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Portal:Aviation

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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

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...)

Selected image

The inverted Jenny (or Jenny Invert) is a United States postage stamp of 1918 in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design was accidentally printed upside-down; it is probably the most famous error in American philately. Only 100 of the inverts were ever found, making this error one of the most prized in all philately; an inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in June 2005 for US$525,000.

Did you know

Fokker Spin
Fokker Spin

...that the Fokker Spin (pictured) was the first aircraft built by Anthony Fokker, in which he taught himself to fly and earned his pilot license? ...that Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris accomplished the world's first powered flight in 1856, with a glider that was pulled behind a running horse? ... that Teddy Air was the first airline to win a public service obligation in Norway?

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

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Selected biography

Elizabeth 'Bessie' Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926), popularly known as "Queen Bess", was the first African American (male or female) to become an airplane pilot, and the first American of any race or gender to hold an international pilot license. Growing up in Chicago, she heard tales of the world from pilots who were returning home from World War I. They told stories about flying in the war, and Coleman started to fantasize about being a pilot. She could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman. No black U.S. aviator would train her either. Coleman took French language class at the Berlitz school in Chicago, and then traveled to Paris on November 20, 1920. Coleman learned to fly in a Nieuport Type 82 biplane.

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

July 10

  • 2011Egypt ends its unrestricted immigration policy for Libyan nationals arriving in Egypt by air.[2]
  • 2006PIA Flight 688, a Fokker F27, crashes into a wheat field near Multan, Pakistan ten minutes after taking off, killing all 41 passengers and 4 crew members on board.
  • 2002Crossair Flight 850, a Saab 2000, strikes an earth bank after landing at Werneuchen Airfield after multiple diversions due to a storm system; all 20 on board survive; the aircraft is written off.
  • 2002 – A Sikorsky H-34 crashed and sank into the Brookville Reservoir in Brookville, Indiana. The pilot Steve Myler and co-pilot Joseph Rukazina, both made it out while the mechanic Michael Jarski lost his life.[3]
  • 1991L'Express Airlines Flight 508, a Beechcraft Model 99, crashes while on approach Birmingham Municipal Airport in Birmingham, Alabama, due to severe thunderstorms. Two survive the crash out of 15 on board.
  • 1985Aeroflot Flight 7425, a Tupolev Tu-154B, stalls while cruising at 38,000 feet (11,600 m) and enters an unrecoverable spin, killing all 200 aboard.
  • 1978 – Airbus Industrie announces a decision to proceed with development of the A300 B10, a shortened version of the A300 with a capacity of 225 passengers, compared to 281 on the B2 and B4. The designation is later changed to the A310.
  • 1968 – First flight of The Mil V-12 (also referred to as the Mi-12, NATO reporting name "Homer"), largest helicopter ever built.
  • 1965Skyways Coach-Air Avro 748 crashes on landing at Lympne Airport, Kent, United Kingdom due to a waterlogged runway; all 52 on board survive; this crash marks the first loss of the Avro 748/HS 748.
  • 1962 – Launch of Telstar 1, First satellite to relay television signals. It successfully relayed through space the First television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the First live transatlantic television feed.
  • 1956 – Sgt DE Stevenson twice entered an aviation fuel fire at Montmedy, France, and brought it under control. He was awarded the George Medal.
  • 1953New York Airways becomes the First scheduled helicopter carrier in the USA and the First passenger helicopter carrier in the world
  • 1952 – A Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress, 45-21761, c/n 13655, converted to F-13A, crashes on the runway at Fairchild AFB, Washington, with ROTC cadets on board. There were no casualties, although the aircraft was a total loss and the hulk was later used by the fire department for practice fires.
  • 1945 – Aircraft from the 20 aircraft carriers of U. S. Navy Task Force 38 strike Tokyo and vicinity. In addition, 536 B-29 s drop 3,872 tons (3,512,655 kg) of bombs on Sendai and other cities in Japan.
  • 1943 – Operation Husky, the British and American landings on Sicily, begins supporting naval forces include the British aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable and HMS Formidable Axis aircraft attack Allied ships offshore, and a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber sinks the American destroyer USS Maddox (DD-622) with the loss of 212 lives. Floatplanes based on American light cruisers provide valuable spotting support for naval gunfire against targets ashore.
  • 1943 – Six U. S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberators take off from Attu to fly the 1,300 miles (2,093 km) round-trip to attack the Japanese base at Paramushiro, in what would have been the first Allied air raid against the Kurile Islands; however, they are diverted en route to join B-25 Mitchells in attacking a convoy of Japanese transports, suffering one aircraft damaged before returning to Attu. On the same day a separate formation of eight B-25 s on its own initiative attempts to bomb Paramushiro; they bomb an unidentified land mass through overcast without knowing if it is Japan, the Kuriles, the Kamchatka Peninsula, or an unidentified North Pacific island.
  • 1942 – The Commander-in-Chief, United States Navy, Admiral Ernest J. King, orders U. S. Navy sea frontier commanders to establish a system by which commercial aviators can report submarine sightings. By November, the five major U. S. airlines, the Naval Air Transport Service, the U. S. Army’s Air Transport Command, and British flying boats on transatlantic routes all are involved.
  • 1940 – The fourth Messerschmitt Bf 109 F series prototype makes its first flight in Germany, powered by one of the new 1,350-hp Daimler Benz DB 601E.
  • 1939 – The Willoughby Delta 8 (or delta F), British small twin-engined aerodynamic test bed for a proposed flying wing airliner, crashes killing pilot Hugh Olley and the Delta's designer, Percival Willoughby.
  • 1938 – “Yankee Clipper” completes First passenger flight over Atlantic.
  • 1938 – Howard Hughes, with crew members Harry Connor, Tom Thurlow, Richard Stoddart and Ed Lund, begin a record-breaking round-the-world flight in a specially modified Lockheed Super Electra. They cut in half the time set by Wiley Post 1933; their flying time is 71 hours, 11 min, 10 seconds.
  • 1935 – Bell Aircraft Corporation is founded in Buffalo, New York.
  • 1929 – First flight of the Macchi M.67, Italian racing seaplane designed for the Schneider Trophy race.
  • 1924 – Japanese aircraft sink a ship for the first time, when Imperial Japanese Navy bombers use level bombing from an average height of 1,000 m (3,281 feet) over the course of four hours to sink the retired coast defense battleship Iwami off Yokosuka.
  • 1922 – The Aircraft Development Corporation is incorporated in Michigan in the United States. It later changes its name to Detroit Aircraft Corporation.
  • 1919 – Death of Jean Marie Dominique Navarre, French WWI fighter ace. While practicing for a flight through the Arc de Triomphe, Navarre crashed his plane and died at Villacoublay.
  • 1919 – British rigid airship, R-34, takes off from Long Island, New York, for a trip back to Pulham, Norfolk, for the First Atlantic double-crossing (return flight).
  • 1916 – First flight of The Savoia-Pomilio SP.2, Italian biplane reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, refined version of the SP.1, basic configuration from the Farman MF.11.
  • 1914July 10-11, German Reinhold Böhm flies his Albatros-biplane 24 hours and 12 min without refueling and nonstop. This one-man-flight record lasted until 1927.
  • 1910Walter Brookins attained an altitude of 6,175 feet in a Wright biplane on 9 Jul 1910, becoming the First to fly a mile high and wins a prize of $5,000 for his feat.
  • 1877 – Birth of Hélène Dutrieu, Belgian – French cycling world champion, stunt cyclist, stunt motorcyclist, automobile racer, stunt driver, pioneer aviator, wartime ambulance driver, and director of a military hospital.

References

  1. ^ Whitlock, Craig, "Navy lands drone aboard aircraft carrier for first time," washingtonpost.com, July 10, 2013.
  2. ^ "Sun, 10 Jul 2011, 12:42". Al Jazeera. 10 July 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  3. ^ Kevin Lynch. "Helicopter crash kills Woodridge man: Boaters save pilot, co-pilot in Indiana". Chicago Tribune, July 12, 2002. Retrieved 23 October 2012.