National Aviation Day on August 19th recognizes the pioneers of human flight.
- In ancient China, kites few to investigate the weather.
- Inventors such as Leonardo da Vinci developed many ideas about flight. Gliders and balloons lifted humans into the sky, but none of the inventions gave a person control of where they flew.
- George Cayley used aerodynamics while designing fixed-wing aircraft. His designs would later inspire Orville and Wilbur Wright.
- Samuel Langley, an astronomer from Boston, designed a steam-powered model called an aerodrome in 1891. It flew for 3/4ths of a mile. After receiving a grant to build a full-sized aerodrome, Langley’s first test crashed. He never made another attempt.
- Brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, had studied Octave Chanute’s 1894 Progress in Flying Machines. The brothers set to work testing their designs, first with gliders. Eventually, they sought to add an engine.
- Two American inventors and aviation pioneers, the Wright brothers are credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903.
- In 1902, Charles Edward Taylor joined their team in pursuit of powered flight. Since automobile companies couldn’t supply an engine light enough and powerful enough, they would have to build it. Taylor, a machinist, set to work building the 12-horsepower engine. It took Taylor 6 weeks to build the engine.
- It wasn’t until mid-December that the brothers finally felt all was in order. After flipping a coin to decide who would pilot the machine, Wilbur climbed aboard. The first attempt failed, only flying 3.5 seconds. However, the brothers learned what worked.
- The next attempt on December 17, 1903, Orville took the controls. After launching, the machine flew for 120 feet. Man flew.
- The Boeing 747 wing-span (195 feet) is longer than the Wright Brothers first flight of 120ft.
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the world’s oldest airline, established in 1919.
- In 1987 American Airlines saved $40,000 by removing one olive from each salad served in first class.
- Singapore Airlines spends approximately $700 million on food every year and $16 million on wine.
- The internet and online check-in were first introduced by Alaska Airlines in 1999.
- At any given hour there are over 61,000 people airborne over the USA.
- American Airlines switching a pilots paper manuals to iPad they will save $1.2 million in fuel.
- Pilots and co-pilots are required to eat different meals in case of food poisoning
- In-flight oxygen masks aren’t intended to last the whole flight. according to a report from the Air Accident Investigation & Aviation Safety Board, those masks only provide 12 minutes of continuous airflow on a 737.
- The dirtiest place on the plane isn’t the bathroom. As it so happens, the filthiest place on a plane is that tray table you’re eating your meal off of. According to a study conducted by TravelMath, tray tables hosted 2,155 colony-forming bacterial units (CFU) per square inch. In comparison, the button to flush the toilet had just 265 CFU in the same amount of space.
- Sandra Bullock and about 2 million other Americans have aviophobia.
- Did you know that about 20% of people are afraid of flying?
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