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The Aviation Portal

A Boeing 747 operated by Pan Am

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

Arkia Boeing 757-300
Arkia Boeing 757-300
Arkia Israeli Airlines (Hebrew: ארקיע, I will soar), usually referred to as Arkia, is an airline based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is Israel's second largest airline operating scheduled domestic and international services as well as charter flights to Western Europe and the Mediterranean. Its main base is Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, whilst it also operates significant numbers of flights out of Sde Dov Airport in Tel Aviv, Eilat Airport, and Ovda International Airport.

Arkia was founded in 1949 as Israel Inland Airlines when it became clear that there was demand for a local airline to connect the north of Israel (especially Tel Aviv) with the southern region of the Negev, as a subsidiary of El Al, Israel's national airline. Flights starting the following year with the airline unsing De Havilland DH.89 aircraft, followed by Douglas DC-3s, to connect Rosh Pina in the north to the port of Eilat in the south. El Al held a 50% stake in the airline at this time with Histadrut, Israel's labour federation, being the other shareholder. The airline later evolved to become Eilata Airlines, Aviron, and then to Arkia Israel Airlines. In its first year of service, Israel Inland carried 13,485 passengers on their twice weekly flight, operated by a Curtis Commando. (Full article...)

Selected image

Credit: Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III, U.S. Air Force
A B-1B Lancer drops back after air refueling training over the Pacific Ocean September 30. The B-1B is deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as part of the Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region, enhancing regional security and the U.S. commitment to the Western Pacific. The B1 is from the 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota.

Did you know

...that the mysterious objects known as Black Triangles may actually be hybrid airships? ...that the Blohm und Voss Bv 144 was an attempt by Nazi Germany to develop an advanced commercial airliner for post-war service? ... that the collection of the Prague Aviation Museum, Kbely includes 275 aircraft, of which approximately 110 are on public display?

More Did you know facts

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

In the news

Wikinews Aviation portal
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Associated Wikimedia

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

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

The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engined widebody commercial passenger airplane manufactured by Airbus. The latest variants (-600 & A340E) competed with Boeing's 777 series of aircraft on long-haul and ultra long-haul routes, but it has since been succeeded by the Airbus A350.

The A340-600 flies 380 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (419 in 2 class) over 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km). It provides similar passenger capacity to a 747 but with twice the cargo volume, and at lower trip and seat costs.

The A340-600 is more than 10 m longer than a basic -300, making it the second longest airliner in the world, more than four meters longer than a Boeing 747-400.

  • Span: 63.45 m (208 ft 2 in)
  • Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
  • Height: 17.30 m (56 ft 9 in)
  • Engines: four 56,000 lbf (249 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 556 turbofans
  • Cruising Speed: Mach 0.83 (885 km/h, 550 mph)
  • First Flight: October 25, 1991
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Today in Aviation

June 30

  • 2012 – Eighty-four percent of U.S. domestic airline flights have arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time since January 1, their best on-time performance since the United States Government began tracking their on-time performance in 1988 and an improvement from 77 percent between January 1 and June 30, 2011. They also set a record-low rate of baggage handling mistakes, misdirecting, damaging, or losing only three suitcases per 1,000 passengers on domestic flights between January 1 and June 30, 2012.[1]
  • 2009 – Lithuanian airline Star1 Airlines commences operations.
  • 2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300 flying from Sana'a, Yemen to Moroni, Comoros, crashes into the Indian Ocean with 153 people aboard; one 12-year-old is found clinging to the wreckage.
  • 2007 – A pilot attempting to return to the air after his small plane ran out of room on a wet runway slammed into a house in Arkansas Saturday, killing himself and a woman inside the home.
  • 2007 – A small plane SABRE Lithium matriculation XASMR of ten seats, originating of Monterrey Nuevo Leo’n, piloted by its proprietor Daniel Reedbeds Insipid, confused to a flank of the airport Plan of Guadalupe.
  • 1999 – A NAS Whiting Field, Florida, flight instructor bails out of a Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentor and parachutes to safety moments before the plane crashes near East Brewton, Alabama.
  • 1994 – Airbus A330 test flight crash at Toulouse France (7 killed).
  • 1985 – 39 remaining hostages from Flight 847 are freed in Beirut.
  • 1975 – The United States Navy reclassifies all of its “attack aircraft carriers” (CVA) as “aircraft carriers” (CV); “nuclear-powered attack aircraft carriers” (CVA(N)) become “nuclear-powered aircraft carriers” (CVN).
  • 1972 – The American 1972 bombing campaign against North Vietnam has destroyed 106 bridges, all of the country’s oil depots, and the pipeline running south to the Demilitarized Zone.
  • 1971 – The crew of Soyuz 11, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov, are killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1 after a three-week stay. A valve on their spacecraft accidentally opens when the service module separates, letting their air leak out into space. The capsule reenters and lands normally, and their deaths are only discovered when it is opened by the recovery team. Technically the only fatalities in space (above 100 km).
  • 1962 – Aeroflot Flight 902, a Tupolev Tu-104, is shot down by a missile near Voznesenka, Krasnoyarsk Krai; all 84 die in Russia's worst air accident at that time.
  • 1959 – 1959 Kadena Air Base F-100 crash, A U. S. Air Force North American F-100 Super Sabre fighter suffers an in-flight engine fire over Okinawa. The pilot ejects safely, but the F-100 crashes into Miyamori Elementary School and surrounding houses in Uruma, killing 11 students at the school and six other people in the neighborhood and injuring 210 others, including 156 students at the school.
  • 1956 – The 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision between United Airlines Flight 718, a DC-7 and TWA Flight 2, a Lockheed Constellation, over the Grand Canyon, kills all 128 aboard both planes; operating under Visual Flight Rules, the planes fail to see each other; the Federal Aviation Administration is created in the aftermath; the FAA establishes new rules for passenger carriers, among them the requirement to operate under Instrument Flight Rules, even in good weather.
  • 1951 – United Airlines Flight 610, a Douglas DC-6, flies into a mountain in Larimer County, Colorado due to navigational error; all 45 passengers and 5 crew members are killed.
  • 1951 – The second prototype Republic XF-91 Thunderceptor, 46-681, had an engine failure during takeoff from Edwards AFB, California. Republic Aviation test pilot Carl Bellinger escaped from the aircraft just as the tail melted off; total flight time was a mere ninety seconds. By the time fire apparatus arrived, driving seven miles (11 km) across the dry lake bed, the tail section had been reduced to ashes.
  • 1950 – A Royal Canadian Navy Lt. Mervin C. “Butch” Hare of the 803 Naval Fighter Squadron departs from Montreal, Quebec in Hawker Sea Fury FB.11, TF997, but fails to arrive at home base of HMCS Shearwater, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Despite a massive international air search, nothing is found. In February 1968, two foresters discovered the wreckage in a remote area of Maine. The Sea Fury had struck a tree on top of the ridge with its port wing root and struck the ground within about 150 feet. The force of the impact dug a 15 foot diameter crater and the aircraft broke up and scattered, within a 50 yard radius. There had been several small fires. Lt. Hare’s parachute harness pieces were later found near the crater, ending an initial speculation that he had bailed out and perished somewhere else in the Maine woods.
  • 1943 – U. S. forces land on Rendova Island. A sweep by 27 Japanese Zero fighters over the area accomplishes little and almost is wiped out, and 43 U. S. aircraft bomb Munda Airfield. In the evening, a Japanese torpedo strike by 25 Mitsubishi G4 Ms (Allied reporting name “Betty”) escorted by 24 Zero fighters sinks an attack transport, with 17 of the G4 Ms shot down by U. S. Marine Corps F4U Corsairs and antiaircraft fire.
  • 1943 – Since November 1, 1942, Italy has lost 2,190 military aircraft and suffered another 1,790 damaged.
  • 1943 – Since June 1, the U. S. Army Air Forces‘ Eleventh Air Force has flown 407 sorties against Japanese forces on Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. U. S. Navy PV-1 Venturas have made additional night bombing attacks on the island.
  • 1943 – Royal Air Force Bomber Command has lost 3,448 aircraft – About 1,600 of them to German night fighters – And about 20,000 aircrewmen on night raids since the beginning of World War II. Since April 1, Bomber Command has lost 762 aircraft, 561 of them to German night fighters.
  • 1941 – No. 410 (Night Fighter) Squadron and No. 412 (Fighter) Squadron were formed in England.
  • 1941 – German fighter pilot Werner Mölders shoots down five Soviet bombers, bringing his aerial victory total to 82. He becomes the first pilot to surpass the World War I record of 80 victories set by Manfred von Richthofen in 1918 and the highest-scoring ace in history at the time.
  • 1920 – A provisional establishment of 1340 officers and 3905 airmen for the CAF was authorized by Order-in-Council.
  • 1911 – The Curtiss A-1 seaplane is tested for the first time by Glenn Curtiss.
  • 1910 – The first airplane bombing tests are made as Glenn H. Curtiss drops dummy bombs from his own Curtiss biplane on the shape of a battleship marked by flagged buoys on Lake Keuka, New York.
  • 1901 – At enormous personal risk, Herr Berson and Professor Süring of the Berliner Verein für Luftschiffahrt establish the first ratified altitude record for balloons. Their 8,510-cu. ft. balloon Preussen (Prussia) ascends to 35,435 feet.

References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "Carriers Do Better On Arrival Time, Liggage," The Washington Post, August 10, 2012, p. A9.
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