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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 was 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 Wright Flyer, 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

CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines. On Wednesday, 2 September 1998, the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from shore, roughly equidistant from the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board died—the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the second-highest of any air disaster in the history of Canada, after Arrow Air Flight 1285. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) official report of their investigation stated that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in a loss of control and the crash of the aircraft. Swissair Flight 111 was known as the "U.N. shuttle" due to its popularity with United Nations officials; the flight often carried business executives, scientists, and researchers. (Full article...)

Selected image

Convair B-36 with experimental tracked landing gear, to reduce ground pressure for soft-field use.

Did you know

...that Swedish adventurer Saloman Andrée died in 1897 while trying to reach the geographic North Pole by hot-air balloon? ...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? ... that former USAF officer David P. Cooley who was the chief test pilot for the F-117 Nighthawk died in March 2009 while testing the F-22 Raptor?

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

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Selected biography

Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), also nicknamed "The Blond Knight of Germany" by friends and "The Black Devil" by his enemies, was a German fighter pilot and still is the highest scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial combat. He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II. During the course of his career Hartmann was forced to crash land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down, or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.[1]

Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance Hartmann steadily developed his tactics which would earn him the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 25 August 1944 for claiming 301 aerial victories.

He scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on 8 May 1945. He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to United States Army forces and were turned over to the Red Army. Convicted of false "War Crimes" and sentenced to 25 years of hard labour, Hartmann would spend 10 years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Luftwaffe and became the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen". Hartmann resigned early from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition of the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the Bundesluftwaffe and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.

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)
More selected aircraft Read more...

Today in Aviation

May 8

  • 2011 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 (CZ3456) was a flight from Chongqing to Shenzhen Huangtian Airport (now Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport), Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China crashed while attempting to land in a thunderstorm. The aircraft crashed on its third landing attempt in severe weather with a high vertical speed. The first landing attempt caused damage to the plane’s hydraulic systems, landing gear, and flaps. The main warning, hydraulic system, and gear warnings all sounded. The crew decided on a go-around and warned the passengers to prepare for a crash landing. The aircraft skidded off the runway, broke into three pieces and caught fire, killing 33 passengers and 2 crew members.
  • 2010 – After being recovered and completely rebuilt over an eight-year period and an estimated 18,000 man hours by Pemberton and Sons Aviation in Spokane, Washington, a Boeing Model 40 (mail plane and first aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry passengers) had an aerial rendezvous with Boeing's newest passenger aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
  • 2009 – Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 9061, a McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30, registration HZ-APW, departs the runway at King Khalid International Airport, Saudi Arabia, while taxiing and suffers a main gear collapse and engine fire. The damage is described as “substantial”.
  • 2004 – Death of William J. "Pete" Knight, U. S. politician, combat pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. Knight holds the world's speed record for flight in a winged, powered aircraft.
  • 2004 – First (glide) Flight of Hopper (phoenix), proposed European Space Agency orbital and reusable launch vehicle. Dropped from 2.4 km (8,000 ft) by a helicopter, it landed precisely and without incident after a GPS-guided 90 sond glide.
  • 1987 – Death of Hugh William Lumsden "Dingbat" Saunders, South African WWI fighter ace, High-ranking officer during and post WWII.
  • 1983 – Death of James Andrew Healy, American WWI flying ace, WWII officer. He has been technical advisor for the movie 'Wings'.
  • 1980 – (8-12) Maxie Anderson and his son, Kristian Anderson, make the first nonstop balloon crossing of North America, flying from Fort Baker in California to Sainte-Félicité, Quebec, Canada.
  • 1978 – National Airlines Flight 193, a Boeing 727, lands short on approach to Pensacola, Florida, United States in Escambia Bay, as a result of pilot error; three passengers out of fifty-eight people on board drown.
  • 1975 – Second prototype General Dynamics YF-16A Fighting Falcon, 72-01568, on practice flight prior to deployment for the Paris Air Show, suffers failure of main undercarriage leg to extend. General Dynamics test pilot Neil Anderson flies aircraft until fuel is nearly exhausted then makes expert grass belly-landing at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. Aircraft is not heavily damaged and pilot is uninjured. Airframe is then sent to Rome Air Development Center Newport Site for use in radar tests. This was the first F-16 mishap.
  • 1973 – The Airbus A300 B prototype makes the type’s first fully automatic landing in Toulouse, France.
  • 1972 – Four members of Black September hijack Sabena Flight 571, a Boeing 707 with 86 other people on board flying from Vienna, Austria, to Tel Aviv, Israel. After the plane arrives as scheduled at Lod Airport in Lod, Israel, the hijackers threaten to blow up the plane if Israel does not release 315 Palestinians from prison. The next day, 16 Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos led by Ehud Barak and including Benjamin Netanyahu, storm the plane in Operation Isotope, killing two hijackers and capturing the other two; Netanyahu and three passengers are wounded and one of the wounded passengers later dies of her wounds.
  • 1958 – An Indian Air Force de Havilland Vampire crashed into the Delhi Flying Club hangar at Safdar Jung Airport, Delhi while attempting an emergency landing following an in-flight fire. Both Vampire crew died and four engineers working in the hangar and 11 aircraft were destroyed.
  • 1956 – A USAF Martin B-57C-MA Canberra, 53-3858, crashes on the Ship Shole island bombing range near Langley AFB, Virginia, killing both crew. From the accident report: "Cause of accident - Undetermined: The aircraft was observed to be flying in a northeasterly direction at an estimated 500 feet altitude and traveling at a high rate of speed. It was probable that the speed was 425 knots indicated, because this was the prebriefed airspeed since the aircraft was on the run-in route on the LABS bombing range. Witnesses observing the aircraft reported that everything appeared to be normal. The aircraft was then seen to abruptly dive and disappear; this was followed by an immediate explosion. The instructor pilot and the pilot of this dual control B-57C received fatal injuries."
  • 1953 – First flight of the SNCASO Farfadet, gyrodyne type aircraft featuring a tip-jet driven, three-bladed rotor, a fixed wing and a turboprop engine driving a nose-mounted propeller
  • 1952 – Birth of Charles Joseph "Charlie" Camarda, American engineer and a NASA astronaut who flew his first mission into space on board the Space Shuttle mission STS-114.
  • 1947 – A North American P-51D-30-NA Mustang, 44-74652, of the 77th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, based at Shaw Field, South Carolina, crashes at ~noon near Cassatt, South Carolina in Kershaw County. Col. W. M. Turner, executive officer at Shaw Field, said that ambulances and firefighting equipment went to the scene but that his information was that the pilot, Max J. Christensen, was not injured. He said that he was awaiting a full report on the crash.
  • 1945 – Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Erich Hartmann scores his final aerial victory, shooting down a Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9 fighter over Brno, Slovakia. He is the highest-scoring ace in history, with 352 kills. He surrenders to Allied forces soon afterward.
  • 1945 – First flight of the Yokosuka R2Y, a reconnaissance aircraft built in Japan late in WWII.
  • 1945 – VE Day – Germany surrenders, ending the War in Europe
  • 1945 – First prototype (of three) Curtiss XF15C-1, BuNo 01213, crashes on a landing approach to Buffalo, New York due to fuel starvation, killing test pilot Charles Cox. Two other prototypes modified with a T-tail to correct problems, but this last Curtiss design for the U.S. Navy never enters production. Second prototype was scrapped but the third and final airframe is preserved at the New England Air Museum in Connecticut.
  • 1944 – Vought OS2U-2 Kingfisher, BuNo 3092, suffers midair collision with OS2U-3 Kingfisher, BuNo 5422, 1/2 mile S of NAS Pensacola, Florida.
  • 1943 – A USAAF Douglas C-33, 36-85, c/n 1518, of the 482d Air Base Squadron, is written off at Hill Field, Ogden, Utah, when the undercarriage retracts on take off.[59][198] Pilot was William B. Cline.
  • 1943 – A 60-plane U. S. strike from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, sinks two Japanese destroyers and badly damages a third off Kolombangara.
  • 1943 – Allied aircraft begin a bombing campaign against Pantelleria, the first of 5,285 sorties they will fly against the island before it is invaded on June 11.
  • 1942 – WWII German Fighter ace Adolf Dickfeld scores 11 on that single day.
  • 1942 – On the morning of the second and final day of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the two sides launch airstrikes at almost the same time. The strike by 84 aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown badly damages Shōkaku. Shortly afterwards, the 70-plane strike from Shōkaku and Zuikaku sinks Lexington – The first American aircraft carrier ever sunk – And badly damages Yorktown, after which both sides retire with the Japanese abandoning their plans for an amphibious invasion of Port Moresby. Shōkaku’s damage and Zuikaku’s aircraft losses will keep them out of combat for two months, forcing them to miss the Battle of Midway in June. The Battle of the Coral Sea ends as the first naval battle in which ships of the opposing sides never sight one another.
  • 1941 – Death of Armando Boetto and Franco Cappa, Italian WWII pilots, killed in acton in their S. M.79 s while attacking a British convoy near Malta.
  • 1941 – No. 407 (Coastal) Squadron was formed in England.
  • 1937 – Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi of Italy sets a world altitude record of 15,655 m (51,362 feet) in a Caproni Ca.161.
  • 1935 – The U. S. Commerce Department announces in Washington, D. C. that blind-landing radio equipment developed by a U. S. Army Air Corps team under Captain Hegenberger is to be installed at all major airports between New York and Los Angeles.
  • 1935 – Amelia Earhart makes a non-stop flight from Mexico City to Newark in New Jersey, in 14 hours 19 min.
  • 1929 – Flying the Wright Apache, Lt Apollo Soucek set the world altitude record for landplanes by flying to the height of 39,140 feet (11,930 m).
  • 1926 – The first federal legislation regulating civil aeronautics is passed by the U. S. Congress. The Air Commerce Act authorizes the Weather Bureau to provide meteorological service over routes designated by the Secretary of Commerce.
  • 1919 – Death of Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands, Canadian WWI flying ace, killed in a flying accident at RAF Northolt
  • 1918 – Death of Roderick McDonald, Canadian WWI flying ace, Killed in action in his Sopwith Camel.
  • 1915 – Lieutenant (jg) Melvin L. Stolz, student aviator, is killed in a crash of the AH-9 hydroaeroplane at Pensacola, Florida
  • 1914 – A civilian pilot, René Caudron, makes the first French shipboard takeoff in an airplane from a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, using a Caudron G.3 amphibian floatplane.
  • 1913 – John Henry Towers flew a long-distance flight of 169 miles in a Curtiss flying boat from the Washington Navy Yard down the Potomac River and then up the Chesapeake Bay to the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 3hrs 5 min.
  • 1911 – US Naval Aviation Service created and the Navy's first airplane, a Curtiss Model D, is ordered.
  • 1896 – Birth of Viktor von Pressentin von Rautter, German WWI fighter ace
  • 1895 – Birth of James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger, American pioneer of aviation. He was also a leader of North American Aviation for a number of years.
  • 1895 – Birth of Percy Henry Olieff, British WWI flying ace
  • 1891 – Birth of James Robert Smith, Canadian WWI flying ace
  • 1888 – Birth of Maurice Jean-Paul Boyau, French rugby union player, WWI flying ace and one of the most successful balloon busters.
  • 1885 – Birth of Phillip von Doepp, German Engineer and aircraft designer, specialized in inverted wings, expert in guided missile aero design during WWII.

References

  1. ^ Toliver & Constable 1986, p. 12.
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