The dream of flight goes back to the days of pre-history. Many stories from antiquity involve flight, such as the legend of Icarus. Leonardo da Vinci drew an aircraft in the 15th century. With the first flight made by man (Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois d'Arlandes) in an aircraft lighter than air, a balloon, the biggest challenge became to create other craft, capable of controlled flight.
In 1853, Englishman George Cayley made the first manned glider flight. In 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider "L'Albatros artificiel" pulled by a horse on a beach. On 28 August 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a glider. Other aviators who had made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher and Octave Chanute.
Sir George Cayley, the inventor of the science of aerodynamics, was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as early as 1803, and he built a successful passenger-carrying glider in 1853. Self-powered aircraft were designed and constructed by Clément Ader. On October 9, 1890, Ader attempted to fly the Éole, which succeeded in taking off and flying a distance of approximately 50 meters before witnesses. In August 1892 the Avion II flew for a distance of 200 metres, and on October 14, 1897, Avion III flew a distance of more than 300 metres.
Richard Pearse made a poorly documented uncontrolled flight on March 31, 1903 in Waitohi, New Zealand
On August 28, 1903 in Hanover, the German Karl Jatho made his first flight.
The Wright Brothers are commonly credited with the invention of the aircraft, but like Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, theirs was rather the first sustainable and well documented attempt. They made their first successful test flights on December 17, 1903 and by 1905 Flyer III was capable of fully controllable, stable flight for substantial periods. Strictly speaking, the Flyer's wings were not completely fixed, as it depended for stability on a flexing mechanism named wing warping. This was later superseded by the development of ailerons, devices which performed a similar function but were attached to an otherwise rigid wing.
However, in some countries, particularly Brazil, Alberto Santos-Dumont is considered to be the "Father of Aviation". Though launched after the Wright Brothers' first 150 flights, his 14-bis took off, flew and landed without the use of catapults, high winds, or other external assistance. Most Brazilians, as well as admirers of Santos-Dumont, consider him to be the true inventor of the aircraft, although if full control by the pilot is considered a requisite for an aircraft, the Wright Brothers' 1905 Flyer would take precedence over other machines, including the poorly controlled 14-bis. Due to competing claims, the concept of the invention of the first flying machine has substantial ambiguity.
Wars in Europe, in particular World War I, served as initial tests for the use of the aircraft as a weapon. First seen by generals and commanders as a "toy", the aircraft proved to be a machine of war capable of causing casualties to the enemy. In the first world war, the fighter "aces" appeared, of which the greatest was the German Manfred von Richthofen, commonly called the Red Baron. On the side of the allies, the ace with the highest number of downed aircraft was René Fonck, of France.
After the First World War, aircraft continued to advance their technology. Charles Lindbergh became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in solo flight nonstop, on 20 May 1927. The first commercial flights took place between the United States and Canada in 1919. The turbine or the jet engine was in development in the 1930s, military jet aircraft began operating in the 1940s.
Aircraft played a primary role in the Second World War, having a presence in all the major battles of the war, especially in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battles of the Pacific and D-Day, as well as the Battle of Britain. They were also an essential part of several of the military strategies of the period, such as the German Blitzkrieg or the American and Japanese Aircraft carriers.
In October 1947, Chuck Yeager, in the Bell X-1, was the first recorded person to exceed the speed of sound. However, some British Spitfire pilots claimed to have exceeded Mach 1 in a dive. The Boeing X-43 is an experimental scramjet with a world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft - Mach 9.6, or nearly 7,000 mph.
Aircraft in a civil military role continued to feed and supply Berlin in 1948, when access to railroads and roads to the city, completely surrounded by Eastern Germany, were blocked, by order of the Soviet Union.
The first commercial jet, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952, and the first successful commercial jet, the Boeing 707, is still in use 50 years later. Boeing 707 would develop into the later in Boeing 737. The Boeing 727 was another widely used passenger aircraft, and the Boeing 747, was the biggest commercial aircraft in the world up to 2005, when it was surpassed by the Airbus A380.
Designing and constructing an aircraft
Small aircraft can be designed and constructed by amateurs as homebuilts. Other aviators with less knowledge make their aircraft using pre-manufactured kits, assembling the parts into a complete aircraft.
Most aircraft are constructed by companies with the objective of producing them in quantity for customers. The design and planning process, including safety tests, can last up to four years for small turboprops, and up to 12 years for aircraft with the capacity of the A380.
During this process, the objectives and design specifications of the aircraft are established. First the construction company uses drawings and equations, simulations, wind tunnel tests and experience to predict the behavior of the aircraft. Computers are used by companies to draw, plan and do initial simulations of the aircraft. Small models and mockups of all or certain parts of the aircraft are then tested in wind tunnels to verify the aerodynamics of the aircraft.
When the design has passed through these processes, the company constructs a limited number of these aircraft for testing on the ground. Representatives from an aviation governing agency often make a first flight. The flight tests continue until the aircraft has fulfilled all the requirements. Then, the governing public agency of aviation of the country authorizes the company to begin production of the aircraft.
In the United States, this agency is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and in the European Union, Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA). In Canada, the public agency in charge and authorizing the mass production of aircraft is Transport Canada.
In the case of the international sales of aircraft, a license from the public agency of aviation or transports of the country where the aircraft is also to be used is necessary. For example, aircraft from Airbus need to be certified by the FAA to be flown in the United States and vice versa, aircraft of Boeing need to be approved by the JAA to be flown in the European Union.
Recently, as quieter aircraft are becoming more and more needed due to the increase in air traffic, particularly over urban areas, MIT has designed a delta-wing aircraft that is almost silent and appears to be a practical design for widespread use.
Industrialized production
There are few companies that produce aircraft on a large scale. However, the production of an aircraft for one company is a process that actually involves dozens, or even hundreds, of other companies and plants, that produce the parts that go into the aircraft. For example, one company can be responsible for the production of the landing gear, while another one is responsible for the radar. The production of such parts is not limited to the same city or country; in the case of large aircraft manufacturing companies, such parts can come from all over of the world.
The parts are sent to the main plant of the aircraft company, where the production line is located. In the case of large aircraft, production lines dedicated to the assembly of certain parts of the aircraft can exist, especially the wings and the fuselage.
When complete, an aircraft goes through a set of rigorous inspection, to search for imperfections and defects, and after being approved by the inspectors, the aircraft is tested by a pilot, in a flight test, in order to assure that the controls of the aircraft are working properly. With this final test, the aircraft is ready to receive the "final touchups" (internal configuration, painting, etc), and is then ready for the customer.
Safety
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Statistics show that the risk of an air accident is very small - at least in airliners. Statistically, the chance of an accident while driving to the airport in a car is higher than having an accident during the flight. Many people have a fear of flying because the risk of death in the event of an aircraft accident is extremely high. Furthermore, car crashes rarely feature outside local news whereas air crashes are reported internationally, making the risk seem greater.
Aircraft are the second safest way to travel long distances after railway trains. The per-trip safety of aircraft is somewhat safer than cars, but over the long distances that aircraft can cover they are much safer than the other types or transport.
The majority of aircraft accidents occur due to human error, that is, an error of the pilot(s) or control tower. After human error, mechanical failure is the biggest cause of air accidents, which sometimes also can involve a human component, e.g. negligence of the airline in carrying out proper maintenance. Adverse weather is the third largest cause of accidents. Icing of wings, downbursts and low visibility are often major contributors to weather related crashes. Birds actually have been ranked as a major cause for large rotor bursts on commercial turboprop engines, spurring extra safety measures to keep birds away. However, technology like ice detectors help pilots secure the safety of their aircraft.
See also