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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 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

Rear view of CFM56-5
Rear view of CFM56-5
The CFM International CFM56 series is a family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International with a thrust range of 18,500 to 34,000 pound-force (lbf) (80 to 150 kilonewtons (kN)). CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of SNECMA and GE Aviation. Both companies are responsible for producing components and each has its own final assembly line. The CFM56 first ran in 1974 and, despite initial political problems, is now one of the most prolific jet engine types in the world: more than 20,000 have been built in four major variants. It is most widely used on the Boeing 737 airliner and under military designation F108 replaced the Pratt & Whitney JT3D engines on many KC-135 Stratotankers in the 1980s, creating the KC-135R variant of this aircraft. It is also one of two engines used to power the Airbus A340, the other being the Rolls-Royce Trent. The engine is also fitted to Airbus A320 series aircraft. Several fan blade failure incidents were experienced during the CFM56's early service, including one failure that was noted as a cause of the Kegworth air disaster, and some variants of the engine experienced problems caused by flight through rain and hail. However, both these issues were resolved with engine modifications. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway, United States Air Force
An F-22 Raptor flies over Kadena Air Base, Japan, Jan. 23 on a routine training mission. The F-22 is deployed from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Did you know

...that during the Winter War, a Swedish fundraising drive paid for the purchase of a Fokker F.VIII airliner for the Finnish Air Force? ...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 Washington Senators outfielder Elmer Gedeon, who pulled a crew member from a burning wreck, died while piloting a B-26 bomber over France?

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

Wiley Hardeman Post (November 22, 1898 – August 15, 1935) was the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His plywood aircraft, the Winnie Mae[1] is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA, and his pressure suit is being prepared for display at the same location. On August 15, 1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's plane crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow, Alaska.

Selected Aircraft

The Convair B-36 was a strategic bomber built by Convair for the United States Air Force, the first to have truly intercontinental range. Unofficially nicknamed the "Peacemaker", the B-36 was the first thermonuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the largest piston aircraft ever to be mass-produced, and the largest warplane of any kind.

The B-36 was the only American aircraft with the range and payload to carry such bombs from airfields on American soil to targets in the USSR, as storing nuclear weapons in foreign countries was diplomatically delicate. The nuclear deterrent the B-36 afforded may have kept the Soviet Army from fighting alongside the North Korean and Chinese armies during the Korean War. Convair touted the B-36 as an "aluminum overcast," a "long rifle" to give SAC a global reach. When General Curtis LeMay headed SAC (1949-57) and turned it into an effective nuclear delivery force, the B-36 formed the heart of his command. Its maximum payload was more than four times that of the B-29, even exceeding that of the B-52.

  • Span: 230 ft 0 in (70.10 m)
  • Length: 162 ft 1 in (49.40 m)
  • Height: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
  • Engines: 6× Pratt & Whitney R-4360-53 "Wasp Major" radials, 3,800 hp (2,500 kW) each
  • Cruising Speed: 230 mph (200 kn, 380 km/h) with jets off
  • Range: 6,795 mi (5,905 nmi, 10,945 km) with 10,000 lb (4,535 kg) payload
  • First Flight: 8 August 1946

Today in Aviation

October 31

  • 2006 – Ajet, formerly Helios Airways, ceased operations.
  • 2000 – A chartered Antonov An-26 explodes after takeoff in Northern Angola killing 50.
  • 2000 – During heavy rain caused by Typhoon Xangsane, the flight crew of Singapore Airlines Flight 006, a Boeing 747-412, attempts to take off from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, using the wrong runway. During its takeoff roll, the plane is destroyed when it collides with construction equipment parked on the runway and bursts into flames, killing 83 of the 179 people on board and injuring 71 of the 96 survivors. It was the first fatal accident involving a Singapore Airlines aircraft other than the 1997 crash of an airliner operated by the Singapore Airlines subsidiary SilkAir. Among the injured survivors was William Wang, later the founder of Vizio.
  • 1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990, a Boeing 767 bound for Cairo, Egypt, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 passengers and crew; cause is disputed: a deliberate suicide/homicide act by the relief first officer according to the NTSB, vs. a Boeing mechanical flaw according to Egyptian aviation authorities.
  • 1997 – The first upgraded Tornado GR4, the strike attack version of the aircraft with modified systems and avionics. It was delivered to the RAF at Boscombe Down where it would begin trials.
  • 1994 – American Eagle Flight 4184, an ATR 72 turboprop, crashes near Roselawn, Indiana, while waiting to land at Chicago, because of ice buildup on its wings. All 68 people on board died.
  • 1980 – Fifth prototype Mikoyan MiG-29, 'samolet 908', which first flew on 5 April 1979 is utilized for powerplant testing after the loss of the third prototype. It, too, is lost when, on its 48th flight on this date, a combustion chamber fails and the resulting fire burns through control runs. Aircraft dives into the ground. A. V. Fedotov ejects while the aircraft is pulling negative G and receives a spinal injury that keeps him in hospital for several months.
  • 1975 – Final Hawker-Siddeley P.1127 prototype (of six), XP984, first with new swept wing with leading edge extensions and steel cold nozzles, first flown in October 1963, is destroyed in landing accident at RAE Bedford.
  • 1973 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) escape from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland after a hijacked helicopter lands in the prison’s exercise yard to pick them up.
  • 1964 – Tornado collapses hangar of 1° Gruppo Elicotteri (First Helicopter Group), Italian Navy, at the Naval Air Station at Maristaeli Catania, destroying five Sikorsky SH-34G Seabat: MM143899, c/n 58-599, '4-06'; MM143940, c/n 58-710, '4-07'; MM143949, c/n 58-745, '4-08'; MM80163, c/n 58-990, '21', '4-01', and MM80164, c/n 58-991, '22', '4-02'.
  • 1964 – NASA astronaut Theodore Freeman is killed when a goose smashes through the cockpit canopy of his Northrop T-38A-50-NO Talon jet trainer, 63-8188, at Ellington AFB, Texas. Flying shards of Plexiglas enter the jet engine intake, causing the engine to flameout. Freeman ejects but is too close to the ground for his parachute to open properly. He is posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
  • 1963 – LAC HF Schulz rescued an RCAF officer on board a Canadair CL-44D Yukon aircraft, who was in danger of being sucked out of a cargo door. LAC Schulz was awarded the British Empire Medal for Gallantry.
  • 1956 – The United Kingdom and France begin Operation Musketeer, an attempt to seize the Suez Canal from Egypt during the Suez Crisis, closely coordinated with Israel’s Operation Kadesh. The initial strikes against Egypt’s Almaza airfield by Cyprus-based Royal Air Force English Electric Canberras overnight on October 31-November 1 are ineffective.
  • 1950 – The 1950 Heathrow British European Airways Viking accident: A British European Airways Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes on the runway at London Heathrow Airport in foggy weather; of the 30 on board, only a stewardess and a passenger survive.
  • 1949 – Westland Wyvern test program suffers set-back when second prototype Wyvern TF Mk 2 (N.12/45), VP113, powered by Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprop, crashes in attempted dead-stick landing after the props seize in flight, test pilot killed.
  • 1945 – No. 165 (Transport) Squadron was disbanded.
  • 1943 – F4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful nighttime radar guided interception for the U.S. in the Pacific. It is also the naval service's first night kill in the Pacific. The tracking was done by VMF(N)-531's GCI equipment, which was located on Vella Lavella.
  • 1934 – First prototype Tupolev ANT-40RT suffers engine problems on flight test out of TsAGI (Tsentral'nyy Aerodinamicheskiy i Gidrodinamicheskiy Institut- central aerodynamics and hydrodynamics institute), and pilot K. K. Popov makes a wheels-up forced landing at Khodynka Aerodrome. Repairs take until February 1935. It had made its first flight on 7 October.
  • 1934 – The first Canadian-built aircraft with all-metal, monocoque fuselage, the Fairchild Super 71, was flown from the St Lawrence at Longueuil, Quebec.
  • 1930 – Michael Collins, American astronaut, was born. Collins was selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, when he and command pilot John W. Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two EVAs. His second spaceflight was Apollo 11 where he served as the command module pilot.
  • 1920 – A Curtiss JN-4 became the first airplane used in a political campaign by spreading socialist literature for candidate Eugene V. Debs.
  • 1917 – Fokker Dr.I 121/17, flown by Lt. Pastor from Jasta 11, one of the JG.1 units under Manfred von Richthofen, suffers structural failure and crashes. Second such crash in three days causes all Fokker Triplanes to be grounded immediately with affected flight crew reverting temporarily to Albatros D.Va and Pfalz D.III scouts. Accidents are investigated 2 November, reports issued 13 days later. Instructions for manufacturing and assembly improvements are implemented, production and flying resume 28 November.
  • 1911 – John Montgomery is fatally injured in a crash of his Evergreen glider near San Jose, California.

References

  1. ^ Winnie Mae
  2. ^ Norton-Taylor, Richard (31 October 2011). "Nato ends military operations in Libya". The Guardian.
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