Portal:Aviation

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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...)

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

C-17 Globemaster III
Photo credit: SSgt. Jacob N. Bailey, USAF
A squadron of C-17 Globemaster III airlifter aircraft on a low level tactical training mission over the Blue Ridge Mountains. The C-17 Globemaster III is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward bases anywhere in the world. The aircraft carries on the name of two previous United States cargo aircraft, the C-74 Globemaster and the C-124 Globemaster II.
More selected pictures

Did you know

...that British Airways unveiled a new corporate identity in 1997 which involved repainting its fleet with around 20 daring tailfin designs by world artists? ...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 the first exhibition at the Boeing Galleries was a series of photographs taken from helicopters and hot air balloons?

More Did you know facts

General images - load new batch

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

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
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Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Selected biography

Frank Whittle speaking to employees of the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory (now known as the NASA Glenn Research Center), USA, in 1946
Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a Royal Air Force officer and was one of the inventors of jet propulsion. By the end of the war, Whittle's efforts resulted in engines that would lead the world in performance through the end of the decade.

Born in Earlsdon, Coventry, England on June 1, 1907, Whittle left Leamington College in 1923 to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). Through his early days as an Aircraft apprentice he maintained his interest in the Model Aircraft Society where he built replicas, the quality of which attracted the eye of his commanding officer, who was so impressed that he recommended Whittle for the Officer Training College at Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1926, a rarity for a "commoner" in what was still a very class-based military structure. A requirement of the course was that each student had to produce a thesis for graduation. Whittle decided to write his thesis on future developments in aircraft design, in which he described what is today referred to as a motorjet.

Whittle and Hans von Ohain met after the war and initially Whittle was angry with him as he felt Ohain had stolen his ideas. Ohain eventually convinced him that his work was independent and after that point the two became good friends.

Selected Aircraft

Concorde at Heathrow
Concorde at Heathrow

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST), along with the Tupolev Tu-144, was one of only two models of supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service.

Concorde had a cruise speed of Mach 2.02 (around 2170 km/h or 1,350 mph) and a maximum cruise altitude of 60,000 feet (18 300 metres) with a delta wing configuration and a reheat-equipped evolution of the engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. The engines were built by Rolls-Royce. Concorde was the first civil airliner to be equipped with an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system. Commercial flights, operated by British Airways and Air France, began on January 21, 1976 and ended on October 24, 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on November 26 that year.

Construction of the first two prototypes began in February 1965. Concorde 001 was built by Aerospatiale at Toulouse and Concorde 002 by BAC at Filton, Bristol. Concorde 001 took off for the first test flight from Toulouse on March 2, 1969 and the first supersonic flight followed on October 1. As the flight programme of the first development aircraft progressed, 001 started off on a sales and demonstration tour beginning on September 4, 1971. Concorde 002 followed suit on June 2, 1972 with a sales tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to commemorate its opening.

  • Span: 84 ft 0 in (25.6 m).
  • Length: 202 ft 4 in[2] (61.66 m)
  • Height: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m )
  • Engines: 4× Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 610 afterburning turbojets 170 kN each.
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 2.04 (1,350 mph, 2,170 km/h)
  • First Flight: March 2, 1969
  • Number built: 20 (including prototypes)

Today in Aviation

June 1

  • 2009 – Swedish airline Air Express Sweden is taken over by MCA Airlines
  • 2009 – Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-200 flying from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France, crashes in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 occupants, including 12 crew; bodies and aircraft debris are not recovered until several days later; the aircraft itself is not found until 2011. The crash is the first fatal accident of the A330 and the worst-ever disaster involving the A330.
  • 2008 –A U.S. helicopter crashes south of Baghdad, injuring two soldiers. The type of helicopter has not been revealed.[1][2]
  • 2007 – A Tanzania People’s Defence Forces passenger plane (reg JW9036) developed dual engine failure as the pilot manoeuvred to land at Dodoma airport, the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel S. M. Mayenga, said, and crash landed in the Kizota area of Dodoma. All thirteen people aboard survived.
  • 1999 – American Airlines Flight 1420, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, skids off the runway on landing at Little Rock, Arkansas during strong winds; eleven of 145 on board die.
  • 1998 – MetroJet, operated by US Airways, began operations.
  • 1992 – The United States Air Force‘s Strategic Air Command is disestablished.
  • 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 418, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashes into a mountain side on the island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea; all 45 on board die.
  • 1975 – A Kenyan Air Force Hawker Hunter crashes at Nairobi, Kenya, during celebrations marking the anniversary of self-rule in the former British colony, the airframe impacting only a few hundred yards from where President Jomo Kenyatta is addressing a public rally. The two crew of the fighter are killed instantly, with the jet narrowly missing a crowded bus as it skids across a four-lane highway. Passengers panic as the bus brakes to a halt and fills with smoke from the burning wreckage. A second Hunter jet makes an emergency landing at Nairobi International Airport, where, according to one witness, it narrowly misses a loaded Pan American jet "by a matter of feet." The airport closes briefly after the incident.
  • 1953 – No. 423 Squadron was reformed at St. Hubert, Quebec and equipped with Avro Canada CF-100 fighters.
  • 1949 – A survey conducted by a firm of New York aviation consultants shows that for the first time in history air travel volume are greater than first class rail travel. Revenue passengers-miles for domestic airlines totals 603 million compared to 582 million for Pullman trains.
  • 1948 – Entered Service: Convair CV-240 Convairliner with American Airlines
  • 1948 – British European Airways (British European Airways) commences the first helicopter air mail service in the United Kingdom.
  • 1948 – First flight of Cessna 170. The Cessna 170 is a general aviation aircraft produced by the Cessna Aircraft Company between 1948 and 1956. Over 5,000 were built, and over 2,000 are still accounted for today. The Cessna 170 landing gear is a taildragger configuration. It was replaced by the Cessna 172 which became the most popular light plane in history.
  • 1944 – North West Air Command was formed at Edmonton under the command of A/V/M T. A. Lawrence.
  • 1943 – Allied aircraft begin a final period of heavy bombing of Pantelleria during the ten days prior to the scheduled invasion of the island, during which they will fly 3,647 sorties.
  • 1943 – In response to the Nazi dictatorship, the RCAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd T. A. F.) was formed.
  • 1943 – BOAC Flight 777, a Douglas DC-3, is shot down by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft over the Bay of Biscay, killing 17 passengers and crew, including actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that the flight was attacked because German intelligence believed that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was aboard.
  • 1942 – Because of the similarity of the red disc in the center of the national insignia for U. S. military aircraft USAAC to Japanese markings, the United States adopts a new national insignia without the red disc, consisting simply of a white star centered in a blue circle USAAC roundel.The new marking will remain in use until July 1943.
  • 1942 – (Overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command mounts what is nominally its second “thousand-bomber raid” – 956 bombers actually participate – Targeting Essen, Germany. Industrial haze spoils the attack; the British bombers kill only 15 people in Essen and destroy only 11 homes there, while widely scattered bombs strike Oberhausen, Duisburg, and at least eleven other cities and towns, which suffer more damage than Essen itself.
  • 1941 – Germany completes the conquest of Crete. German airborne forces have suffered such heavy losses – probably 6,000 to 7,000 casualties and 284 aircraft lost – In the eleven days of fighting that Germany never again attempts a large airborne operation.
  • 1941 – German Junkers Ju 88 bombers sink the British light cruiser HMS Calcutta 100 nautical miles (185 km) north of Alexandria, Egypt, as she retires after evacuating troops from Crete.
  • 1940 – U. S. Army Air Corps announces plans for the construction of the world’s most powerful wind tunnel at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
  • 1939 – The Douglas DC-4 makes its first passenger flight from Chicago to New York.
  • 1927 – Western Canada Airways inaugurated weekly air service from Winnipeg to Long Lake, Manitoba via Lac du Bonnet.
  • 1925 – A car dealer covers himself in stamps worth $718 in a bid to be sent airmail from San Francisco to New York; the U. S. Post Office refuses to accept him.
  • 1919 – A permanent flight of aircraft is stationed in San Diego to serve as a forest fire patrol. The machines are war-surplus Curtiss JN-4s.
  • 1915 – The United States Department of the Navy awards its first contract for an airship – The DN-1-Class Blimp – To the Connecticut Aircraft Company.
  • 1915 – Germany conducts the first zeppelin air raid over England.

References

  1. ^ Ross Colvin (2008-06-01). "Two US soldiers injured in Iraq helicopter crash". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  2. ^ "US helicopter crashes in Iraq; 2 soldiers injured". The Associated Press. 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
  3. ^ United States Air Force Thunderbirds
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