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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

CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
CG render of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF
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 image

Let L-410 Turbolet
Photo: Łukasz Golowanow
The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engined short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer LET, mostly used for passenger transport. The L-410 first flew in 1969, and with more than 1100 produced, is the most popular 19-seat plane in history.
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Did you know

...that after the Red Baron, French ace René Fonck had the most confirmed World War I aerial victories? ...that on May 3, 2002 a military MiG-21bis aircraft crashed into the Bank of Rajasthan in India, killing eight? ... that Jimmy Doolittle commanded a 22 plane demonstration celebrating the opening of Henderson, Kentucky's Audubon Memorial Bridge in 1932?

More Did you know facts

General images - load new batch

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

Aviation news

25 August 2026 – Russia–United States relations
Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe arrives in Moscow, Russia, on an unscheduled military flight. It is unknown who Ratcliffe met with and neither Russia or the United States have confirmed any details of what was discussed during the visit. (BBC News)
24 August 2026 – Sudanese civil war
Drone strikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces hits several Rapid Support Forces Paramilitary targets in Nyala, South Darfur, Sudan, hours after a cargo aircraft landed in the area. (Sudan Tribune)
21 August 2026 – 2026–27 Malaysia Super League
In association football, Johor Darul Ta'zim claims a world record for the longest unbeaten run in top-flight league play, reaching 109 matches after defeating Kuching City 3–0 in Malaysia's Super League. (AFP via RFI)
20 August 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis
The USS George Washington arrives in the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln amidst a nine-month deployment and reports of mental health challenges among the crew and supply shortages on the aircraft carrier during the Iran war. (AP) (The Guardian)
20 August 2026 – Security Aviation Flight 45
Eight people are killed when a Cessna 441 Conquest II aircraft crashes at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site in Western Alaska, United States. (AA) (AP) (KTUU-TV)

Associated Wikimedia

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

Selected biography

Amelia Earhart, c. 1928
Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937), daughter of Edwin and Amy Earhart, was an American aviator and noted early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight in 1937.

By 1919 Earhart had enrolled at Columbia University to study pre-med but quit a year later to be with her parents in California. Later in Long Beach she and her father went to a stunt-flying exhibition and the next day she went on a ten minute flight.

Earhart had her first flying lesson at Kinner Field near Long Beach. Her teacher was Anita Snook, a pioneer female aviator. Six months later Earhart purchased a yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she named "Canary". On October 22, 1922, she flew it to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a women's world record.

After Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, Amy Guest, a wealthy American living in London, England expressed interest in being the first woman to fly (or be flown) across the Atlantic Ocean, but after deciding the trip was too dangerous to make herself, she offered to sponsor the project, suggesting they find "another girl with the right image." While at work one afternoon in April 1928 Earhart got a phone call from a man who asked her, "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?"

Selected Aircraft

Airbus A380
Airbus A380

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)
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Today in Aviation

August 26

  • 2012 – After a final flight from Denver, Colorado, to Lihue, Kauaʻi, Hawaii, 83-year-old Ron Akana retires as the longest-serving flight attendant in history. His career, all with United Airlines, had spanned 63 years since he joined the airline in 1949, interrupted only by two years of military service from 1951 to 1953. He had flown about 200 million miles (322,000,000 km) and made about 10,000 trips over the Pacific Ocean.[2][3]
  • 2009 – Aéro-Frêt Antonov An-12 crash: TN-AIA, an Antonov An-12 operated by of Aéro-Frêt, suffers an in-flight fire, breaks up in mid-air and crashes at Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of the Congo. All six people on board are killed.
  • 2008 – A Sun Air 737-200 carrying 109 passengers and crew is hijacked after takeoff of a flight from Nyala, Sudan to Cairo, and demand to be flown to France. The plane ends up landing in Libya, where the passengers would be released the next day later and the hijackers would surrender two days later.
  • 2007 – In Kongolo, Tanganyika District, DRC 13 of 15 aboard die when an overloaded Antonov An-32 (reg 9Q-CAC) owned by Agefreco Air and operated by Great Lakes Business Company crashes while flying tin ore (Cassiterite)
  • 2004 – Boeing delivers the 500th AH-64D Apache Longbow multirole combat helicopter.
  • 2003 – Colgan Air Flight 9446, a US Airways Express Beechcraft 1900D on a repositioning flight with no passengers aboard, crashes in the water off Yarmouth, Massachusetts, immediately after takeoff from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, due to a maintenance error. The two-man crew captain Scott Knabe (39) and first officer Steven Dean (38) dies.The NTSB identified the cause as aircraft manufacturer's erroneous depiction of the elevator trim drum in the maintenance manual and the flight crew's failure to follow the checklist procedures checking trimmers prior to take off having contributed to the accident.
  • 2003 – The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final report on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
  • 1988 – Mehran Karimi Nasseri begins what would be an 18-year layover in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Believed to be the inspiration for the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks film The Terminal, a chain of immigration bureaucracy and paperwork snafus prevent Nasseri from leaving the airport while en route to settle in London. Despite assistance from lawyers, he would not be able to legally leave the airport until sickness forces him out in July of 2006.
  • 1986 – The CFM56 turbofan is flight tested for the first time.
  • 1982 – Southwest Air Lines Flight 611, a Boeing 737-200, overruns the runway while landing at Ishigaki Airport in Japan. There are no fatalities, but 67 of the 138 on board are injured.
  • 1975 – LTV A-7D-12-CV Corsair II, 72-0172, of the 76th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing, England AFB, Louisiana, crashes on a test range on the eastern area of the Eglin AFB, Florida, reservation at ~2240 hrs. during a night training mission. The aircraft, part of a three-ship flight, had departed England AFB at ~2015 hrs. for a ground attack simulation at Eglin. The A-7D went down while orbiting the range with the other two aircraft of the flight. Pilot Capt. William N. Clark, 33, of Little Rock, Arkansas, is KWF. "The cause of the crash is unknown at this time but is being investigated by a board of qualified officers," Maj. Les Smith, Eglin Information officer, said. The three jets were slated to return to England AFB directly after completing the mission, Smith said. Capt. Clark is survived by his wife and three children who reside at England AFB.
  • 1959 – French flyer Jacqueline Auriol, piloting the Mirage III, becomes the first woman to attain the speed of Mach 2.
  • 1959 – The White House enters the jet age. After pressure from Secretary of State John Dulles (after whom the Capitol’s airport is now named) regarding the somewhat shoddy appearance of a US President arriving at international meetings aboard a prop while Russian dignitaries flew in aboard jets, the first VC-137 A, a modified Boeing 707-120 airliner, enters service to replace the Lockheed Super Constellation formerly responsible for Presidential transport. Newer aircraft would subsequently take over President-carrying duties over the years, but this first jet, branded SAM 970, would remain in the Air Force’s Special Air Missions fleet until 1996, last being used to transport Vice President Al Gore. SAM 970 is now on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
  • 1954 – Top Korean War USAF ace Capt. Joseph C. McConnell (16 victories) is killed in crash of fifth production North American F-86H Sabre, 52-1981, at Edwards AFB, California.
  • 1953 – U.S. Coast Guard Boeing PB-1G Flying Fortress, BuNo 77253, ex-44-85827, loses brakes while landing at NAS Sand Point, near Seattle, Washington, overruns runway, crushes nose as it ends up in Lake Washington. Retrieved and sold for salvage.
  • 1951 – Handley Page HP.88, VX330, a two-fifths scale flying testbed for the Handley Page HP.80 Victor bomber to prove crescent wing design, breaks up in flight when the rear fuselage separates during a manoeuvre. During a high-speed, low-level pass over Stansted's main runway, it suffered a failure of its slab-type tailplane's servo-control system, producing severe oscillations that subjected the airframe to excessive G-forces, causing the ship to break up, killing pilot D. J. P. Broomfield.
  • 1942 – Adolf Hitler orders the incomplete heavy cruiser Seydlitz to be completed as an aircraft carrier.
  • 1940 – No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron engaged the enemy in the Battle of Britain and destroyed three and damaged four enemy aircraft. F/O RL Edwards was the RCAF’s first battle casualty.
  • 1937 – Majorca-based Italian aircraft bomb a British merchant ship off Barcelona, Spain.
  • 1929 – The first flight of the largest trimotor transport aircraft built by Fokker, the F.IX, takes to the air on its first flight. The prototype (PH-AGA) was handed over to KLM on May 8, 1930, and given the name Adelaar (Eagle).
  • 1925 – In a record that would stand until Feb. 24, 1983, Farman Parker of Anderson, Indiana becomes the world’s youngest pilot to fly solo. Born on January 9, 1912, he flies at the age of 13 years, 7 months, 17 days.
  • 1927 – Bert Hinkler sets a new non-stop distance record, flying from Croydon, England to Riga, Latvia.
  • 1909 – The Antoinette IV airplane sets a world distance record, flying 154.6 km (96.1 mi) in 2 hours 17 min 21 seconds.

References

  1. ↑ Syria Live Blog, Al-Jazeera.
  2. ↑ Daniel Miller (August 29, 2012). "Spending 63 years in the sky has finally landed flight attendant a place in the Guinness Book of Records". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
  3. ↑ Morning Edition (August 27, 2012). "United Flight Attendant, 83, Ends 63-Year Career". Npr.org. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
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