Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.
The first recorded aircraft hijack was on February 21, 1931, in Arequipa, Peru. Byron Rickards flying a Ford Tri-motor was approached on the ground by armed revolutionaries. He refused to fly them anywhere and after a ten day stand-off Rickards was informed that the revolution was successful and he could go in return for giving one of their number a lift to Lima.
Source: Wikipedia
'Abbas Ibn Firnas, or 'Abbas Qasim Ibn Firnas (810 - 887 A.D.) was a Spanish-Arab humanitarian, technologist, and chemist who lived in the Andalusian Caliphate of Córdoba. In 852, under a new Caliph, a daredevil named Armen Firman decided to fly off a tower in Córdoba using a huge winglike cloak to break his fall. He survived with minor injuries, and the young Ibn Firnas was there to see it. In 875 at an age of 70 years, Ibn Firnas built his own glider, and launched himself from a mountain. The flight was largely successful, and was widely observed by a crowd that he had invited. However, the landing was bad. He injured his back, and left critics saying he hadn't taken proper account of the way birds pull up into a stall, and land on their tails. He'd provided neither a tail, nor means for such a maneuver. He died twelve years later.
Source: Wikipedia
Airport (1970): directed and written by George Seaton and starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Seberg and Jacqueline Bisset. Plot Outline: Melodrama about a bomber on board an airplane, an airport almost closed by snow, and various personal problems of the people involved.
Source: IMDb
An accident survey of 2,147 airplane accidents from 1950 through 2004 determined the causes to be as follows:
37%: Pilot error
33%: Undetermined or missing in the record
13%: Mechanical failure
7%: Weather
5%: Sabotage (bombs, hijackings, shoot-downs)
4%: Other human error (air traffic controller error, improper loading of aircraft, improper maintenance, fuel contamination, language miscommunication etc.)
1%: Other cause
The survey excluded military, private, and charter aircraft.
Source: Wikipedia
The flight data recorder (FDR) is a flight recorder used to record specific aircraft performance parameters. A separate device is the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), although some recent types combine both in one unit. Popularly, though almost always falsely, known as the black box used for aircraft mishap analysis, the FDR is also used to study air safety issues, material degradation, and jet engine performance. These ICAO regulated "black box" devices are often used as an aid in investigating aircraft mishap, and these devices are typically one of the highest priorities for recovery after a crash, second only to bodies of victims. The device's shroud is usually painted bright orange and is generally located in the tail section of the aircraft.
Source: Wikipedia
Leaving On A Jet Plane by John Denver
See lyrics
Airline acronyms
AEROFLOT = Almost Everyone Retches Once Finished Landing On This
Alitalia: Airplane Landed In Tokyo And Luggage In Atlanta
Alitalia: Always Late In Take-off Always Late In Arrival
American: Airline Meals Eaten Regularly Induces Cramps and Nausea
BOAC: Better On A Camel
BOAC = Bloody Old Air Crap
Delta: Don't Ever Leave The Airport
Delta: Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive
El Al: Every Landing Always Late
Olympic: Onassis Likes Your Money Paid In Cash
Pan Am: Prices Are Not Always Moderate
Sabena: Such A Bad Experience - Never Again
TAP: Take Another Plane
TWA: That Was Awful
TWA: Try With Another
Source: Workjoke
August 10, 1896: On his 2500th flight, Otto Lilienthal, the German "Glider King", and pioneer of human aviation, died after a failure of one of his gliders. A gust of wind broke the wing of the glider, causing him to fall from a height of roughly 56 ft (17 m), fracturing his spine. He died the next day, with his last words being reported as Opfer müssen gebracht werden! ("sacrifices must be made").
Source: Wikipedia
The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall. (Orville Wright)
I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on. (Jean Kerr)
If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. (Charles A. Lindbergh)
If we did not have such a thing as an airplane today, we would probably create something the size of N.A.S.A. to make one. (H. Ross Perot)
Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you're aboard there's nothing you can do. (Golda Meir)
The Americans cannot build aeroplanes. They are very good at refrigerators and razor blades. (Hermann Goering)
The odds against there being a bomb on a plane are a million to one, and against two bombs a million times a million to one. Next time you fly, cut the odds and take a bomb. (Benny Hill)
Source: Creative Quotations
Biggest Jet Fighter Collection: The world's biggest private jet fighter collection numbers 110, and belongs to French winemaker Michel Pont, of Savigny-Les-Beaune, in the Burgundy region. His hobby started in 1985, and includes Russian MiGs, British Jaguars and French Mirages. He buys them from governments although they cannot be flown over French airspace.
Most Air Miles Flown By A Passenger: The record for the most air miles flown by an individual is held by Britain's Frederick Finn, who by June 2003 had flown a total distance of 22,370,000 km (13,900,000 miles). Mr Finn commutes regularly between London and New Jersey, USA, and holds the record for most number of flights as a supersonic passenger, having made 718 Atlantic crossings on Concorde.
Smallest Jet Aircraft: The home-built Bede BD-5J Microjet owned by Juan Jimenez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA, weighs 162 kg (358 lb), is 3.7 m (12 ft) long, has a 5.7 m (17 ft) wingspan, and can fly at 483 km/h (300 mph).
Source: Guinness World Records
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