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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

The air flow from the wing of this agricultural plane is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's wake vortex, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane.
The air flow from the wing of this agricultural plane is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's wake vortex, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane.
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Understanding the motion of air (often called a flow field) around an object enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. Typical properties calculated for a flow field include velocity, pressure, density and temperature as a function of position and time. By defining a control volume around the flow field, equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be defined and used to solve for the properties. The use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximation and wind tunnel experimentation form the scientific basis for heavier-than-air flight.

External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket is an example of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine.

The ratio of the problem's characteristic flow speed to the speed of sound comprises a second classification of aerodynamic problems. A problem is called subsonic if all the speeds in the problem are less than the speed of sound, transonic if speeds both below and above the speed of sound are present (normally when the characteristic speed is approximately the speed of sound), supersonic when the characteristic flow speed is greater than the speed of sound, and hypersonic when the flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree over the precise definition of hypersonic flow; minimum Mach numbers for hypersonic flow range from 3 to 12. Most aerodynamicists use numbers between 5 and 8. (Full article...)

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Hapag-Lloyd Express
Hapag-Lloyd Express
Credit: Hapag-Lloyd Express
Hapag-Lloyd Express was a no-frills, high-frequency, express airline based in Hanover, Germany.

Did you know

...in 1931 Amelia Earhart flew a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogyro to a then world altitude record of 18,415 feet (5613 m)? ...that Roy Marlin "Butch" Voris, founder of the United States Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team, chose the name based on a nightclub advertisement in The New Yorker magazine? ... that Coast Aero Center and Norving were the first airlines with scheduled services at Geilo Airport, Dagali located in Hol, Norway?

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

Orville Wright
Wilbur Wright

The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 - January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 - May 30, 1912), are generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, they developed their flying machine into the world's first practical airplane, along with many other aviation milestones.

In 1878 Wilbur and Orville were given a toy "helicopter" by their father. The device was made of paper, bamboo and cork with a rubber band to twirl its twin blades, and about a foot long. The boys played with it until it broke, then built their own. In later years, they pointed to their experience with the toy as the initial spark of their interest in flying.

Selected Aircraft

[[File:|right|250px|The two YC-130 prototypes; the blunt nose was replaced with radar on later production models.]] The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop cargo aircraft and the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over 40 models and variants of the Hercules serve with more than 50 nations. On December 2006 the C-130 was the third aircraft (after the English Electric Canberra in May 2001 and the B-52 Stratofortress in January 2005) to mark 50 years of continuous use with its original primary customer (in this case the United States Air Force).

Capable of short takeoffs and landings from unprepared runways, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation and cargo transport aircraft. The versatile airframe has found uses in a variety of other roles, including as a gunship, and for airborne assault, search and rescue, scientific research support, weather reconnaissance, aerial refuelling and aerial firefighting. The Hercules family has the longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history. During more than 50 years of service the family has participated in military, civilian and humanitarian aid operations.

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Today in Aviation

April 8

  • 2010 – A Dassault Mirage F1 of the French Air Force was conducting the basic training of Rheims when it crashed about 1140 hrs. in a field near a highway, four miles (6 km) from the base of Orléans.
  • 2010 – A MFI-17 Mushshak of the Pakistan Army crashed in an open field, Nelavia area, near Peshawar's suburbs of Tagman.
  • 2009 – SA Airlink Avro RJ-85 ZS-ASW is substantially damaged when it jumps its chocks and subsequently collides with a fence then a brick wall at OR Tambo International Airport, South Africa.
  • 2008 – An Antonov An-26 aircraft on a training mission, possibly belonging to Vietnam's 918 Air Transport Regiment, crashed into a field in Thanh Tri District, Hanoi, Vietnam, killing five military pilots. It had taken off from Gia Lam Airport, and crashed on its way back. The cause of the accident was unknown.
  • 2002 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-110 at 20:44:19 UTC. Mission highlights: ISS assembly flight 8A: S0 truss.
  • 2000 – A Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor prototype, BuNo 165436, coded 'MX-04', of HMX-1, rolls over and crashes during a rapid descent to land at Marana Northwest Regional Airport, Marana, Arizona, United States, killing all 19 US Marines on board. Cause of crash was pilot losing control due to high vertical rate of descent causing vortex ring state. MV-22B, BuNo 165433, (which was also taking part in the exercise) landed heavily when the resulting explosion blew out its ground cushion. It was struck off charge on 16 July 2001. In 2012, Representative Walter B. Jones, Jr., (R-N.C.), seeks for the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps to issue a statement that "human factors" initially blamed for the accident were incorrect, and requests a statement exonerating Lt. Col. John S. Brow, pilot, and Maj. Brooks S. Gruber, co-pilot of the Osprey.
  • 1998 – A Swiss Air Force McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet crashes near Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
  • 1993 – Launch: Space Shuttle Discovery STS-56 at 5:29:00 UTC. Mission highlights: ATLAS-2 science platform.
  • 1991 – Three Chinooks seen for the last time at CFB Edmonton.
  • 1988 – Pacific Southwest Airlines shut down operations and was integrated to USAir (now US Airways).
  • 1972 – Hawker-Siddeley Andover C.1, XS609, c/n Set 16, bound for the United Kingdom, carrying 18-man paratroop exhibition team, crashes on take-off at Siena, Italy, digging in starboard wingtip before skidding 300 yards across airfield and catching fire. Four killed, four injured, of 21 on board, most escaping before fuel tank ignited. Dramatic photo, distributed worldwide, showed aircraft at almost 90 degree angle from ground with wingtip digging in.
  • 1968 – BOAC Flight 712, a Boeing 707, suffers an engine fire after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport; the plane makes an emergency landing at Heathrow, but five of 127 aboard die in the resulting fire.
  • 1959 – The Italian World War I ace and famed seaplane racing pilot Mario de Bernardi is performing aerobatics in a light plane over a Rome airport when he begins to experience a heart attack. He lands the plane safely, but dies minutes later at the age of 65.
  • 1954 – Construction of Pine Tree defensive line announced.
  • 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201, a de Havilland Comet flying from Rome to Cairo bound for Johannesburg, disintegrates in mid-air, killing all 14 passengers and seven crew; as in BOAC Flight 781, the cause is metal fatigue at stress risers at the corners of the square windows in the aluminum skin; subsequently, all pressurized aircraft windows are constructed with wide radius corners.
  • 1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 36 people on the aircraft and 1 person on the ground.
  • 1951 – A Douglas C-47D Skytrain (built as a C-47B-1-DK), 43-48298, c/n 25559, of the 123d Air Base Group, Godman AFB, Kentucky crashes ~eight miles NE of Kanawha Airport, Charleston, West Virginia, when it clips the top of a hill at ~1156 hrs.
  • 1946 – A Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor, 44-87062, of the United States Army Air Force crashes into Mount Diablo, California, killing both crew members.
  • 1945 – U.S. Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, BuNo 59442, Zebra 442, of VPB-108, based at Tinian, Northern Marianas Islands, is lost on aircrew search mission over the Pacific Ocean, crew becomes disoriented, ditches at 1800 hrs. Spotted by two PB4Ys on 11 April, crew is rescued from rafts by submarine USS Queenfish on 12 April.
  • 1945 – First prototype Rikugun Ki-93, '1', twin-engine fighter makes only flight from Tachikawa airfield, a successful 20 minute test of its low-speed handling characteristics, piloted by Lt. Moriya of the Koku Shinsa-bu (Air Examination Department) with 2nd Lt. Ikebayashi in the second seat. Unfortunately, pilot undershot the runway and touched down in soft soil, ground-looping airframe and tearing off port undercarriage leg, engine mount, and bending six-blade propeller. Repairs completed in four weeks, but the night before the scheduled second test flight, a B-29 bombing raid on Tachikawa destroyed the hangar housing the airframe.
  • 1944 – Fifth Fisher XP-75 Eagle, 44-32163, out of the Fisher Plant No.2, Cleveland, Ohio, crashes at Cleveland after pilot engaged in low-level aerobatics that reportedly exceeded the placarded limitations. Pilot Hamilton J. Wagner killed.
  • 1940 – The U. S. Navy places a contract with Grumman for two prototypes of the XTBF-1, later named Avenger, a chunky mid-wing monoplane that would become the U. S. Navy’s standard carrier torpedo bomber of World War II.
  • 1931 – Amelia Earhart climbs to a record altitude of 18,415 feet in a Pitcairn autogyro at Willow Grove, near Philadelphia.

References

  1. ^ "Operation Iraqi Freedom". [dead link‍]
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