briefly captured.

• 2012 – A Kenya Police Eurocopter AS350 crashes on a hill in the Kibiku area of the Ngong Forest just outside Nairobi, Kenya, killing all six people on board. Among the fatalities are Kenya's Minister of Interior Security and likely presidential candidate George Saitoti and Assistant Minister of Interior Security Joshua Orwa Ojode.

• 2011 – Syrian government attack helicopters go into action during Syrian Army military operations against the rebel stronghold of Jisr ash-Shugur. The operations will conclude successfully on 12 June.

• 2011 – The Government of Norway announces that it will begin a gradual withdrawal of the six Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons it has committed to Operation Unified Protector, the NATO intervention in the Libyan Civil War.

• 2008 – Sudan Airways Flight 109, an Airbus A310, crashes at Khartoum International Airport and breaks apart, catching fire. 30 deaths are confirmed, 6 passengers are listed as missing.

• 1999 – Canadian CF-188 Hornets began Operation Joint Guardian during the Kosovo Air War.

• 1990 – British Airways Flight 5390, a BAC One-Eleven, suffers explosive decompression over Didcot, Oxfordshire, England when one of the front windscreen panes blows out. The captain is partially sucked out of the cockpit, but a flight attendant manages to keep his unconscious body from falling from the aircraft. The first officer lands the aircraft safely at Southampton Airport. All on board survive.

• 1989 – First female USAF test pilot. Capt Jacquelyn S Parker graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB CA.

• 1987 – The Boeing Model 360 makes its first flight. The tandem rotored helicopter served as an Advanced Technology Demonstrator of many new design concepts.

• 1967 – First flight of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 prototype 23-11/1

• 1964 – First Lockheed XV-4A Hummingbird, 62-4503, (originally designated VZ-10) crashes, killing civilian Army test pilot. Aircraft had just transitioned from conventional to vertical flight at 3,000 feet (914 m) when control was lost. Airframe came down between Dobbins AFB and Woodstock, Georgia, injuring one civilian on ground.

• 1960 – Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538, a Fokker F-27, crashes into the ocean near Mackay, Queensland, Australia, killing all 29 on board in Australia's worst civilian air disaster. This crash was responsible for the mandatory installation of cockpit voice recorders in airliners in Australia, followed by the rest of the world.

• 1953 – The final experimental test flight for the turbojet powered #3 Douglas D-558-I Skystreak is flown by A. Scott Crossfield.

• 1944 – Flying from Italy carrying one 1,000-lb (454-kg) bomb each, 46 P-38 Lightning fighters of the U. S. Army Air Forces 82nd Fighter Group make a very-long-range fighter-bomber attack on the Romanian-American Oil Refinery at Ploesti, Romania. They destroy 23 German aircraft in exchange for the loss of 22 P-38 s.

• 1944 – RCAF fighter wings 144, 127 and 143 moved to France.

• 1943 – In one of the heaviest and most concentrated air attacks thus far in World War II, Allied aircraft drop 1,571 tons (1,425,202 kg) of bombs on Pantelleria.

• 1942 – An U. S. Army Air Forces LB-30 Liberator on a reconnaissance flight discovers that Japanese forces have occupied Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

• 1940 – Italy declares war on Britain and its allies and begins an aerial assault on Malta.

• 1936 – U.S. Navy Spartan NP-1, BuNo 3824, assigned at NAS Anacostia, Anacostia, D.C., ditches in the Back River, Virginia, after suffering engine failure following take-off from Langley Field, Virginia. Pilot J. Ware is KWF.

• 1919 – Ruth Law of the United States breaks the women’s altitude record, flying to 14,700 feet (4,481 m).

• 1913 – Marcel Brindejone des Moulinais wins the Pommeroy cup in Warsaw for the longest flight between sunrise and sunset, flying 900 miles from Paris.

• 1912 – The Austro-Hungarian submarine U-5 tows a kite balloon, apparently to determine the best coloration for submarines to avoid detection while underwater. Other than the experimental use of balloons from ships to bombard Venice in 1849 by its predecessor the Austrian Navy, it is the only operation of an observation balloon by the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

• 1908 – First flying club and civil airport established. Aeronautical Society chartered at New York City, and Morris Park air field established.

References

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