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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, 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 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.

Contents

 1Etymology

 2History

 2.1Early beginnings

 2.2Lighter than air

 2.3Heavier than air

 3Operations of aircraft

 3.1Civil aviation

 3.1.1Air transport

 3.1.2General aviation

 3.2Military aviation

 3.2.1Types of military aviation

 3.3Air safety

 4Aviation accidents and incidents

 5Air traffic control

 6Environmental impact

 7See also
 8Notes

 9Bibliography

 10External links

Etymology[edit]
The word aviation was coined by the French writer and former naval officer
Gabriel La Landelle in 1863.[1] He derived the term from the verb avier (an
unsuccessful neologism for "to fly"), itself derived from the Latin
word avis ("bird") and the suffix -ation.[2]

History[edit]
Main article: History of aviation

Early beginnings[edit]
There are early legends of human flight such as the stories of Icarus in Greek
myth and Jamshid and Shah Kay Kāvus[3] in Persian myth. Later, somewhat
more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the flying
automaton of Archytas of Tarentum (428–347 BC),[4] the winged flights
of Abbas ibn Firnas(810–887), Eilmer of Malmesbury (11th century), and
the hot-air Passarola of Bartholomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724).

Lighter than air[edit]

LZ 129 Hindenburg at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, 1936

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human
lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783, of a hot air balloon designed
by the Montgolfier brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because
they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a
steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the
first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one
in 1785.

Rigid airships became the first aircraft to transport passengers and cargo over
great distances. The best known aircraft of this type were manufactured by
the German Zeppelin company.

The most successful Zeppelin was the Graf Zeppelin. It flew over one million
miles, including an around-the-world flight in August 1929. However, the
dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of that period, which had a
range of only a few hundred miles, was diminishing as airplane design
advanced. The "Golden Age" of the airships ended on May 6, 1937 when
the Hindenburg caught fire, killing 36 people. The cause of the Hindenburg
accident was initially blamed on the use of hydrogen instead of helium as the
lift gas. An internal investigation by the manufacturer revealed that the
coating used in the material covering the frame was highly flammable and
allowed static electricity to build up in the airship.[5] Changes to the coating
formulation reduced the risk of further Hindenburg type accidents. Although
there have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only
niche application since that time.

Heavier than air[edit]


In 1799, Sir George Cayley set forth the concept of the modern airplane as a
fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion, and
control.[6][7] Early dirigible developments included machine-powered
propulsion (Henri Giffard, 1852), rigid frames (David Schwarz, 1896) and
improved speed and maneuverability (Alberto Santos-Dumont, 1901)
First powered and controlled flight by the Wright brothers, December 17, 1903

There are many competing claims for the earliest powered, heavier-than-air
flight. The first recorded powered flight was carried out by Clément Ader on
October 9, 1890 in his bat-winged, fully self-propelled fixed-wing aircraft,
the Ader Éole. It was reportedly the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air
flight of a significant distance (50 m (160 ft)) but insignificant altitude from
level ground.[8][9][10] Seven years later, on 14 October 1897, Ader's Avion
III was tested without success in front of two officials from the French War
ministry. The report on the trials was not publicized until 1910, as they had
been a military secret. In November 1906 Ader claimed to have made a
successful flight on 14 October 1897, achieving an "uninterrupted flight" of
around 300 metres (980 feet). Although widely believed at the time, these
claims were later discredited.[11][12]

The Wright brothers made the first successful powered, controlled and
sustained airplane flight on December 17, 1903, a feat made possible by their
invention of three-axis control. Only a decade later, at the start of World War
I, heavier-than-air powered aircraft had become practical for reconnaissance,
artillery spotting, and even attacks against ground positions.

Aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more
reliable. The Wright brothers took aloft the first passenger, Charles Furnas, one
of their mechanics, on May 14, 1908.[13][14]

During the 1920s and 1930s great progress was made in the field of aviation,
including the first transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown in 1919, Charles
Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight in 1927, and Charles Kingsford Smith's
transpacific flight the following year. One of the most successful designs of this
period was the Douglas DC-3, which became the first airliner to be profitable
carrying passengers exclusively, starting the modern era of passenger airline
service. By the beginning of World War II, many towns and cities had built
airports, and there were numerous qualified pilots available. The war brought
many innovations to aviation, including the first jetaircraft and the first
liquid-fueled rockets.
NASA's Helios researches solar powered flight.

After World War II, especially in North America, there was a boom in general
aviation, both private and commercial, as thousands of pilots were released
from military service and many inexpensive war-surplus transport and
training aircraft became available. Manufacturers such as Cessna, Piper,
and Beechcraft expanded production to provide light aircraft for the new
middle-class market.

By the 1950s, the development of civil jets grew, beginning with the de
Havilland Comet, though the first widely used passenger jet was the Boeing
707, because it was much more economical than other aircraft at that time.
At the same time, turboproppropulsion began to appear for smaller commuter
planes, making it possible to serve small-volume routes in a much wider range
of weather conditions.

Since the 1960s composite material airframes and quieter, more efficient
engines have become available, and Concordeprovided supersonic passenger
service for more than two decades, but the most important lasting innovations
have taken place in instrumentation and control. The arrival
of solid-state electronics, the Global Positioning System, satellite
communications, and increasingly small and powerful computers
and LED displays, have dramatically changed the cockpits of airliners and,
increasingly, of smaller aircraft as well. Pilots can navigate much more
accurately and view terrain, obstructions, and other nearby aircraft on a map
or through synthetic vision, even at night or in low visibility.
On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded aircraft
to make a spaceflight, opening the possibility of an aviation market capable of
leaving the Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, flying prototypes of aircraft
powered by alternative fuels, such as ethanol, electricity, and even solar
energy, are becoming more common.

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