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Aviation encompasses all the activities relating to airborne devices created by human ingenuity, generally known as aircraft. These activities include the organizations and regulatory bodies as well as the personnel related with the operation of aircraft and the industries involved in airplane manufacture, development, and design. ^[1]

History

Many cultures have built devices that travel through the air, from the earliest projectiles such as stones and spears, to more sophisticated buoyant or aerodynamic devices such as the boomerang in Australia, the hot air Kongming lantern,or kites. There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus, and later, more credible claims of short-distance human flights including a kite flight by Yuan Huangtou in China,^[2] and the parachute flight and controlled glider flight of Abbas Ibn Firnas (Armen Firman).

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21 1783, in a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers. Balloon flight became increasingly common over longer and longer distances throughout the 19th century, continuing to the present.

The practicality of balloons was limited by the fact that they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Although several airships, as steerable balloons came to be called, were built during the 1800s, the first aircraft to make routine flights were made by the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. Santos-Dumont effectively combined an elongated balloon with an internal combustion engine. On October 19, 1901 he became world famous when he flew his airship "Number 6" over Paris to win the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. Santos-Dumont's success with airships proved that controlled and sustained flight was possible.

On December 17 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first fully-documented, successful powered, heavier-than-air flight, though their aircraft was impractical to fly for more than a short distance because of control problems. The widespread adoption of ailerons made aircraft much easier to manage, and 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. In contrast to small non-rigid blimps, giant 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 of 1929. However, the dominance of the Zeppelins over the airplanes of the 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 June 6, 1937 when the Hindenburg caught fire killing 36 people. Although there have been periodic initiatives to revive their use, airships have seen only niche application since that time.

Great progress was made in the field of aviation during the 1920s and 1930s, such as Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight in 1927. One of the most successful designs of this period was the Douglas DC-3 which became the first airliner that was 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 jet aircraft and the first liquid-fueled rockets.

After WWII, 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 planes at the time. At the same time, turboprop propulsion began to appear for smaller commuter planes, making it possible to serve small-volume routes in a much wider range of weather conditions.

Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel to space on April 12, 1961, while Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969.

Since the 1960s, composite airframes and quieter, more efficient engines have become available, but the most important 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 outside the earth's atmosphere.

Civil aviation

Civil aviation includes all non-military flying, both general aviation and scheduled air transport.

Scheduled airline service

While there were many more in the past, there are currently only five major manufacturers of civil transport aircraft:

• Airbus, based in Europe
• Boeing, based in the United States
• Bombardier, based in Canada
• Embraer, based in Brazil
• Tupolev, based in Russia (scheduled to be merged into the United Aircraft Building Corporation)

Boeing, Airbus, and Tupolev concentrate on wide-body and narrow-body jet airliners, while Bombardier and Embraer concentrate on regional airliners.

Until the 1970s, most major airlines were flag carriers, sponsored by their governments and heavily protected from competition. Since then, various open skies agreements have resulted in increased competition and choice for consumers, coupled with falling prices for airlines. The combination of high fuel prices, low fares, high salaries, and crises such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and the SARS epidemic have driven many older airlines to government-bailouts, bankruptcy or mergers. At the same time, low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and Southwest have flourished.

General Aviation

General aviation includes all non-scheduled civil flying, both private and commercial. Because of the huge range of activities, it is difficult to cover general aviation with a simple description — general aviation may include business flights, private aviation, flight training, ballooning, parachuting, gliding, hang gliding, aerial photography, foot-launched powered hang gliders, air ambulance, crop dusting, charter flights, traffic reporting, police air patrols, forest fire flighting, and many other types of flying.

Each country regulates aviation differently, but typically, general aviation falls under several different types of regulations depending on whether it is private or commercial and on the type of equipment involved.

Many small aircraft manufacturers, including Cessna, Piper, Diamond, Mooney, Cirrus Design, Raytheon, and others serve the general aviation market, with a focus on private aviation and flight training.

The most important recent developments for small aircraft (which form the bulk of the GA fleet) have been the introduction of advanced avionics (including GPS) that were formerly found only in large airliners, and the introduction of composite materials to make small aircraft lighter and faster. Ultralight and homebuilt aircraft have also become increasingly popular for recreational use, since in most countries that allow private aviation, they are much less expensive and less heavily regulated than certified aircraft.

Military aviation

Simple balloons were used as surveillance aircraft as early as the 18th century. Over the years, military aircraft have been built to meet ever increasing capability requirements. Manufacturers of military aircraft compete for contracts to supply their government's arsenal. Aircraft are selected based on factors like cost, performance, and the speed of production.

Types of military aircraft

• Fighter aircraft's primary function is to destroy other aircraft. (e.g. Sopwith Camel, A6M Zero, MiG-29, F-22).
• Ground attack aircraft are used against tactical earth-bound targets. (e.g. Junkers Stuka diver bomber, Ilyushin Il-2, and the A-10).
• Bombers are generally used against more strategic targets. (e.g. Zeppelin, B-29 Superfortress, Tu-22, and the B-52)
• Cargo transport aircraft are used to transport hardware and personel, such as the C-17 or C-130 Hercules. There is a mission modifier designation in the USAF for Very Important Persons (V), not to be confused with Verticle Takeoff and landing Aircraft, such as the V-22. An example of a VIP aircraft is the VC-25 aka Air Force One.
• Surveillance aircraft have special capabilities used for reconnaissance (e.g. Rumpler Taube, de Havilland Mosquito, U-2, and MiG-25R).
• Helicopters account for a large portion of military aviation and are used for assault support, cargo transport and close air support.

Air Traffic Control (ATC)

Air traffic control (ATC) involves humans (typically on the ground) who communicate with aircraft to help maintain separation — that is, they ensure that aircraft are far enough apart horizontally or vertically that there is no risk of collision. Controllers may co-ordinate position reports provided by pilots, or in high traffic areas (such as the United States) they may use RADAR to see aircraft positions.

While the exact terminology varies from country to country, there are generally three different types of ATC:

• control towers (including tower, ground control, clearance delivery, and other services), which control aircraft within a small distance (typically 10-15 km horizontal, and 1,000 m vertical) of an airport.
• terminal controllers, who control aircraft in a wider area (typically 50-80 km) around busy airports
• centre controllers, who control aircraft enroute between airports

ATC is especially important for aircraft flying under Instrument flight rules (IFR), where they may be in weather conditions that do not allow the pilots to see other aircraft. However, in very high-traffic areas, especially near major airports, aircraft flying under Visual flight rules (VFR) are also required to follow instructions from ATC.

In addition to separation from other aircraft, ATC may provide weather advisories, terrain separation, navigation assistance, and other services to pilots, depending on their workload.

It is important to note that ATC does not control all flights. The majority of VFR flights in North America are not required to talk to ATC at all (unless they're passing through a busy terminal area or using a major airport), and in many areas, such as northern Canada, ATC services are not available even for IFR flights at lower altitudes.

Environmental impact

Like all human activities involving combustion, operating powered aircraft (from airliners to hot air balloons) releases greenhouse gases, soot, and other pollutants into the atmosphere. In addition, there are several types of environmental impact specific to aviation:

• Aircraft operating at high altitudes emit aerosols and leave contrails, both of which can increase cirrus cloud formation — cloud cover may have increased by up to 0.2% since the birth of aviation.^[3]

• Larger aircraft can release significant quantities of chemicals that interact with greenhouse gases at specific altitudes, particularly nitrogen compounds, which interacts with ozone, increasing ozone concentrations.^[4][5]

• For subsonic aircraft the largest aircraft forcings of climate are through CO₂, NO_x, and contrail formation, each of these components contributing with a similar magnitude.^[6]

• Most light piston aircraft burn avgas, which contains tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) and can cause soil contamination at airports. Some lower-compression piston engines can operate on unleaded mogas (but only when it is not blended with ethanol), and turbine engines and diesel engines — neither of which requires lead — are appearing on some newer light aircraft.

In many countries aviation is the fastest growing source of carbon emissions.^[7] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by 2050 aviation will account for 4% of all CO₂ released by human activity and to increase ozone concentration by 13% at typical jet cruise altitudes. According to the IPCC, all four types of emission combined will likely contribute to warmer surface temperatures through radiative forcing.^[8]

However, a report released in June 2007 by the British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) notes that air travel accounts only for 2-3% of the world's CO₂ emissions and has sought debate on this issue to avoid making aviation the scapegoat of global warming.^[9] The global warming impact of aviation extends beyond the CO₂, however. Most of the greenhouse impact of aviation is from the oxides of nitrogen produced. The total effect is estimated to be approximately 2.7 times that of the CO₂ alone^{[citation needed]}, though this varies significantly, based on local factors.^[10] One airliner, EasyJet has also unveiled a "ecoJet" aimed to reduce "carbon dioxide emissions by half" in response to growing concerns among the general public about pollution.^[11]

Notes

See also

• Timeline of aviation
• List of aviation topics
• Aviation, aerospace, and aeronautical terms

External links

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