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Selected article 1
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/1

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...)
Selected article 2
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/2

Air Force One
An
airport is a facility where
aircraft can
take off and
land. At the very minimum, an airport consists of one
runway (or
helipad), but other common components are
hangars and
terminal buildings. Apart from these, an airport may have a variety of facilities and infrastructure, including
fixed base operator services,
air traffic control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and
emergency services. (
Full article...)
Selected article 3
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/3

J-3 aircraft with CAP markings
The
Civil Air Patrol is the official civilian auxiliary of the
United States Air Force. It was created just days before the
Attack on Pearl Harbor in
1941, and is credited with sinking at least two German
U-boats during the War. It was seen as a way to use America's civil aviation resources to aid the war effort, rather than grounding them, as was the case in the
United Kingdom. Today, the Civil Air Patrol is a volunteer organization dedicated to education and national service, including people from all backgrounds and all walks of life. It performs three key missions:
Emergency services (including
search and rescue), aerospace education for youth and the general public, and cadet programs. The
September 11, 2001 attacks demonstrated the importance of the Civil Air Patrol, as it was this organization's aircraft that flew blood to victims of the attack as well as providing the first aerial pictures of the World Trade Center site. (
Full article...)
Selected article 4
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/4

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...)
Selected article 5
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/5

Zeppelin
A
Zeppelin is a type of rigid
airship pioneered by Count
Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early
20th century. Due to the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the term
zeppelin in casual use came to refer to all rigid airships. The German defeat in
World War I halted the business temporarily, but under the guidance of
Hugo Eckener, the successor of the deceased count, civilian Zeppelins experienced a renaissance in the
1920s. They reached their zenith in the
1930s, when the airships
LZ127 "Graf Zeppelin" and
LZ129 "Hindenburg" profitably operated regular
transatlantic passenger flights. The
Hindenburg disaster in
1937 triggered the fall of the "giants of the air", though other factors, including political issues, contributed to the demise. (
Full article...)
Selected article 6
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/6

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 article 7
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/7

British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off at Heathrow Airport in October 2007
British Airways is the
flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom and its largest airline based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. When measured by passengers carried it is second-largest, behind
easyJet. The airline is based in
Waterside near its main
hub at
London Heathrow Airport. A British Airways Board was established by the United Kingdom government in 1972 to manage the two nationalised airline corporations,
British Overseas Airways Corporation and
British European Airways, and two smaller, regional airlines,
Cambrian Airways, from
Cardiff, and
Northeast Airlines, from
Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost 13 years as a state company, British Airways was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of
British Caledonian in 1987,
Dan-Air in 1992 and
British Midland International in 2012. British Airways is a founding member of the
Oneworld airline alliance, along with
American Airlines,
Cathay Pacific,
Qantas, and the now defunct
Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after
SkyTeam and
Star Alliance. British Airways merged with
Iberia on 21 January 2011, formally creating the
International Airlines Group (IAG), the world's third-largest airline group in terms of annual revenue and the second-largest in Europe. (
Full article...)
Selected article 8
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/8

Computer-generated image of Flight 1907 and N600XL about to collide. The Legacy's left winglet sliced off nearly half of the Boeing's left wing.
Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a
Boeing 737-8EH, registration PR-GTD, on a scheduled passenger flight from
Manaus, Brazil, to
Rio de Janeiro. On 29 September 2006, just before 17:00
BRT, it collided in midair with an
Embraer Legacy business jet over the Brazilian state of
Mato Grosso. All 154 passengers and crew aboard the Boeing 737 died when the aircraft broke up in midair and crashed into an area of dense
rainforest, while the Embraer Legacy, despite sustaining serious damage to its left wing and tail, landed safely with its seven occupants uninjured. The accident, which triggered a
crisis in Brazilian civil aviation, was the deadliest in that country's aviation history at the time, surpassing
VASP Flight 168, which crashed in 1982 with 137 fatalities near
Fortaleza. It was also the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 737 aircraft at that time. It was subsequently surpassed by
Air India Express Flight 812, which crashed at Mangalore, India, on 22 May 2010 with 158 fatalities. The accident was investigated by both the
Brazilian Air Force's
Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center and the U.S.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with a final report issued on 10 December 2008. CENIPA concluded that the accident was caused by errors committed both by
air traffic controllers and by the American pilots, while the NTSB determined that all pilots acted properly and were placed on a collision course by a variety of "individual and institutional"
air traffic control errors. (
Full article...)
Selected article 9
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/9
.jpg)
Air Force One
Air Force One (the
ATC callsign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President) has, since 1990, consisted of two specifically-configured, highly customized
Boeing 747-200B series aircraft, known as the
VC-25. The planes' three floors (4,000 square feet – 372 m²) include multiple modifications including the president's executive suite which includes a private dressing room, workout room, lavatory, shower, and private office. (
Full article...)
Selected article 10
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/10

Mirabel Satellite photo
Montréal-Mirabel International Airport is a large airport located in
Mirabel,
Quebec, near
Montreal and was opened 4 October 1975. The airport serves mainly cargo flights, and is a manufacturing base of
Bombardier Aerospace, where final assembly of
regional jets (CRJ700 and CRJ900) aircraft is conducted. It is part of the
National Airports System. It is the second largest airport in the world in terms of area, covering more land area than the five New York City boroughs.
The airport's location and lack of transport links, as well as Montreal's economic decline relative to Toronto, made it unpopular with airlines. Eventually relegated to the simple role of a cargo airport, Mirabel became an embarrassment widely regarded in Canada as being a boondoggle, or a "white elephant," and one of the best examples of a failed megaproject. (Full article...)
Selected article 11
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/11
.jpg)
A U.S. Air Force F-35A off the coast of Florida
The
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather
stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both
air superiority and
strike missions. It is also able to provide
electronic warfare and
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor, with principal partners
Northrop Grumman and
BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing (
CTOL) F-35A, the short take-off and vertical-landing (
STOVL) F-35B, and the
carrier-based (CV/
CATOBAR) F-35C. (
Full article...)
Selected article 12
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/12
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive sport where pilots fly un-powered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes. Properly, the term gliding refers to descending flight of a heavier-than-air craft, whereas soaring is the correct term to use when the craft gains altitude or speed from rising air. After launching glider pilots search for rising air to gain height. If conditions are good enough, experienced pilots can fly many hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers before returning to their home airfields. However if the weather deteriorates, they must often land elsewhere, but some can avoid this by using engines. While many glider pilots merely enjoy the sense of achievement, some competitive pilots fly in races round pre-defined courses. These competitions test the pilots' abilities to make best use of local weather conditions as well as their flying skills. Local and national competitions are organized in many countries and there are also biennial World Gliding Championships. Powered aircraft or winches are the most common methods of launching gliders. These and other methods (apart from self-launching motor-gliders) require assistance from other participants. Gliding clubs have thus been established to share airfields and equipment, train new pilots and maintain high safety standards. (Full article...)
Selected article 13
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/13

Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the background.
The
Battle of Britain (German:
Luftschlacht um England) is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German
Luftwaffe during the
summer and
autumn of 1940 to gain
air superiority over the
Royal Air Force (RAF), especially
Fighter Command. The name derives from a speech made on 18 June 1940 in the House of Commons by
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin..."
Had it been successful, the planned amphibious and airborne landings in Britain of Operation Sea Lion would have followed. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign attempted up until that date. The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air defence or to break British morale is considered its first major defeat.
British historians date the battle from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on the USSR. (Full article...)
Selected article 14
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/14

The air flow from the wing of this agricultural plane is made visible by a technique that uses colored smoke rising from the ground. The swirl at the wingtip traces the aircraft's wake vortex, which exerts a powerful influence on the flow field behind the plane.
Aerodynamics is a branch of
dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Understanding the motion of air (often called a flow field) around an object enables the calculation of forces and moments acting on the object. Typical properties calculated for a flow field include
velocity,
pressure,
density and
temperature as a function of position and time. By defining a
control volume around the flow field, equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be defined and used to solve for the properties. The use of aerodynamics through mathematical analysis, empirical approximation and wind tunnel experimentation form the scientific basis for
heavier-than-air flight.
External aerodynamics is the study of flow around solid objects of various shapes. Evaluating the lift and drag on an airplane, the shock waves that form in front of the nose of a rocket is an example of external aerodynamics. Internal aerodynamics is the study of flow through passages in solid objects. For instance, internal aerodynamics encompasses the study of the airflow through a jet engine.
The ratio of the problem's characteristic flow speed to the speed of sound comprises a second classification of aerodynamic problems. A problem is called subsonic if all the speeds in the problem are less than the speed of sound, transonic if speeds both below and above the speed of sound are present (normally when the characteristic speed is approximately the speed of sound), supersonic when the characteristic flow speed is greater than the speed of sound, and hypersonic when the flow speed is much greater than the speed of sound. Aerodynamicists disagree over the precise definition of hypersonic flow; minimum Mach numbers for hypersonic flow range from 3 to 12. Most aerodynamicists use numbers between 5 and 8. (Full article...)
Selected article 15
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/15

Kai Tak Airport in 2009
Kai Tak Airport (
Chinese:
啟德機場) was the international
airport of
Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. It was officially known as the
Hong Kong International Airport (
Chinese:
香港國際機場) from 1954 to July 6, 1998, when it was closed and replaced by the new
Hong Kong International Airport at
Chek Lap Kok, 30 km to the west. It is often known as
Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport (
Chinese:
香港啟德國際機場), or simply Kai Tak, to distinguish it from its successor which is often referred to as
Chek Lap Kok Airport (
Chinese:
赤鱲角機場).
With numerous skyscrapers and mountains located to the north and its only runway jutting out into Victoria Harbour, landings at the airport were dramatic to experience and technically demanding for pilots. The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranked it as the 6th most dangerous airport in the world.
The airport was home to Hong Kong's international carrier Cathay Pacific, as well as regional carrier Dragonair, freight airline Air Hong Kong and Hong Kong Airways. The airport was also home to the former RAF Kai Tak. (Full article...)
Selected article 16
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/16

Airbus A380, the largest passenger jet in the world, entered commercial service in 2007.
Airbus SAS is an
aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of
EADS, a European aerospace consortium. Based in
Toulouse,
France and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet
airliners. Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers. Consolidation of European defence and aerospace companies around the turn of the century allowed the establishment of a simplified joint stock company in 2001, owned by EADS (80%) and
BAE Systems (20%). After a protracted sale process BAE sold its shareholding to EADS on 13 October 2006. Airbus employs around 57,000 people at sixteen sites in four European Union countries:
Germany,
France, the
United Kingdom, and
Spain. Final assembly production is at
Toulouse (France) and
Hamburg (Germany). Airbus has subsidiaries in the
United States,
Japan and
China. (
Full article...)
Selected article 17
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/17
Ben Gurion International Airport is the largest and busiest
international airport in
Israel, with about 10.2 million passengers passing through it in 2007. It was known as Wilhelma Airport when it was first founded by the
British Mandate of Palestine. It was known as Lod Airport from 1948 until 1973, when the name was changed to honor Israel's first prime minister,
David Ben Gurion.
The airport is located near the city of Lod, 15 km (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv. It is operated by the Israel Airports Authority, a government-owned corporation that manages all public airports and border crossings in Israel. Ben Gurion Airport is on Highway 1, the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway, accessible by car or public bus.
Ben Gurion Airport is the hub of El Al, Israir Airlines, Arkia Israel Airlines, and Sun d'Or International Airlines. During the 1980s and 1990s, it was a focus city of the now-defunct Tower Air. Today, Terminal 3 is used for international flights, and Terminal 1 is used for domestic flights. The airport has three runways and is used by commercial, private, and military aircraft.
Ben Gurion Airport is considered to be among the five best airports in the Middle East due to its passenger experience and its high level of security. Security forces such as Israel Police officers, IDF and Israel Border Police soldiers are complemented by airport security guards who operate both in uniform and undercover. The airport has been the target of several terrorist attacks, but no attempt to hijack a plane departing from Ben Gurion airport has succeeded. (Full article...)
Selected article 18
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/18
Swissair Flight 111 was a
Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from
John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to
Cointrin International Airport in
Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a
codeshare flight with
Delta Air Lines. On Wednesday, 2 September 1998, the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of
Halifax International Airport at the entrance to
St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from shore, roughly equidistant from the tiny fishing and tourist communities of
Peggys Cove and
Bayswater. All 229 people on board died—the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the second-highest of any air disaster in the history of Canada, after
Arrow Air Flight 1285. The
Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) official report of their investigation stated that flammable material used in the aircraft's structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in a loss of control and the crash of the aircraft. Swissair Flight 111 was known as the "
U.N. shuttle" due to its popularity with United Nations officials; the flight often carried business executives, scientists, and researchers. (
Full article...)
Selected article 19
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/19

Microburst schematic from NASA. Note the downward motion of the air until it hits ground level, then spreads outward in all directions. The wind regime in a microburst is completely opposite to a tornado.
Wind shear, sometimes referred to as
windshear or
wind gradient, is a difference in
wind speed and
direction over a relatively short distance in the
atmosphere. Wind shear can be broken down into vertical and horizontal components, with horizontal wind shear seen across
weather fronts and near the coast, and vertical shear typically near the surface, though also at higher levels in the atmosphere near upper level jets and frontal zones aloft.
Wind shear itself is a microscale meteorological phenomenon occurring over a very small distance, but it can be associated with mesoscale or synoptic scale weather features such as squall lines and cold fronts. It is commonly observed near microbursts and downbursts caused by thunderstorms, weather fronts, areas of locally higher low level winds referred to as low level jets, near mountains, radiation inversions that occur due to clear skies and calm winds, buildings, wind turbines, and sailboats. Wind shear has a significant effect during take-off and landing of aircraft due to their effects on steering of the aircraft, and was a significant cause of aircraft accidents involving large loss of life within the United States.
Sound movement through the atmosphere is affected by wind shear, which can bend the wave front, causing sounds to be heard where they normally would not, or vice versa. Strong vertical wind shear within the troposphere also inhibits tropical cyclone development, but helps to organize individual thunderstorms into living longer life cycles which can then produce severe weather. The thermal wind concept explains with how differences in wind speed with height are dependent on horizontal temperature differences, and explains the existence of the jet stream. (Full article...)
Selected article 20
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/20

The Luftwaffe
Balkenkreuz (balk cross) was carried on the upper and lower wings and the fuselages of practically all German military aircraft between 1935 and 1945. It was essentially the national marking used by the German Air Service in the last year of
World War I.
The
German Luftwaffe was one of the strongest, doctrinally advanced, and battle-experienced air forces in the world when
World War II started in
Europe in September 1939. Officially unveiled in 1935, in violation of the
Treaty of Versailles, its purpose was to support Hitler's
Blitzkrieg across Europe. The aircraft that were to serve in the Luftwaffe were of a new age and far superior to that of most other nations in the 1930s. Types like the
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and
Messerschmitt Bf 109 came to symbolize German aerial might.
The Luftwaffe became an essential component in the "Blitzkrieg" battle plan. Operating as a tactical close support air force, it helped the German armies to conquer the bulk of the European continent in a series of short and decisive campaigns in the first nine months of the war, experiencing its first defeat during the Battle of Britain in 1940 as it could not adapt into a strategic role, lacking heavy bombers with which to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against the British Isles.
Despite this setback the Luftwaffe remained formidable and in June 1941 embarked on Adolf Hitler's quest for an empire in eastern Europe by invading the USSR, with much initial success. However, the Luftwaffe's striking victories in the Soviet Union were brought to a halt in the Russian winter of 1942-1943. From then on, it was forced onto the strategic defensive contesting the ever increasing numbers of Soviet aircraft, whilst defending the German homeland and German occupied Europe from the growing Allied air forces pounding all aspects of German industry.
Having failed to achieve victory in the Soviet Union in 1941 or 1942, the Luftwaffe was drawn into a war of attrition which extended to North Africa and the Channel Front. The entry of the United States into the war and the resurgence of the Royal Air Force's (RAF) offensive power created the Home Front, known as Defense of the Reich operations. The Luftwaffe's strength was slowly eroded and by mid 1944 had virtually disappeared from the skies of Western Europe leaving the German Army to fight without air support. It continued to fight into the last days of the war with revolutionary new aircraft, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262, Messerschmitt Me 163 and the Heinkel He 162, even though the war was already hopelessly lost. (Full article...)
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Portal:Aviation/Selected article/21
One of the
many innovations of
World War I, aircraft were first used for
reconnaissance purposes and later as
fighters and
bombers. Consequently, this was the first war which involved a struggle for
control of the air, which turned it into another battlefield, alongside the battlefields of land and sea. (
Full article...)
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Flight 11 flightpath
American Airlines Flight 11 was a scheduled
U.S. domestic passenger flight from
Logan International Airport in
Boston, Massachusetts, to
Los Angeles International Airport. It was hijacked by five men and deliberately crashed into the
North Tower of the
World Trade Center in
New York City as part of the
September 11, 2001, attacks. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the hijackers injured at least three people, forcefully breached the cockpit, and overpowered the pilot and first officer.
Mohamed Atta, who was a known member of
al-Qaeda, and trained as a pilot, took over the controls. Air traffic controllers noticed the flight was in distress when the crew stopped responding to them. They realized the flight had been hijacked when Atta mistakenly transmitted announcements to air traffic control. On board, two flight attendants contacted
American Airlines, and provided information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew.
The aircraft crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 08:46 local time; the impact killed all 92 people aboard, including the hijackers. Many people in the streets witnessed the collision, and Jules Naudet captured the impact on video. News agencies began to report on the incident soon after and speculated that the crash had been an accident. The impact and subsequent fire caused the North Tower to collapse, which resulted in thousands of additional casualties. During the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site, workers recovered and identified dozens of remains from Flight 11 victims, but many other body fragments could not be identified. (Full article...)
Selected article 23
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/23

Hot air balloon
The
hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying
flight technology. On November 21, 1783, in
Paris,
France, the first manned flight was made by
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and
François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created by the
Montgolfier brothers.
A hot air balloon consists of a bag called the envelope that is capable of containing heated air. Suspended beneath is the gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule) which carries the passengers and a source of heat. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the relatively cold air outside the envelope. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In today's sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the mouth of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is made from fire resistant material such as Nomex.
Recently, balloon envelopes have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as hot dogs, rocket ships, and the shapes of commercial products. Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than just being pushed along by the wind are known as airships or, more specifically, thermal airships. (Full article...)
Selected article 24
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/24

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 article 25
Portal:Aviation/Selected article/25
United Airlines Flight 93 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from
Newark International Airport, in
Newark, New Jersey, to
San Francisco International Airport. It was
hijacked by four men as part of the
September 11, 2001 attacks. Over 40 minutes into the flight the hijackers breached the cockpit, overpowered the pilots and took over control of the aircraft, diverting it toward
Washington, D.C. Several passengers and crew members made telephone calls aboard the flight and learned about the attacks on the
World Trade Center and
the Pentagon. As a result, the passengers decided to mount an assault against the hijackers and wrest control of the aircraft.
The plane crashed in a field just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Washington, D.C., killing all 44 people aboard, including the hijackers. Many witnessed the impact from the ground and news agencies began reporting on the event within an hour. The plane fragmented upon impact, leaving a crater, and some debris was blown miles from the crash site. The remains of everyone on board the aircraft were later identified. Subsequent analysis of the flight recorders revealed how the actions taken by the passengers prevented the aircraft from reaching either the White House or United States Capitol. A permanent memorial is planned for construction on the crash site. The chosen design has been the source of criticism and is scheduled to be dedicated in 2011. (Full article...)
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BAE Systems' offices in Farnborough, UK
BAE Systems is a British
defence and aerospace company headquartered in
London, UK, which has worldwide interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary
BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's seventh-largest defence contractor and the largest in Europe. BAE was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion merger of two British companies:
Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the
General Electric Company plc (GEC) and aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer
British Aerospace (BAe). It has increasingly disengaged from its businesses in continental Europe in favour of investing in the United States. Since its formation it has sold its shares of
Airbus,
EADS Astrium,
AMS and
Atlas Elektronik. BAE Systems is involved in several major defence projects, including the
F-35 Lightning II, the
Eurofighter Typhoon and the
Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. The company has been the subject of criticism, both general opposition to the arms trade and also specific allegations of unethical and corrupt practices, including the
Al-Yamama contracts with
Saudi Arabia that have earned BAE and its predecessor £43 billion in twenty years. (
Full article...)
Selected article 27
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The feathered propellers of an RAF Hercules C.4
A
propeller is essentially a type of
fan which transmits power by converting
rotational motion into
thrust for propulsion of an
aircraft through the
air, by rotating two or more twisted blades about a central shaft, in a manner analogous to rotating a
screw through a solid. The blades of a propeller act as rotating
wings (the blades of a propeller are in fact
wings or
airfoils), and produce force through application of both
Bernoulli's principle and
Newton's third law, generating a difference in pressure between the forward and rear surfaces of the
airfoil-shaped blades and by accelerating a mass of air rearward. (
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General aviation in the United Kingdom has been defined as a civil
aircraft operation other than a
commercial air transport flight operating to a schedule. Although the
International Civil Aviation Organization excludes any form of remunerated aviation from its definition, some commercial operations are often included within the scope of general aviation in the
UK. The sector operates
business jets,
rotorcraft,
piston and
jet-engined fixed-wing aircraft,
gliders of all descriptions, and
lighter than air craft. Public transport operations include business (or corporate) aviation and
air taxi services, and account for nearly half of the economic contribution made by the sector. There are 28,000
Private Pilot Licence holders, and 10,000
certified glider pilots. Although GA operates from more than 1,800
aerodromes and landing sites, ranging in size from large
regional airports to farm strips, over 80 per cent of GA activity is conducted at 134 of the larger aerodromes. GA is regulated by the
Civil Aviation Authority, although regulatory powers are being increasingly transferred to the
European Aviation Safety Agency. The main focus is on standards of
airworthiness and
pilot licensing, and the objective is to promote high standards of safety. (
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A
helicopter is a type of
rotorcraft in which
lift and
thrust are supplied by one or more engine driven
rotors. In contrast with
fixed-wing aircraft, this allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft would not be able to take off or land. The capability to efficiently hover for extended periods of time allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that fixed-wing aircraft and other forms of
vertical takeoff and landing aircraft cannot perform.
The word 'helicopter' is adapted from the French hélicoptère, coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amecourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix/helik- (ἕλικ-) = 'spiral' or 'turning' and pteron (πτερόν) = 'wing'.
Helicopters were developed and built during the first half-century of flight, with some reaching limited production, but it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full-scale production, with 131 aircraft built. Though most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, it was the single main rotor with antitorque tail rotor configuration of this design that would come to be recognized worldwide as the helicopter. (Full article...)
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The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. Germany and France reached an agreement on 29 May 1969 after the British withdrew from the project on 10 April 1969. European collaborative aerospace manufacturer Airbus Industrie was formally created on 18 December 1970 to develop and produce it. The prototype first flew on 28 October 1972.
The first twin-engine widebody airliner, the A300 typically seats 247 passengers in two classes over a range of 5,375 to 7,500 km (2,900 to 4,050 nmi). Initial variants are powered by CF6-50 or JT9D turbofans and have a three-crew flight deck. The improved A300-600 has a two-crew cockpit and updated GE CF6-80 or PW4000 engines; it made its first flight on 8 July 1983 and entered service later that year. The A300 is the basis of the smaller A310 (first flown in 1982) and was adapted in a freighter version. Its cross section was retained for the larger A340 (1991) and A330 (1992). It is also the basis for the oversize Beluga transport (1994).
Launch customer Air France introduced the type on 23 May 1974. After limited demand initially, sales took off as the type was proven in early service, beginning three decades of steady orders. It has a similar capacity to the Boeing 767-300, introduced in 1986, but lacked the 767-300ER range. During the 1990s, the A300 became popular with cargo aircraft operators, as passenger airliner conversions or as original builds. Production ceased in July 2007 after 561 deliveries (Full article...)