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The Aviation Portal

Aviation, or air transport, refers to the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, parachutes, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as balloons and airships. Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloon, an apparatus capable of atmospheric displacement through lighter-than-air buoyancy. The most significant advancement in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto Lilienthal; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first powered airplane in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been technologically revolutionized with the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of transport throughout the world.

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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.

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C-17 Globemaster III releasing a flare.

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Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974), known as “Lucky Lindy” and “The Lone Eagle”, was a pioneering United States aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, flying from Roosevelt Airfield (Nassau County, Long Island), New York to Paris on May 20-May 21, 1927 in his single-engine aircraft The Spirit of St. Louis.

He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota. Early on he showed an interest in machinery, especially aircraft. After training as a pilot with the Army Air Service Lindbergh took a job as lead pilot of an airmail route in a DeHavilland DH-4 biplane. He was renowned for delivering the mail under any circumstances.

Lindbergh is recognized in aviation for demonstrating and charting polar air-routes, high altitude flying techniques, and increasing aircraft flying range by decreasing fuel consumption. These innovations are the basis of modern intercontinental air travel.

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Did you know

…that Chris Phatswe committed suicide by crashing his Air Botswana plane into two other planes belonging to the airline, effectively crippling operations?
…that five USAAF airmen were awarded the Medal of Honor following Operation Tidal Wave, a low-level bombing of Romanian oil refineries on 1 August 1943?
…that in 1943 British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 was shot down by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was an attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill?

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Aviation News

Wikinews Aviation portal

  • Five killed in mid-air collision over Warwickshire, England
  • Flight lands safely with help from mobile phone text messages
  • Two small planes collide in Wyoming, USA, killing three
  • Four British Airways executives charged with price fixing
  • Nine presumed dead in helicopter crash in California, United States

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Today in Aviation

August 18

  • 1989 – a Qantas Boeing 747, the Spirit of Australia, flies non-stop from London to Sydney, setting a world record for a four engine jet, after having flown 11,000 miles in 20 hours.
  • 1960 – a C-119 Flying Boxcar recovers a data capsule from the Discoverer 14 satellite in mid-air.
  • 1932 – Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns set a new balloon altitude record of 16,201 m (53,153 ft).
  • 1932 – 18-19 – Jim Mollison makes the first solo East-to-West crossing of the Atlantic, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth from Dublin to New Brunswick
  • 1903 – Karl Jatho makes a flight with his motored airplane in front of 4 people. . His craft flies up to 200 feet (60 m) up to few yards/meters above the ground in a powered heavier-than-air craft.

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The Boeing 777 is an American long-range wide-body twin-engine airliner built by Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division. The world’s largest twinjet, it can carry between 301 and 368 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a range from 5,210 to 9,450 nautical miles (9,650 to 17,501 km). Distinguishing features of the 777 include the six wheels on each main landing gear, its circular fuselage cross section, the pronounced “neck” aft of the cockpit and the blade-like tailcone.

Singapore Airlines is the largest operator of the Boeing 777 family with 68 in service, of which 46 are of the 777-200ER variant, 12 are 777-300s and 10 are 777-300ERs. Another 9 777-300ERs are on firm order, with 13 more on option. As of August 2007, 50 customers have placed orders for 996 777s

Direct market competitors to the 777 are the Airbus A330-300, A340 and some models of the proposed A350 XWB. The 777 may eventually be replaced by a new product family, the Y3, which would draw upon 787 technologies. The Y3 may also replace the 747 series.

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Lists relating to aviation

General

Timeline of aviation · Aircraft (manufacturers) · Aircraft engines (manufacturers) · Airports · Airlines

Military

Air forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft

Accidents/incidents

General · Military · Commercial (airliners) · Deaths

Records

Airspeed · Distance · Altitude · Endurance · Most-produced aircraft

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