Portal:Aviation

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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 include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft 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. Clément Ader built the "Ader Éole" in France and made an uncontrolled, powered hop in 1890. This was the first powered aircraft, although it did not achieve controlled flight. Some of the most significant advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal in 1896. A major leap followed with the construction of the Wright Flyer, 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 engine which enabled aviation to become a major form of transport throughout the world. In 2024, there were 9.5 billion passengers worldwide according to the ICAO. As of 2018, estimates suggest that 11% of the world's population traveled by air, with up to 4% taking international flights. (Full article...)

Selected article

PanAm Airbus A310-222

Pan American World Airways, most commonly known as "Pan Am", was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Originally founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company; it was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century, and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States. Pan Am went through two incarnations after 1991. The second Pan Am operated from 1996 to 1998 with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean. The current incarnation, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and known as the Pan Am "Clipper Connection", is operated by Boston-Maine Airways. The airline currently flies to destinations in the northeastern United States, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. (Full article...)

More selected articles

Selected image

Sukhoi Su-27

Credit: Dmitry A. Mottl

Su-27 from Russian Knights aerobatic team on landing, Kubinka

Did you know

...that Communist Romania's Foreign Minister, Grigore Preoteasa, was killed in an aircraft accident after refusing to wear a seat belt during landing? ...that the Tenerife disaster remained the deadliest aircraft incident in history until the September 11, 2001 attacks and neither plane was in flight when the accident occurred.

• ... that the crash of an Australian National Airways Stinson in 1945 was believed by investigators to be the first in-flight structural failure attributable to metal fatigue?

General images -

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

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  First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
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  Robinson R22, a light piston-engine helicopter (from General aviation)
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  "Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, showing Hounslow, near London, as the hub (from History of aviation)
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  An Airbus A380 of Qantas. The A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
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  Experimental helicopter by Enrico Forlanini (1877), exposed at the Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci of Milan, Italy (from History of aviation)
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  Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the Moon (from History of aviation)
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  La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
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  One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
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  Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
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  Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
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  Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
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  The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
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  Concorde, G-BOAB, in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and final flight in 2000 (from History of aviation)
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  Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)
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  Daedalus working on Icarus' wings (from History of aviation)
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  Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
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  Swiss International Air Lines' business class cabin on an Airbus A340 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Delta Air Lines' economy class cabin on a Boeing 767 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917 (from History of aviation)
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  Nieuport IV, operated by most of the world's air forces before WW1 for reconnaissance and bombing, including during the Italian-Turkish war (from History of aviation)
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  Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter design (from History of aviation)
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  A Boeing 777X. It is under testing and will be the largest twinjet, with the widest and longest fuselage to enter production. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
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  Often published as a photo of Santos-Dumont during the prize-winning flight, this is actually an earlier attempt using his "Number 5" (from History of aviation)
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  The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
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  Cathay Pacific's first class cabin on board a Boeing 747-400 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
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  An Airbus A321 of Vietravel Airlines parking next to a Vietnam Airlines Airbus A350-900 and a Cargolux Boeing 747-400 widebodies, highlighting their size differences. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
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  The Wright Military Flyer aboard a wagon in 1908 (from History of aviation)
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  Sailplane, a Rolladen-Schneider LS4 (from General aviation)
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  1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
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  Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (from History of aviation)
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  Cessna CitationJet/M2, part of the Citation family of business jets (from General aviation)
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  Félix du Temple's 1874 Monoplane (from History of aviation)
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  Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
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  Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
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  D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
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  "Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
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  Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
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  1928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
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  The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
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  General aviation aircraft at Cheb Airfield in Czech Republic (from General aviation)
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  First female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, reviews her Breguet 19 (from History of aviation)
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  The General Electric GE90 was the most powerful turbofan engine. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)

Aviation news

24 September 2026 – Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war

The Emirati General Civil Aviation Authority announces the suspension of all flights between Iran and the United Arab Emirates amidst new U.S. sanctions until further notice. (Gulf News)

23 September 2026 – Ethiopian civil conflict

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seizes several airports in Tigray, while clashes are ongoing in the nearby regions of Afar and Amhara. The TPLF says that it has started a "defensive war" against the federal government of Ethiopia. (Reuters)

23 September 2026 – Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war, United States sanctions against Iran

Iranian airlines suspend services to Azerbaijan, Baghdad, Georgia, Muscat, and Qatar, after new U.S. sanctions target Iran's aviation sector. (AFP)

22 September 2026 –

Hundreds of flights are delayed at five primary airports across northeastern United States, namely Newark Liberty, Teterboro, Philadelphia, LaGuardia, and JFK, due to technological issues after a construction crew accidentally severed numerous cables, including fiber-optic ones used for communication with air traffic control. (BBC News) (CNN)

19 September 2026 – 2026 Indonesia wildfires, Indonesia–Malaysia relations

Indonesia accepts Malaysian assistance to combat wildfires in Kalimantan, including a Bombardier CL-415MP aircraft, three helicopters, and 52 personnel, as the fires cause transboundary haze affecting Southeast Asia. (AFP via France 24)

Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

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

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  Commons
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• 
  Wikibooks
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• 
  Wikidata
  Free knowledge base
• 
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  Collection of quotations
• 
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  Wikivoyage
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  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

Selected biography

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager (born February 13, 1923) is a retired Brigadier-General in the United States Air Force and a noted test pilot. In 1947, he, at age 24, became the first pilot to travel faster than sound in level flight and ascent.

His career began in World War II as a private in the U.S. Army Air Forces. After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of Flight Officer (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Forces rank equivalent to Warrant Officer) and became a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot. After the war he became a test pilot of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 m). Although Scott Crossfield was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4. He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to Brigadier-General. Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War.

Selected Aircraft

The Pregnant Guppy was a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft built in the USA and used for ferrying outsized cargo items, most notably NASA's components of the Apollo moon program. The Pregnant Guppy was the first of the Guppy line of aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines, Inc. The design also inspired similar designs such as the jet-powered Airbus Beluga, and the Boeing 747 LCF designed to deliver Boeing 787 parts.

• Span:141 feet, 3 inches.
• Length: 127 feet.
• Height: 31 feet, 3 inches.
• Engines: 4 3500hp P&W R-4360.
• Cruising Speed: 250 mph
• First Flight:September 19, 1962
• Number built: 1

Today in Aviation

September 25

• 2012 – The People's Republic of China commissions its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, at Dalian Port, China.

• 2011 – Buddha Air Flight 103, a Beechcraft 1900D, crashes while attempting to land in dense fog at Kathmandu Tribhuwan International Airport, killing all 16 passengers and 3 crew members.

• 1998 – PauknAir Flight 4101, a BAe 146, leaves Málaga but never reaches its destination in Melilla. All passengers and crew perish.

• 1997 – Launch: Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-86 at 10:34:19 pm EDT. Mission highlights: Shuttle-Mir docking.

• 1991 – First flight of the British Aerospace Jetstream 41

• 1978 – PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a Cessna 172 over San Diego, California, United States; all 135 aboard the airliner, both pilots of the Cessna, and 7 people on the ground are killed, making this the worst aviation disaster in California history.

• 1975 – A flight of four Lockheed F-104G Starfighters of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (Italian Air Force) crash in formation into a field near the village of Ralingen near the border with Luxembourg, ~12 miles S of Bitburg, West Germany, shortly after take-off from Bitburg Air Base, killing all four pilots. The four jets flown by an Italian Air Force lieutenant colonel and three captains came down just five minutes after departing. The Bitburg control tower operated by the United States Air Force in Europe said that radio contact with the flight was lost almost immediately after they took off into overcast skies. "They crashed in line, the four craters being within an area of one square kilometer (about four-tenths of a square mile)," a German defense ministry spokesman said. The last crash of a formation of Starfighters occurred in West Germany in 1962 when an American pilot teaching stunt flying to three Germans led his formation in a dive into an abandoned strip mine near Cologne.

• 1964 – The No. 412 (T) Squadron became the first Regular Force squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force to complete twenty-five years of service and to receive its squadron standard.

• 1960 – A U. S. Navy F4H-1F Phantom II sets a world speed record over a 100-km (62.1-mi) closed-circuit course, averaging 1,390.24 mph (2,237.27 km/hr). FAI Record File Number 8898.

• 1959 – A United States Navy Martin P5M-2 Marlin, BuNo 135540, SG tailcode, '6', of VP-50, out of NAS Whidbey Island, Washington on Puget Sound, is forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles (160 km) W of the Washington-Oregon border after fire in the port engine, loss of electrical power. A Betty depth bomb casing is lost and never recovered, but it was not fitted with a nuclear core. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Yocona, out of Astoria, Oregon, rescues all ten crew after ten hours in a raft. A Coast Guard Grumman UF Albatross amphibian directed the vessel to the crew. The press was not notified at the time.

• 1958 – Boeing RB-47E-25-BW Stratojet, 52-276, c/n 450947, is written off when it veers off runway, landing gear collapses, port inner engine nacelle torn from mount, suffers fire. Post crash footage: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675022547_Boeing-B-47-Stratojet-bomber_crash-during-take-off_officers-examining_runway

• 1958 – Supermarine Scimitar F.1, XD240, 'V-145', of 803 Naval Air Squadron, arriving aboard from RNAS Lossiemouth via RNAS Yeovilton, falls off the side of HMS Victorious at low speed into the English Channel off Portsmouth after failure of the No.1 arrestor wire upon landing. The pilot, Cdr. John Desmond Russell, the Squadron CO, is unable to open the canopy, and trapped in the cockpit, he drowns when the airframe sinks to the seabed, despite efforts of plane guard crewmen Lt. R. A. Duxbury from the rescue Westland Whirlwind. Members of the press had been invited along to watch 803 Squadron embark. Nose of aircraft and pilot's body recovered four weeks later.

• 1955 – The Royal Jordanian Air Force is founded.

• 1953 – The last Boeing B-29 Superfortress to be delivered, Boeing-Wichita-built B-29-100-BW, 45-21872, in September 1945, converted to a WB-29, was destroyed in a crash this date near Eielson AFB, Alaska, while assigned to the 58th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (Medium), Weather.

• 1945 – First flight of the de Havilland Dove

• 1943 – (25-26) Allied aircraft attack airfields on Corsica and ferry traffic between Corsica and Italy, and shoot down four German transport aircraft.

• 1942 – S/L KA Boomer, CO of No. 111 Squadron, destroyed a Japanese Nakajima A6 M2-N (Ruff) fighter over Kiska, Alaska. This was the only RCAF air combat in the North American theatre of war.

• 1940 – The bombers of the Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) arrive at their base in Belgium to participate in the Battle of Britain. The fighters will arrive later.

• 1939 – Nicola di Mauro of Italy sets a world seaplane altitude record of 13,542 m (44,429 feet) in a Caproni Ca.161Idro. This record still stands for piston-engined seaplanes.

• 1939 – Blackburn B-24 Skua crewed by Lt. Bruce Straton McEwan, RN, and Petty Officer B. M. Seymour of No. 803 Squadron, launched from HMS Ark Royal, becomes the first British fighter to down a German aircraft in World War II when they attack a Dornier Do 18 flying boat over the North Sea.

• 1932 – Lewis Yancey sets an autogiro (right) altitude record of 21,500 ft (6,553 m) in a Pitcairn PCA-2

• 1918 – Chief Machinist's Mate Francis E. Ormsbee went to the rescue of two men in a plane which had crashed in Pensacola Bay, Florida. He pulled out the gunner and held him above water until help arrived, then made repeated dives into the wreckage in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the pilot. For his heroism, Chief Ormsbee was awarded the Medal of Honor.

• 1912 – Charles Voisin dies and Raymonde de Laroche suffers serious injuries in an automobile accident near Lyons, France.

• 1909 – French Army airship La République crashes over Avrilly, Allier, killing its crew of four. It was caused by a broken propeller which sheared through the envelop causing rapid leakage. This crash marks the first military airship fatalities.

• 1903 – The Wright brothers arrive at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to begin tests of their first powered aircraft.

References

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