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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...)

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A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine driven rotors. In contrast with fixed-wing aircraft, this allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft would not be able to take off or land. The capability to efficiently hover for extended periods of time allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that fixed-wing aircraft and other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft cannot perform.

The word 'helicopter' is adapted from the French hélicoptère, coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amecourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix/helik- (ἕλικ-) = 'spiral' or 'turning' and pteron (πτερόν) = 'wing'.

Helicopters were developed and built during the first half-century of flight, with some reaching limited production, but it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full-scale production, with 131 aircraft built. Though most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, it was the single main rotor with antitorque tail rotor configuration of this design that would come to be recognized worldwide as the helicopter. (Full article...)

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Did you know

...that after the Red Baron, French ace René Fonck had the most confirmed World War I aerial victories? ... that the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan houses the only SR-71B Blackbird in existence? ... that Jimmy Doolittle commanded a 22 plane demonstration celebrating the opening of Henderson, Kentucky's Audubon Memorial Bridge in 1932?

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Selected biography

Charles Yeager
Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel faster than sound in level flight and ascent.

His career began in World War II as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of Flight Officer (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Forces rank equivalent to Warrant Officer) and became a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot. After the war he became a test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4.[1] He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to Brigadier-General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Selected Aircraft

Airbus A380
Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse–Blagnac Airport. Commercial flights began in late 2007 after months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer Singapore Airlines. During much of its development phase, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX, and the nickname Superjumbo has also become associated with the A380.

The A380 is double decked, with the upper deck extending along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin, with the A380 in standard three-class configuration to seat 555 people, up to maximum of 853 in full economy class configuration. Only one model of the A380 was available: The A380-800, the passenger model. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world superseding the Boeing 747. The other launch model, the A380-800F freighter, was canceled and did not join the ranks of the largest freight aircraft such as the Antonov An-225, An-124, and the C-5 Galaxy.

  • Span: 79.8 m (261 ft 10 in)
  • Length: 73 m (239 ft 6 in)
  • Height: 24.1 m (79 ft 1 in)
  • Engines: 4 * Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 (311 kN or 69,916 lbf)
  • Cruising Speed: 0.85 Mach (approx 1,050 km/h or 652 mph or 567 kn)
  • First Flight: 27 April 2005
  • Number built: 254 (including 3 prototypes)
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Today in Aviation

August 31

  • 2012 – Syrian rebels target government air bases, claiming to be trying to reduce the threat of air attacks on their forces. They reportedly shoot down a government helicopter in Sarmin, Syria.[3]
  • 2012 – The Free Syria Army warns airlines to suspend service to Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, saying rebel forces could begin attacking airports in the two cities as early as the following week.[4]
  • 2009 – Slovak airline SkyEurope files for bankruptcy.
  • 2000 – Virgin Australia begins airline operations as Virgin Blue.
  • 1999 – LAPA Flight 3142, a Boeing 737, overshoots the runway in Buenos Aires, Argentina and crashes into a golf course; of the 103 people on board, 63 are killed as well as two on the ground.
  • 1998 – North Korea launches its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong.
  • 1991 – A Tomahawk missile launched from a warship in the Gulf of Mexico to recover on a target on the test ranges at Eglin AFB, Florida, misses by ~100 miles, coming down eight miles E of Jackson, Alabama, ~60 miles N of Mobile. "Within minutes of the missile's falling near Jackson, a recovery team arrived by helicopter. Such teams are stationed along the missile's flight path during a test so they can get to a crash scene within 20 minutes no matter where the Tomahawk goes down." Cause was found to be two incorrect screws used to assemble a tailfin, said Denny Kline, a Pentagon spokesman for the Navy Cruise Missile Project, on 13 December 1991. A screw, rubbing against an actuator coil disabled one of the missile's two fins. "Somebody during assembly put two screws in, which were moderately too long. Well, in fact, in this case extremely too long because it physically made contact with a coil. It was fine for the first one hour and 21 minutes, but over time it wore away the protective coating and got down to the wound part of the coil and shorted it out," said Kline. As a result, one fin worked properly but the other did not when the missile was to make a pre-planned turn causing it to crash in Alabama. The wrong screws were put in by General Dynamics Corp., said Susan Boyd, Pentagon spokeswoman for the missile program. Four Tomahawks have landed in civilian areas since the Navy began the gulf tests in 1985. There have been no injuries.
  • 1988 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, a Boeing 727, crashes on takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as a result of pilot error; of 108 people on board, 12 passengers and two crew members are killed.
  • 1988 – CAAC Flight 301, a Hawker Siddeley Trident operating a Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport flight, ran off the runway in Hong Kong. 7 of the 89 passengers and crew on board were killed.
  • 1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365, a Boeing 737, crashes into the ocean off the coast of Thailand as a result of pilot error. All 83 passengers and crew perish.
  • 1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 with 64 people on board, and a privately owned Piper PA-28-181 Archer collide in mid-air over Cerritos, California. The collision decapitates all three people on the Archer and both aircraft crash, also killing everyine on board the DC-9 and 15 people on the ground, a total death toll of 82. Eight people on the ground suffer injuries.
  • 1978 – Boeing begins production of the 757.
  • 1974 – William Pershing Benedict, American pilot, dies. Benedict is best known for having flown together with Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher as his co-pilot1 a U. S. Air Force C-47 modified to have skis and wheels to the North Pole, where they became the first humans to land a plane on May 3, 1952 and (together with scientist Albert P. Crary) the first persons to set foot on the exact geographical North Pole.
  • 1961 – Chance Vought Incorporated and Ling-Temco Electronics merge to form Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc.
  • 1956 – Entered Service: Avro Vulcan with No. 83 Squadron RAF
  • 1956 – Fourteenth Lockheed U-2A, 56-6687, Article 354, delivered to the Central Intelligence Agency 27 July 1956. Crashed at Groom Lake, Nevada this date during a night training flight, killing pilot Frank G. Grace, Jr. Pilot became disoriented by lights near the end of the runway and flew into a telephone pole.
  • 1955 – The first Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker (serial no. 55-3118), the City of Renton, makes its first flight, and is taken over by the USAF on January 31, 1957.
  • 1955 – Lockheed Aircraft Corporation engineering test pilot Stanley Beltz is killed in a crash near Lancaster, California, while piloting an F-94 B Starfire modified to test the nose section of the BOMARC missile.
  • 1954 – Sole Cessna XL-19B Bird Dog, 52-1804, c/n 22780A, modified with Boeing XT-50-BO-1 210 shp turboprop engine, crashes 2 miles (3.2 km) W of Sedgwick, Kansas.
  • 1950 – TWA Flight 903, a Lockheed L-749 A Constellation, crashes because of an engine fire, in the desert about 65 miles (105 km) NNW of Cairo, Egypt; all 55 on board are killed in the worst ever accident involving the Lockheed L-749.
  • 1946 – Stranraer CF-BYL, operated by Spilsbury & Hepburn Ltd, Vancouver, predecessor of Queen Charlotte Airline, disappeared without a trace with seven on board on a flight from Prince Rupert to Stewart, British Columbia.
  • 1942 – Since June 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 11,169 sorties and lost 531 aircraft, of which German night fighters have shot down 349, averaging 116 kills per month.
  • 1940 – The Lovettsville air disaster occurred on 1940 near Lovettsville, Virginia. Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 was a new Douglas DC-3 A that was flying through an intense thunderstorm at 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Numerous witnesses reported seeing a large flash of lightning shortly before it nosed over and plunged to earth in an alfalfa field. With limited accident investigation tools at the time, it was at first believed that the most likely cause was the plane flying into windshear, but the Civil Aeronautics Board report concluded that the probable cause was a lightning strike. U. S. Senator Ernest Lundeen from Minnesota was one of those killed.
  • 1940 – The Lovettsville air disaster: Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19, a Douglas DC-3 A, crashes at Lovettsville, Virginia, killing all 25 aboard in the worst US airplane accident to that date, beginning the era of formal investigations under the Civil Aeronautics Board.
  • 1925 – U.S. Navy Naval Aircraft Factory PN-9, BuNo A-6878, '1', flying boat disappears on flight from San Francisco to Hawaii with reported loss of crew. The PN-9 was not actually lost, it was just overdue. After staying in the air for 25 hours and covering 1,841 of the 2,400 miles to Pearl Harbor, it landed safely at sea, the crew under command of Commander John Rodgers, Naval Aviator No. 2, rigged sails from fabric from the lower wing and sailed the final 450 miles, reaching Kauai on 10 September. This stood as a seaplane distance flight record for several years. Aircraft is repaired and shipped to San Diego, California.
  • 1924 – Six United States Army Air Service aviators flying Douglas World Cruisers arrive in Labrador, completing the transatlantic leg of their first aerial circumnavigation of the world.
  • 1921 – U.S. Navy airship D-6, A5972, with a C-type envelope built by Goodyear in 1920 and a special enclosed car built by the Naval Aircraft Factory, is destroyed along with two small dirigibles, the C-10 and the Goodyear airship H-1, A5973, the sole H-model, a powered two-seat observation balloon built along the lines of the commercial Goodyear "Pony Blimp", and the kite balloon A-P.
  • 1921 – The first production Vickers Vernon, the first troop carrier designed for the British RAF (Royal Air Force), was delivered by the British manufacturer.

References

  1. ^ Yeager, Chuck and Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. p. 252 (paperback). New York: Bantam Books, 1986. ISBN 0-553-25674-2.
  2. ^ Manuel Valdes (September 1, 2012). "Author Richard Bach injured in Wash. plane crash". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  3. ^ "Activists Say Rebels Attacking Several Syrian Security Buildings in Northern City of Aleppo," The Washington Post, August 31, 2012.
  4. ^ Anonymous, "Syrian Rebels Threaten Attacks on Airports," RIA Novosti, August 31, 2012.
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