Portal:Aviation

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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...)

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Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a Boeing 737-8EH, registration PR-GTD, on a scheduled passenger flight from Manaus, Brazil, to Rio de Janeiro. On 29 September 2006, just before 17:00 BRT, it collided in midair with an Embraer Legacy business jet over the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. All 154 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737 died when the aircraft broke up in midair and crashed into an area of dense rainforest, while the Embraer Legacy, despite sustaining serious damage to its left wing and tail, landed safely with its seven occupants uninjured. The accident, which triggered a crisis in Brazilian civil aviation, was the deadliest in that country's aviation history at the time, surpassing VASP Flight 168, which crashed in 1982 with 137 fatalities near Fortaleza. It was also the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737 aircraft at that time. It was subsequently surpassed by Air India Express Flight 812, which crashed at Mangalore, India, on 22 May 2010 with 158 fatalities. The accident was investigated by both the Brazilian Air Force's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with a final report issued on 10 December 2008. CENIPA concluded that the accident was caused by errors committed both by air traffic controllers and by the American pilots, while the NTSB determined that all pilots acted properly and were placed on a collision course by a variety of "individual and institutional" air traffic control errors. (Full article...)

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The controlled impact demonstration
The controlled impact demonstration
On December 1, 1984, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted the Controlled Impact Demonstration, where they deliberately crashed a Boeing 720 aircraft with the intent of improving occupant crash survivability. Seen left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the plane makes a practice approach, hits the ground, slides for a short distance, strikes posts cemented in the ground, and becomes engulfed in flames.

Did you know

...that George H. W. Bush flew a TBF Avenger while he was in the U.S. Navy? ..that Elm Farm Ollie in 1930 became the first cow to be milked while flying in an airplane? ... that 820 Naval Air Squadron was involved in attacks on the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz during the Second World War?

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

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

Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was a pioneering aviator, engineer, industrialist and film producer. He was widely known as a playboy and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He is famous for setting multiple world air-speed records; building the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules airplanes; producing Hell's Angels and The Outlaw; and, for his debilitating and eccentric behavior later in life. Hughes was born in Houston, Texas on December 24, 1905, although his exact birthdate is debated by some biographers. His parents were Allene Gano Hughes and Howard R. Hughes Sr., who patented the tri-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes Sr. founded Hughes Tool Company in 1909 to commercialize this invention.

Selected Aircraft

AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.
AN-225 with the Soviet Space Shuttle, Buran.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, NATO reporting name: Cossack) was a strategic airlift transport aircraft built by Antonov, and was the world's largest powered aircraft before its destruction in February 2022. Mriya (Мрія) means "dream" (inspiration) in Ukrainian.

With a maximum gross weight of 640,000 kg (1,400,000 lb), the An-225 was the world's heaviest aircraft. Although its wingspan is less than that of the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", the latter never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off more than once. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The An-225 was also larger than the Airbus A380.

  • Span: 88.40 m (291 ft 2 in)
  • Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
  • Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)
  • Engines: 6× ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229 kN (51,600 lbf) each
  • Cruising Speed: 750 km/h (400 knots, 465 mph)
  • First Flight: December 21, 1988

Today in Aviation

March 28

  • 2012 – A United States Air Force F-15E crashed in southwest Asia on a non-combat mission. The pilot was killed and a crewman got injured.
  • 2012 – An Angolan Air Force Aerospatiale SA316B helicopter crashed near Lunondo, Angola, killing two and injuring four.
  • 2011 – British jets bomb ammunition bunkers in southern Libya and destroy 22 tanks, other armoured vehicles, and artillery pieces in the vicinity of Ajdabiya and Misrata.[2]
  • 2011 – (Overnight) Coalition aircraft fly 115 strike sorties against targets in Libya.[3]
  • 2005 – Chicago Express Airlines, also known as ATA Connection, ceased operations.
  • 2003 – Two AH-64D Apaches, 97-5032 of A Company and 98-5068 of B Company, 2–101st Aviation Regiment crash in Iraq; one pilot injured.[4]
  • 2003 – OH-58D Kiowa 95-0006 from A Troop, 2–17th Cavalry Regiment crashes in Iraq, pilots survive.[5]
  • 1990 – The Boeing 737 becomes the world’s best-selling jetliner when United Airlines accepts delivery of the 1,832nd 737.
  • 1970 – A United States Navy F-4 J Phantom II fighter of Fighter Squadron 142 (VF-142) shoots down a North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter. It is the only American air-to-air kill in the Vietnam War between September 1968 and 1971.
  • 1961ČSA Flight 511, an Ilyushin Il-18, crashed in Gräfenberg, West Germany. All 52 passengers and crew on board were killed.
  • 1961 – The Royal Canadian Air Force took a delivery of the first CF-104 Starfighter. Capable of flying at over 1,400 miles per hour; it carried nuclear bombs, the CF-104 fulfilled Canada’s NATO commitment in Europe as a nuclear strike aircraft.
  • 1956 – A Boeing B-47B-35-BW Stratojet, 51-2175, of the 3520th FTW, McConnell AFB, Kansas, suffers explosion in bomb bay fuel tank and sheds its wings over East Wichita, Kansas, crashing four miles (6 km) NE of the city, killing three crew. The office of information services at McConnell Air Force Base, said the explosion occurred after takeoff, probably at about 2,000 feet (610 m) altitude. Lt. Maurice Boyack, pilot of a Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune bomber, out of Naval Air Station Hutchinson, Kansas, said the explosion occurred in a climbing turn. He flew his bomber to a point where he could see the wings rip off the B-47. He said it appeared there was a fire in the midsection, followed by the explosion. Fire fighters battled the blaze at the crash scene for more than an hour. The plane crashed within 1,000 feet (300 m) of two large suburban houses. Officials at McConnell AFB identified the pilot and instructor as Capt. William C. Craggs of Wichita. He is survived by his widow and two sons. The students were Lt. Col. William H. Dames, 39, of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin whose wife and two sons are reported to be living in Milwaukee; and 1st Lt. John C. Leysath, 24, of North, South Carolina.
  • 1952 – Entered Service: Convair CV-340 with United Air Lines
  • 1947 – First RCAF helicopter crash on take-off.
  • 1947 – A dual ceremony, the first two Douglas DC-6 commercial airliners are delivered to American Airlines and United Air Lines.
  • 1944 – Japanese torpedo bombers attack U. S. Navy Task Force 58 as it approaches the Palau Islands, doing no damage.
  • 1943 – 57 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 18 Aichi D3 A (Allied reporting name “Val”) dive bombers and 37 Mitsubishi A6 M Zeros – Attack Allied shipping in Oro Bay off New Guinea, sinking a United States Army transport and a Dutch merchant ship.
  • 1941 – During the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean Sea, Swordfish and Albacore torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable and land-based Fleet Air Arm Swordfish from Maleme, Crete, damage the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and heavy cruiser Pola, slowing Pola. In the predawn darkness of the next morning, British battleships catch up to the damaged Pola and the four ships accompanying her – The heavy cruisers Zara and Fiume and two destroyers – And sink all five ships with gunfire.
  • 1936 – National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) commences operational use of the newly constructed 8-ft.-high speed tunnel (8-Foot HST) at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Langley, Virginia. Built as a companion to the full scale tunnel capable of simulated speeds of up to 118 mph, the new facility can test models and components to 577 mph (Mach 0.75).
  • 1933 – The City of Liverpool disaster was the fatal accident of an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy II aeroplane flown by British airline Imperial Airways named City of Liverpool on 28 March 1933 near Dixmude, northern Belgium after an onboard fire. All 15 onboard were killed. At the time it was the deadliest accident in the history of British civil aviation. It has been suggested that this was the first airliner ever lost to sabotage, and in the immediate aftermath suspicion centred on one passenger, Dr. Albert Voss, who seemingly jumped from the aircraft before it crashed.
  • 1931 – Boeing Air Transport, National Air Transport, Varney Airlines and Pacific Air Transport combine as United Air Lines, providing coast-to-coast passenger service and mail service. It takes 27 hours to fly the route, one way.
  • 1920 – Croydon replaces Hounslow Heath Aerodrome as London’s airport.
  • 1918 – Sole prototype of the Breguet LE (Laboratoire Eiffel), a single-seat fighter monoplane, crashes on its second flight, out of Villacoublay, France, when it dives into the ground at full-throttle, killing pilot Jean Sauclière. Further development suspended.
  • 1913 – Lts. Thomas DeWitt Milling and William C. Sherman set a two-man duration and distance record of four hours and 22 min for 220 miles from Texas City, Texas to San Antonio.
  • 1908 – Leon Delagrange makes the first passenger flight, taking Farman aboard his Voisin biplane at Issy-les-Moulieaux.
  • 1843 – William Samuel Henson (1805-1888) receives the patent and publishes in London his design for an Aerial Steam Carriage. This is the first reasoned, formulated, and detailed design for a propeller-driven aircraft.

References

  1. ^ Strobel, Warren, "U.S. B-2 Bombers Sent To Korea On Rare Mission: Diplomacy Not Destruction," Reuters, March 29, 2013, 6:42 p.m. EDT.
  2. ^ "British Jets Bomb Tanks, Ammunition Bunkers in Libya". Agence France-Presse (via Google News). 28 March 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  3. ^ Staff (28 March 2011). "Libya Live Blog – 29 March". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Jonathan (2005). Ah-64 Apache Units of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Oxford: Osprey Publishing (UK). pp. 53–54. ISBN 1-84176-848-0.
  5. ^ "1995 USAF Serial Numbers". Retrieved 2010-02-13.


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