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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, 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.
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.
Thirteen C-17 Globemaster III aircraft fly over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia during low level tactical training Dec. 20, 2005. The C-17s, assigned to the 437th and 315th Airlift Wings at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., demonstrated the strategic airdrop capability of the U.S. Air Force.
Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was in the United States Navy and saw action in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety of aircraft. As a research pilot, Armstrong served as project pilot on the F-100 Super Sabre A and C aircraft, F-101 Voodoo, and the Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. He also flew the Bell X-1B, Bell X-5, North American X-15, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Stratojet, KC-135 Stratotanker and Paresev. He graduated from Purdue University.
... that Paul Haenlein was the first to create a dirigible airship (pictured) powered by an internal combustion engine?
...that on October 5, 1914, a French Voisin III pilot scored the first air-to-air kill of World War I?
...that Luftwaffe ace Erich Rudorffer flew more than 1000 missions during World War II, and was shot down sixteen times by enemy flak and fighters?
- July 22: US military confirms three deaths after B-52 crash off Guam
- July 22: Garuda Indonesia Flight 200's pilot's trial to begin this week
- July 21: One-Two-Go Airlines cease operating over fuel costs as legal action begins over September air disaster
- July 21: Search underway after US B-52 bomber crashes off Guam's coast
- July 17: US FAA to make airliner fuel tank inertion mandatory over 1996 air disaster
- July 15: Chanchangi Airlines 737 crashes on landing in Nigeria
- July 11: Hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants to lose jobs
- July 10: British Airways give medals to Flight 38's crew
- July 7: Captain killed as DC-9 cargo jet crashes onto Mexican highway
- July 7: Boeing 747 cargo aircraft crashes in Colombia, three dead
- July 6: Threat received before Boeing 767 fire at San Francisco
- July 6: Honduran capital's main airport reopens six weeks after jetliner crash
- July 5: Death toll in Arizona helicopter collision at seven as only survivor dies
- July 3: Continental Airlines to face charges over Air France Concorde disaster
- July 2: Nine oil workers die as helicopter crashes in Siberia
- 1996 - the final General Dynamics F-111F attack aircraft are withdrawn from USAF service; on its retirement, the aircraft finally receives an official popular name: "Aardvark."
- 1955 - an El Al Lockheed Constellation is shot down by Bulgarian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s. All 58 aboard are killed
- 1944 - Gloster Meteors of No. 616 Squadron RAF fly their first V1 interception mission
NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions. At launch, it consists of a rust-colored external tank (ET), two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and the orbiter, a winged spaceplane which is the space shuttle in the narrow sense.
The orbiter carries astronauts and payload such as satellites or space station parts into low earth orbit, into the Earth's upper atmosphere or thermosphere. Usually, five to seven crew members ride in the orbiter. The payload capacity is 22,700 kg (50,000 lb). When the orbiter's mission is complete it fires its Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enters the lower atmosphere. During the descent and landing, the shuttle orbiter acts as a glider, and makes a completely unpowered ("dead stick") landing.
- Span: 78.06 ft (23.79 m)
- Length: 122.17 ft (37.24 m)
- Height: 58.58 ft (17.25 m)
- Engines: 3 Rocketdyne Block 2 A SSMEs
- Cruising Speed: 25,404 ft/s (7,743 m/s, 27,875 km/h, 17,321 mi/h)
- First Flight: August 12, 1977 (glider), April 12, 1981 (powered).
- Operational Altitude: 100 to 520 nmi (185 to 1,000 km)
- Number built: 6 (+2 mockups)
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