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

A Ryanair Boeing 737 on the landing roll at Bristol Airport

Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 209 low-fare routes to 94 destinations across 17 European countries. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline, running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving costs down. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. It operates a fleet of 74 Boeing 737s, and currently has firm orders for an additional 225 Boeing 737-800 airplanes by 2010, with options on a further 193. Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial companies, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry. Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its labor union policies, and have charged that it practises deceptive advertising. (Full article...)

More selected articles

Selected image

Wernher von Braun and Saturn V rocket

Wernher von Braun

Credit: NASA

A portrait of Wernher von Braun standing in front of the cluster of F-1 rocket engines on the base of the first stage of a Saturn V launch vehicle. Von Braun had a lifelong aspiration to fly to the moon. A pioneer of rocket development, in the Second World War von Braun led the German development of the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde. Along with his team of engineers, he surrendered to the American forces in the closing stages of the war, then helped to establish the military rocket program in the United States. In 1958 he transferred to the newly established NASA program, developing the Saturn V rocket that successfully delivered a man to the moon in 1969.

Did you know

...the study of airmail is known as aerophilately?

...that the Spartan Cruiser (pictured) was originally designed as mail plane and even flew a test flight to Karachi as such, but was then transformed into a passenger airplane in 1932?

... that No. 7 Elementary Flying Training School RAAF (aircraft of unit pictured) was the only Royal Australian Air Force training unit to be based in Tasmania during World War II?

General images -

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

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  Sailplane, a Rolladen-Schneider LS4 (from General 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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  The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of 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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  Cathay Pacific's first class cabin on board a Boeing 747-400 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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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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  Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (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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  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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  First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of 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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  "Governable parachute" design of 1852 (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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  Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
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  Daedalus working on Icarus' wings (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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  First female combat pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, reviews her Breguet 19 (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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  Félix du Temple's 1874 Monoplane (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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  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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  Delta Air Lines' economy class cabin on a Boeing 767 (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
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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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  Cessna CitationJet/M2, part of the Citation family of business jets (from General 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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  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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  Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (from History of aviation)
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  Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
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  The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (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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  German Taube monoplane, illustration from 1917 (from History of aviation)
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  Robinson R22, a light piston-engine helicopter (from General 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 General Electric GE90 was the most powerful turbofan engine. (from Wide-body aircraft)
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  Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
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  Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (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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  One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
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  General aviation aircraft at Cheb Airfield in Czech Republic (from General aviation)
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  Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
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  Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
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  La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
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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)
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  Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)

Aviation news

25 July 2026 –

Two people are killed when a Tecnam P2010 aircraft crashes into a home in Ganderkesee, Lower Saxony, Germany. (DPA via South China Morning Post)

24 July 2026 –

The SpaceX Starship test flight 13, the first to successfully deploy operational Starlink satellites, successfully lands in the Indian Ocean intact. (CNN)

23 July 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis

Reuters reports that Iran sent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers, along with drone- and missile-related equipment, on a Mahan Air flight to Houthi-controlled Yemen on July 13, in preparation for the blockade on Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)

21 July 2026 – Lebanon–United States relations

U.S. president Donald Trump authorizes U.S. airlines to resume direct flights to Lebanon, ending a suspension imposed after the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. (The Independent)

21 July 2026 –

The wreckage of Pan Am Flight 526A, a Douglas DC-4 that crashed into the sea off Puerto Rico in 1952, killing 52 people, is located by a veteran aviation search team. (The Dallas Express via Yahoo News)

Related portals

Associated Wikimedia

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

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  Commons
  Free media repository
• 
  Wikidata
  Free knowledge base
• 
  Wikiquote
  Collection of quotations
• 
  Wikisource
  Free-content library
• 
  Wikiversity
  Free learning tools
• 
  Wikivoyage
  Free travel guide
• 
  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

Selected biography

Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (Franciszek Gabryszewski) (28 January 1919 - January 31, 2002) was the top American fighter ace in Europe during World War II, a jet fighter ace in Korea, and commanded numerous fighter squadrons, groups, and wings during his Air Force career.

Assigned as a P-40 pilot with the 45th Fighter Squadron of the 15th Fighter Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, 2nd Lt. Gabreski witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but did not become airborne in time to engage the attackers.

In March 1943 Gabreski became part of the 56th Fighter Group, flying the P-47 Thunderbolt, and in May was promoted to Major and named commander of the 61st Fighter Squadron, which included six Polish nationals as pilots in 1944. He made his 28th kill on July 5, 1944, passing Eddie Rickenbacker's record from World War I to become America's top ace (although several pilots passed him by the end of the war).

Col. Gabreski flew combat again during the Korean War, as commander of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, piloting an F-86 Sabre. He was credited with 6.5 MiG-15 kills, making him one of seven U.S. pilots to be aces in more than one war (the others are Col. Harrison Thyng, Col. James P. Hagerstrom, Major William T. Whisner, Col. Vermont Garrison, Major George A. Davis, Jr., and Lt.Col. John F. Bolt, USMC).

He ended his career as a commander of several tactical and air defense wings, his last assignment being commander of the 52d Fighter Wing at Suffolk County Air Force Base in Westhampton Beach, New York.

Selected Aircraft

Space Shuttle Discovery

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the spacecraft which was used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consisted of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which was the space shuttle in the narrow sense.

The orbiter carried astronauts and payload such as satellites or space station parts into low Earth orbit, into the Earth's upper atmosphere or thermosphere. Usually, five to seven crew members rode in the orbiter. The payload capacity was 22,700 kg (50,000 lb). When the orbiter's mission was complete, it fired its Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enter the lower atmosphere. During the descent and landing, the shuttle orbiter acted as a glider, and made a completely unpowered ("dead stick") landing.

• Span: 78.06 ft (23.79 m)
• Length: 122.17 ft (37.24 m)
• Height: 58.58 ft (17.25 m)
• Engines: 3 Rocketdyne Block 2 A SSMEs
• Cruising Speed: 25,404 ft/s (7,743 m/s, 27,875 km/h, 17,321 mi/h)
• First Flight: August 12, 1977 (glider), April 12, 1981 (powered).
• Operational Altitude: 100 to 520 nmi (185 to 1,000 km)
• Number built: 6 (+2 mockups)

Today in Aviation

July 30

• 2011 – Caribbean Airlines Flight 523, a Boeing 737-800, overruns the runway after landing at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Georgetown, Guyana and breaks in two; several are injured but all 163 passengers and crew survive.

• 2011 – NATO aircraft bomb three satellite dishes in Tripoli in an attempt to put Libyan state television – the Libyan Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation – off the air, but the channel continues to broadcast.

• 2011 – The International Organization for Migration concludes an operation that it claims airlifted 1,398 stranded migrants, mostly Chadians, out of Libya.

• 2010 – A Hellenic Army Boeing AH-64DHA Longbow on a test flight crashed at Megara Air Force Base, Greece, killing two.

• 2008 – First flight of the Piper PA-47 PiperJet

• 2008 – A U.S. Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15D Eagle, 85-0131, crashed on the Nevada Test and Training Range ~50 miles (80 km) E of Goldfield, Nevada, at ~1130 hrs. The F-15D, of the 65th Aggressor Squadron, 57th Aggressor Training Group, Nellis Air Force Base, was participating in a combat training mission as part of Exercise Red Flag 08-03. Air Force officials identified the pilot who died as Lt. Col. Thomas A. Bouley, commander of the 65th AS at Nellis. A United Kingdom Royal Air Force Tornado F.3 pilot assigned to the USAF's 64th AGRS was with him and was taken to Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital at Nellis. The pilot arrived ~1330 hrs. Wednesday, the Air Force said. The pilot was in stable condition and under observation. The Royal Air Force pilot's name was withheld while the investigation into the crash continues.

• 2007 – FA-18C from VFA-195 crashed after the pilot inadvertently ejected while on emergency night approach to USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). The aircraft continued to fly for nearly 20 minutes before crashing into the sea 400 miles SE of Guam. The pilot was safely recovered.

• 2005 – John Garang de Mabior, serving as both the first President of Southern Sudan and the First Vice President of Sudan, dies in the crash of the Ugandan presidential Mil Mi-172 helicopter in a mountain range in southern Sudan.
• 1998 - Proteus Airlines Flight 706, a Beech 1900D en route from Lyon to Lorient, collided with a Cessna 177RG Cardinal over Quiberon Bay. All 14 people aboard Flight 706 and the pilot of the Cessna, totaling 15 fatalities, died in the accident.

• 1992 – TWA Flight 843 aborts takeoff at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Lockheed L-1011 turns off the runway onto grass in order to avoid striking a concrete barrier. The plane is destroyed by fire shortly after all 292 passengers and crew evacuate with no loss of life.

• 1983 – Official speed record for a piston-driven aircraft, 832 kph, California.

• 1971 – Apollo 15 Mission – David Scott and James Irwin on Lunar module, Falcon, land with first Lunar Rover on the moon.

• 1971 – Pan Am Flight 845, a Boeing 747-100, attempts to take off from San Francisco at the wrong speed, over-running the runway and colliding with approach lighting structures; the aircraft sustains damage to flight control and other systems, but becomes airborne, circles over the ocean to dump fuel, and lands back in San Francisco; of the 218 on board, 29 are injured, 10 seriously.

• 1971 – All Nippon Airways Flight 58, a Boeing 727-200, collides with a JSDF F-86 fighter jet at Shizukuishi near Morioka, Japan, killing all 162 passengers and crew; the JSDF pilot parachutes to safety, and is later arrested by local police on suspicion of colliding with a civilian aircraft.

• 1971 – At ~1400 hrs., a Japanese Air Self Defense Force North American F-86F Sabre, 92-7932, collides in mid-air at FL280 with All Nippon Airways Flight 58, a Boeing 727-281, JA8329, on regional flight between Sapporo and Tokyo-Haneda. Student pilot was not watching out for other traffic in the training area, and when the instructor warns him to break away from approaching jetliner, it is too late, the Sabre's right wing striking the 727's left horizontal stabilizer, all seven crew and 155 passengers on the Boeing are killed, wreckage coming down near Shizukuishi. F-86F crew ejects. All Japanese military aircraft are immediately grounded while investigation takes place.

• 1970 – USMC Lockheed KC-130F Hercules, BuNo 150685, c/n 3728, of VMGR-152, crashed at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Lake Forest, California during misjudged maximum effort landing – wings broke, fuselage ended up overturned, burned.

• 1966 – Lockheed A-12, 60-6941, Article 135, modified as an M-21, D-21 drone carrier for Project Tagboard, is lost during the fourth test over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California when the D-21 drone, 504, suffers asymmetrical unstart as it passes through bow wake of the mothership during launch at Mach 3.25, strikes the Blackbird, destroying right rudder, engine nacelle and most of the outer wing during separation. Lockheed employees, pilot Bill Park and launch control officer Ray Torick, both successfully eject, but Torick tragically drowns in a feet-wet landing. Skunk Works head Clarence "Kelly" Johnson subsequently scrubs M-21 launch program, saying "I will not risk any more test pilots or Blackbirds. I don't have either to spare." D-21s are modified to D-21B standard for air launch from underwing pylons of a pair of mission-adapted Boeing B-52H Stratofortress bombers.

• 1959 – First flight of the Northrop F-5A

• 1958 – First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou

• 1954 – First flight of the Grumman F-11 Tiger

• 1943 – (Overnight) 273 British bombers attack Remscheid, Germany, losing 15 of their number.

• 1942 – The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 V13, Werke Nummer 0036, unarmed prototype for the Fw 190C-1, with a 1,750 hp (1,300 kW) Daimler-Benz DB 603A engine, crashes shortly after beginning testing.

• 1941 – 24 aircraft from the British aircraft carrier HMS Furious strike ‘Petsamo, Finland, sinking a small steamer for the loss of three aircraft, while 29 aircraft from the carrier HMS Victorious attack Kirkenes, Norway, sinking a small ship and setting fire to another and claiming three German fighters shot down in exchange for the loss of 11 British aircraft.

• 1935 – First “Blind” carrier landing. USN Lt Frank Akers flew a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 from NAS San Diego to USS Langley at sea and landed on instruments (under a hood), for which feat he was awarded a DFC.

• 1935 – The prototype Northrop 3A, intended for the 1935 U.S. Army Air Corps competition for a new single-seat fighter, is lost over Santa Monica Bay, California, out of Jack Northrop Field, Hawthorne, California, during spin stall trials. Pilot killed.

• 1934 – The Government announced precautionary measures to protect the population and safeguard essential services against bombing.

• 1924 – Two Japanese airmen, Yukichi Goto and his flight engineer Minezo Yonezawo, return to Osaka after completing the first flight around Japan. The flight covers 2,727 miles and takes over 33 hours.

• 1923 – First flight of the de Havilland DH.50

• 1921 – Swiss pilot, Francois Durafour, achieves a daring first by landing his airplane on the slopes of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain in the Alps.

• 1914 – Trygve Gran makes the first crossing of the North Sea by aeroplane.

• 1910 – First flight of the Bristol Boxkite.

• 1909 – The Imperial Japanese Army, the Imperial Japanese Navy, and Tokyo Imperial University form the Provisional Military Balloon Research Society to investigate flying machines for Japanese use.

• 1909 – Orville Wright flies with passenger Lt. Benjamin Foulois at an average 42.58 miles per hour (68.53 km/h) mph over a measured round-trip course, successfully completing flight tests in the Wright Military Flyer for the U. S. Army at Fort Myer, Virginia. The Army buys the airplane for $30,000.

• 1909 – The Rinji Gunyo Kikyu Kenkyu Kai (Provisional Committee for Military Balloon Research) is formed in Japan.

References

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