Portal:Aviation

Main page   Categories & Main topics   Tasks and Projects

The Aviation Portal

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
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

The Blue Angels use a United States Marine Corps C-130T Hercules, nicknamed "Fat Albert", for their logistics, carrying spare parts, equipment, and to carry support personnel between shows. Beginning in 1975, "Bert" was used for Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) and short aerial demonstrations just prior to the main event at selected venues, but the JATO demonstration ended in 2009 due to dwindling supplies of rockets.

Did you know

...that in 1943 British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 was shot down by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was an attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill? ...that passengers aboard JetBlue Airways Flight 292 were able to watch their own malfunctioning aircraft circle Los Angeles International Airport on the satellite television screens at each seat until the flight crew disabled the system in preparation for the aircraft's successful emergency landing? ... that the PZL SM-4 Łątka never flew, because its engine was not approved for use in flight?

General images -

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

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal

Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

Air Marshal Sir George Jones KBE, CB, DFC (18 October 1896 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from being a private soldier in World War I to Air Marshal in 1948. He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force’s top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his head of operations and nominal subordinate, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock.

Jones first saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps the following year. Initially an air mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France, achieving seven victories to become an ace. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly-formed RAAF in 1921, rising steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II.

He did not actively seek the position of Chief of the Air Staff before being appointed in 1942, and his conflict with Bostockwith whom he had been friends for 20 yearswas partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. Following his retirement from the RAAF he continued to serve in the aircraft industry and later ran unsuccessfully for political office.

Selected Aircraft

The Yakovlev Yak-42 is a line of tri-jet aircraft produced by the aircraft company Yakolev. The Yak 42 was produced from 1980-2003.

Historically, the yak-42 was competition for older Russian aircraft companies. The Yak-42 was only made in one passenger variant, but it was used in many tests of equipment.

  • Crew: 3
  • Span: 114 ft 5 in (34.88 m)
  • Length: 119 ft 4 in (36.38 m)
  • Height: 32 ft 3 in (9.83 m)
  • Engines: 3× Lotarev D-36 turbofan
  • Cruise Speed: 740 km/h (399 knots, 460 mph) (economy cruise)
  • Range: 4,000 km (2,158 nmi, 2,458 mi) (with maximum fuel)

Today in Aviation

June 29

  • 2012 – A United States Navy MH-53 of HM-14 was destroyed fire after an emergency landing near Pohang, South Korea, all 12 on-board vacated the helicopter safely.
  • 2012 – Six Uyghur men armed with aluminum crutches and explosives attempt to hijack Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554, an Embraer ERJ-190 on a flight from Hotan to Ürümqi, China, with 95 other people aboard. The crew and other passengers resist them and foil the hijacking attempt. Two hijackers are killed and 13 people (two hijackers, two security officers, two flight attendants, and seven passengers) are injured, and the plane returns safely to Hotan.
  • 2011KLM becomes the first airline in the world to provide flights using biofuel.[1]
  • 2009 – PK-BRO, a DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by Aviastar Mandiri, crashes on approach to Wamena Airport, Indonesia, killing all three crew.
  • 2007 – The plane of the Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast Guillaume Soro was attacked by unknown Friday morning with the airport of Bouaké (center), an act insulated which made at least four died, but saved Mr. Soro, and thrown a cold on the process of reconciliation in progress in the country. Ivory Coast Prime Minister Guillaume Soro survived a rocket attack on his plane after it landed at an airport in the central town of Bouake, said spokesman Issa Doumbia.
  • 2004 – Northwest Airlines Flight 327 was a flight from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan to the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California. This event happened aboard N543US, a Boeing 757-200. The suspicious behaviour of a party of 13 Syrian musicians, on their way to an engagement in San Diego, alarmed flight attendants and passengers and raised concerns that they were observing a terrorist attack or a dry run test.
  • 1977 – Italian Professor Enrico Forlanini’s steam-powered helicopter is tested at Alexandria, Egypt.
  • 1972 – In the 1972 Lake Winnebago mid-air collision, North Central Airlines Flight 290, a Convair CV-580, and Air Wisconsin Flight 671, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, collide over Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing all 13 people on board the two aircraft.
  • 1972 – Forward air controller and OV-10 Bronco pilot Capt. Steven L. Bennett lost his life after a gun battle with Viet Cong gun positions, and was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.
  • 1966 – For the first time, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration authorizes attacks on industrial targets in northeastern North Vietnam and on North Vietnam’s entire petroleum, oil, and lubricants system.
  • 1962 – First flight of the Vickers VC10, an Evolution of the long-range British airliner.
  • 1960 – Entered Service: English Electric Lightning with the Royal Air Force’s No. 74 Squadron at RAF Coltishall
  • 1955 – The first operational B-52 Stratofortress was delivered to the 93rd Bombardment Wing, Heavy, at Castle Air Force Base, Merced, California.
  • 1948 – The Air Parcel Post Bill becomes U. S. law, establishing domestic air parcel post and raising first class postage rates for air mail from five cents to six cents.
  • 1945 – Messerschmitt test pilot Ludwig "Willie" Hofman ("Hoffman" in American source) attempts to ferry captured Messerschmitt Me 262A1a/U4, Werke Nummer 170083, originally coded V-083, named Happy Hunter/Wilma Jeanne II, from Lagerlechfeld, near Augsburg, Germany, to Airfield A-55 near Cherbourg, France on behalf of the USAAF Air Technical Intelligence ("Watson's Whizzers") for loading aboard the HMS Reaper, suffers catastrophic failure of starboard engine at ~9,000 feet altitude and is forced to bail out over Normandy, suffering massive bruising as he deploys parachute at high speed. Aircraft was one of two conversions carrying Rheinmetall BK-5 50 mm anti-tank gun in nose for bomber attack, although it was never used operationally. American sergeant admits a year later that he had failed to inspect this aircraft's engines before the flight.
  • 1944 – Republic P-47D-1-RA Thunderbolt, 42-22331, c/n 82, accepted March 30, 1943, of C Flight, 1st AF / 1st FG / E Section / 124th Base Unit (Fighter), "A-362", from Bluethenthal AAF, piloted by 2nd Lt. Robert B Boyd, Jr., makes gear-up crash landing on Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. Abandoned in place, the hulk of the wings and lower fuselage is uncovered by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Now stored at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • 1941 – Curtiss XSO2C-1 Seagull, BuNo 0950, crashed at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C.. To mechanics school at NAS Jacksonville, Florida.
  • 1939 – During another Khalkhin Gol Incident dogfight between Soviet and Japanese aircraft, the Soviets claim to have shot down 25 Japanese planes in exchange for the loss of two Soviet aircraft.
  • 1939 – Dixie Clipper completes First commercial plane flight to Europe.
  • 1927 – First flight from West Coast arrives in Hawaii.
  • 1927 – Flight Lieutenant G. E. Brooks, flying in an Avro 504 K conducts the first flight test of Wallace Turnbull’s variable-pitch propeller, a major Canadian innovation in aviation technology.
  • 1914 – Glenn Curtiss takes up nine passengers in New York in his seaplane America, built for Rodman Wanamaker, to make an attempt on the £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for the first transatlantic crossing in a heavier-than-air machine.
  • 1909 – In opening demonstration flights before the U. S. Army at Fort Myer, Virginia, Orville Wright makes the first flight with the new Wright A built to replace the one destroyed in September 1908.
  • 1900 – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, aviator and writer was born.

References

  1. Paur, Jason (1 July 2011). "KLM Completes First Scheduled Service Flight Using Biofuel". Wired.
  2. "Libya Conflict: France Air-Dropped Arms to Rebels". BBC News. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.