Portal:Aviation
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The Aviation Portal
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...)
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Air Force One
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Schlieren photography (from the German word for "streaks") allows the visualization of density changes, and therefore shock waves, in fluid flow. Schlieren techniques have been used for decades in laboratory wind tunnels to visualize supersonic flow about model aircraft, but not full scale aircraft until recently. Dr. Leonard Weinstein of NASA Langley Research Center developed the first Schlieren camera, which he calls SAF (Schlieren for Aircraft in Flight), that can photograph the shock waves of a full sized aircraft in flight. He successfully took a picture which clearly shows the shock waves about a T-38 Talon aircraft on December 13, 1993 at Wallops Island, MD. The camera was then brought to the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center because of the high number of supersonic flights there.
Did you know
...that BŻ-1 GIL was the first Polish experimental helicopter? ...that Indra Lal Roy of the Royal Air Force became India's first flying ace after he achieved 10 victories in thirteen days during World War I? ... that 820 Naval Air Squadron was involved in attacks on the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz during the Second World War?
General images -
The following are images from various aviation-related articles on Wikipedia.
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)
Me 262, world first operational jet fighter (from History of aviation)
The Biot-Massia glider, restored and on display in the Musee de l'Air (from History of aviation)
First failure of Langley's manned Aerodrome on the Potomac River, 7 October 1903 (from History of aviation)
The Aeroplane of Victor Tatin, 1879. (from History of aviation)
1843 artist's impression of John Stringfellow's plane Ariel flying over the Nile (from History of aviation)
"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)
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)
Map of record breaking flights of the 1920s (from History of aviation)
Jean-Marie Le Bris and his flying machine, Albatros II, 1868 (from History of aviation)
Planophore model aeroplane by Alphonse Pénaud, 1871 (from History of aviation)
One of Leonardo's sketches (from History of aviation)
Early Voisin biplane (from History of aviation)
Clément Ader Avion III (1897 photograph) (from History of aviation)
The 14-bis, or Oiseau de proie (from History of aviation)
1928 issue of Popular Aviation (now Flying magazine), which became the largest aviation magazine with a circulation of 100,000. (from History of aviation)
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)
Otto Lilienthal, 29 May 1895 (from History of aviation)
Flagg biplane from 1933 (from History of aviation)
"Governable parachute" design of 1852 (from History of aviation)
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)
Qantas De Havilland biplane, c. 1930 (from History of aviation)
An Airbus A380 of Qantas. The A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner. (from Wide-body aircraft)
La France flying in 1885 (from History of aviation)
The Wright Flyer: the first sustained flight with a powered, controlled aircraft (from History of aviation)
The Wright Military Flyer aboard a wagon in 1908 (from History of aviation)
French reconnaissance balloon L'Intrépide of 1796, the oldest existing flying device, in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna (from History of aviation)
Alberto Santos-Dumont flying the Demoiselle over Paris (from History of aviation)
D.H. Comet, the world's first jet airliner. As in this picture, it also saw RAF service (from History of aviation)
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)
Woodcut print of a kite from John Bate's 1635 book The Mysteryes of Nature and Art (from History of aviation)
Maxim's flying machine (from History of aviation)
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)
Apollo 11 lifts off on its mission to land a man on the Moon (from History of aviation)
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Aviation news
- 5 October 2026 – 2026 Nigerian Air Force ATR 42 crash
- A Nigerian Air Force ATR 42-500 aircraft carrying 32 people crashes in Ondo State, Nigeria. (DW)
- 4 October 2026 –
- The United States Coast Guard suspends the search for the Latitude Air Ambulance Gulfstream G100 aircraft that went missing yesterday with six passengers on board after finding a debris field in the ocean south of Nantucket, Massachussetts. All six passengers, including four Canadian pilots and crew and two Bermudian passengers, are presumed dead. (CBC) (Winnipeg City News)
- 4 October 2026 – Chinese espionage in the United States
- The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests a 34-year-old Chinese American woman at Los Angeles International Airport in California for allegedly acting as an unregistered Chinese agent and surveilling Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te's son and family in the United States. (AFP via RFI) (The Daily Telegraph)
- 3 October 2026 – Ethiopian civil conflict
- Ethiopian federal forces retake control of the Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle, Tigray, from the Tigray People's Liberation Front. (Los Angeles Times)
- 1 October 2026 – Iraqi conflict
- Ahmad al-Hamidawi, leader of Kata'ib Hezbollah, announces that the group will suspend military activities in Iraq following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, with the exception of targeting hostile aircraft violating the country's airspace. (Middle East Eye)
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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)
Today in Aviation
- 1991 – An Indonesian military transport crashes after takeoff from Jakarta killing 137.
- 1991 – Vladimir A. Yakimov attempts a vertical landing on the stern flight deck of the Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (ex-Baku) in Yakovlev Yak-141 (Yak-41M), 48-3, callsign "77", but during heavy touchdown the undercarriage ruptures a fuel tank, causing a serious fire. About 25 seconds later, Yakimov ejected successfully, and was rescued from the sea. The aircraft was later repaired and placed on display at the Yakovlev OKB Museum.
- 1984 – Launch: Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-G at 11:03:00 UTC. Mission highlights: Earth Radiation Budget Satellite deployment; First flight of two women in space Ride and Sullivan; First spacewalk by US woman, Kathryn Sullivan; First Canadian in space Marc Garneau.
- 1980 – Lockheed U-2R, 68-10340, Article 062, last of twelve R-model airframes in initial order, allocated N820X, first flown 26 November 1968, delivered to 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing 19 December 1968. To 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing 1976. Crashes in Korea this date, pilot Capt. Cleve Wallace surviving.
- 1967 – First flight of the Shin Meiwa US-1A
- 1967 – NASA astronaut Clifton Williams, U.S. Marine Corps, suffers control failure in Northrop T-38A-65-NO Talon, 66-8354, N922NA, he was flying while en route from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Mobile, Alabama to see his father who was dying of cancer. Jet went into an uncontrollable aileron roll, Williams ejected but he was traveling too fast and was at too low an altitude, comes down near Tallahassee, Florida. Williams served on the backup crew for Gemini X and had been assigned to the back-up crew for what would be the Apollo 9 mission. This crew placement would have most likely led to an assignment as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 mission patch has four stars on it – one each for the three astronauts who flew the mission, and one for Williams.
- 1966 – Ryan XV-5A Vertifan, 62-4506, crashes at Edwards AFB, California, killing Air Force test pilot Maj. David Tittle. During hover, the aircraft began uncontrolled roll to left, pilot ejected at 50 feet (15.24 m), but chute failed to deploy.
- 1964 – RCAF provided air transportation and honour guards during the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Canada.
- 1951 – First flight of the Convair CV-340
- 1945 – National Airlines Flight 16, a Lockheed L-18 Lodestar, overshoots the runway at Lakeland, Florida, killing 2 of 15 on board.
- 1944 – Oberstleutnant Helmut Lent, night fighter ace (110 victories), and the first of only two night fighters to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), crashes in a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen, 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Paderborn. On the landing approach one of the engines cuts out and the plane collides with power lines. All four members of the crew are mortally injured. Three men die shortly after the crash and Lent succumbs to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944. Lent is posthumously promoted to Oberst.
- 1944 – The Germans scuttle the incomplete Italian aircraft carrier Sparviero to block access to the harbor at Genoa.
- 1944 – Five Pilots from the No.401 Squadron, RCAF, destroyed a German Me-262, becoming the first jet-propelled aircraft shot down by the Royal Air Force or the Royal Canadian Air Force.
- 1943 – (5-6) The Fast Carrier Task Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, strikes Wake Island with the largest force of American fast carriers – Three fleet carriers and three light carriers – Ever organized at the time. Their aircraft make six strikes totalling 738 sorties, destroying 22 of the 34 Japanese aircraft on the island in exchange for the loss of 12 American aircraft lost in combat and 14 to other causes. For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine is assigned to support the raid by performing “lifeguard” duties for aviators forced down at sea during the strike; USS Skate (SS-305) rescues four fliers. Submarine “lifeguarding” will become a standard feature of American carrier raids beyond the range of Allied search-and-rescue aircraft.
- 1938 – Blohm & Voss BV 141 V3 asymmetric reconnaissance design, WNr 141-00-0359, D-OLGA, plagued with hydraulic problems, makes forced landing in ploughed field with mainwheel undercarriage legs only partly extended, suffers extensive damage to starboard wing.
- 1935 – Italian aircraft conduct a destructive and bloody bombing of Adowa, Ethiopia, after Ethiopian forces had withdrawn from it. The village had been the site of a disastrous defeat of Italian troops by Ethiopian forces in the Battle of Adowa in 1896.
- 1930 – British rigid airship R101, G-FAAW, completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. After initial flights and two enlargements to the lifting volume, it crashed this date, in Beauvais, France, during its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48. Amongst airship accidents of the 1930s, the loss of life surpassed the LZ 129 Hindenburg, disaster of 1937, and was second only to that of the USS Akron ZRS-4, crash of 1933. The demise of R101 effectively ended British employment of rigid airships; the girders of the comparatively successful R100 were destroyed by steamroller, and sold for scrap.
- 1929 – The Boeing Model 40 B-4 makes its first flight. It is the first plane in the Model 40 series to use the two-way radio, designed by Thorpe Hiscock, William Boeing’s brother-in-law.
- 1922 – Lillian Gatlin became the first woman passenger to make a transcontinental flight in a Post Office DH-4, from San Francisco, California to Mineola, New York. The flight made stops in Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Rock Springs, Wyoming; Cheyenne, Wyoming; North Platte, Nebraska; Omaha, Nebraska; Iowa City, Iowa; Chicago, Illinois; and Cleveland, Ohio, and took a total flying time of 27 hours, 11 min to cover 2,680 miles.
- 1918 – French famous pilot Lt Roland Garros is shot down and killed in combat.
- 1914 – First aerial combat kill in history recorded when a Voisin pusher of Escadrille VB24, French Air Service, flown by Sgt. Joseph Frantz and Cpl. Quénault, downed a German two-seater Aviatik B.II, flown by Feldwebel Willhelm Schlichting with Oberleutnant Fritz von Zangen as observer, over Jonchery, Reims, using what is believed to have been a [[Hotchkiss machine gun].
- 1908 – The Zeppelin-airship LZ IV destroyed by fire at Echterdingen.
- 1907 – British Army Dirigible No 1, Nulli Secundus, the UK‘s first powered airship, flies from the School of Ballooning, Farnborough, Hampshire, to London in 3 hours 25 min.
- 1905 – Wilbur Wright makes a flight of 24.2 miles (38.9 km) in Flyer III (right). The flight lasts for almost 39:23 min at Huffman Prairie in Ohio.
- 1751 – Italian Andrea Grimaldi, exhibits a flying carriage – The machine, which remains untested, has a complex structure and a wingspan of 22 feet.
References
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