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The Aviation Portal

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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Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive sport where pilots fly un-powered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes. Properly, the term gliding refers to descending flight of a heavier-than-air craft, whereas soaring is the correct term to use when the craft gains altitude or speed from rising air. After launching glider pilots search for rising air to gain height. If conditions are good enough, experienced pilots can fly many hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers before returning to their home airfields. However if the weather deteriorates, they must often land elsewhere, but some can avoid this by using engines. While many glider pilots merely enjoy the sense of achievement, some competitive pilots fly in races round pre-defined courses. These competitions test the pilots' abilities to make best use of local weather conditions as well as their flying skills. Local and national competitions are organized in many countries and there are also biennial World Gliding Championships. Powered aircraft or winches are the most common methods of launching gliders. These and other methods (apart from self-launching motor-gliders) require assistance from other participants. Gliding clubs have thus been established to share airfields and equipment, train new pilots and maintain high safety standards. (Full article...)

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Credit: User:Jjron
RAAF General Dynamics F-111 aircraft performing a dump-and-burn fuel dump. Avalon, Victoria, Australia.
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Did you know

...that Chris Phatswe committed suicide by crashing his Air Botswana plane into two other planes belonging to the airline, effectively crippling operations? ...that Pepsi offered a Harrier fighter jet in their Pepsi Billion Dollar Sweepstakes game and the Pepsi Stuff game for people accumulating a certain number of points? ...that the Pterodactyl Ascender (pictured) has been one of the most influential designs in ultralight aviation?

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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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  • 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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Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO (3 February 1873 – 10 February 1956) was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force. He has been described as the Father of the Royal Air Force.

During his formative years Trenchard struggled academically, failing many examinations and only just succeeding in meeting the minimum standard for commissioned service in the British Army. As a young infantry officer, Trenchard served in India and in South Africa. During the Boer War, Trenchard was critically wounded and as a result of his injury, he lost a lung, was partially paralysed and returned to Great Britain. While convalescing in Switzerland he took up bobsleighing and after a heavy crash, Trenchard found that his paralysis was gone and that he could walk unaided. Some months later, Trenchard returned to South Africa before volunteering for service in Nigeria. During his time in Nigeria, Trenchard commanded the Southern Nigeria Regiment for several years and was involved in efforts to bring the interior under settled British rule and quell inter-tribal violence.

In 1912, Trenchard learned to fly and was subsequently appointed as second in command of the Central Flying School. He held several senior positions in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I, serving as the commander of Royal Flying Corps in France from 1915 to 1917. In 1918, he briefly served as the first Chief of the Air Staff before taking up command of the Independent Air Force in France. Returning as Chief of the Air Staff under Winston Churchill in 1919, Trenchard spent the following decade securing the future of the Royal Air Force. He was Metropolitan Police Commissioner in the 1930s and a defender of the RAF in his later years.

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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

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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