Timeline of Aviation
In 2003 we celebrated the 100-th anniversary of the beginning of air activity by mankind.
Otto Liliental, the German engineer is considered to be a forerunner of air activity; in 1891 he started making controlled flights on gliders of his own design. The Wright brothers were the first to join airframe to the engine and to provide its controllability in the flight. On December 17, 1903, they flew the first successful powered flight, though their aircraft was impractical to fly for more than a short distance because of control problems. The boom of aviation began in France after the Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont circled the Eiffel Tower on his airplane in 1906. In 1908 he built Demoiselle, one of the worlds first airplanes of the normal configuration, which includes tail units. Hereafter aircraft began to transport people and cargo as designs grew larger and more reliable. In the 1930s the Douglas DC-3 became the first airliner to carry passengers exclusively, starting the modern era of passenger airline service.
Aviation penetrated from France into the Russian empire via Ukraine. On the 8-th of March 1910 Mikhail Yefimov performed the first demonstrative flights in Odessa. He was the first professionally qualified pilot in Russia. Definitely the pleiad of eminent Ukrainian scientists, designers, pilots contributed greatly to the improvement of national aviation as well as world aviation. They are Sergey Utochkin, Mikhail Yefimov, Ihor Sikorsky, Petr Nesterov, Oleg Antonov.
Aviation has three main divisions: general aviation, commercial aviation, and military aviation.
General aviation includes different types of aircraft from light planes to big, high-speed, long-range planes with up-to-date flight and navigation systems which provide safety.
Commercial aviation refers to airline, which can range in size. There are many small commuter aircraft to carry only a few passengers and big carriers for several hundred passengers. The first small commercial airlines began to carry mail in the early 20-s of the XX-th century.
Military aviation refers to the Army, Navy and the Air Force. It includes fighters, bombers, transports and helicopters.
Nowadays aviation is one of the worlds major industries, involving business and leisure activities on a grand scale, providing employment to many millions of people. Its difficult to find such field of economics where aviation is not used. Civil aviation became one of its most important branches. Airmen perform more than 100 functions in the national economy. It is impossible to imagine the development of such modern infrastructures as cargo transportation, people transportation, telecommunication, agriculture, building, medicine without aviation.
Cargo transportation.
Heavy equipment is in need everywhere, including those parts which are still without highways and railroads. The AN 124 Ruslan delivers super weight cargoes to different parts of the world.
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Agricultural aviation performs different operations, such as the sowing grain, the planting forests, the dispersion of mineral fertilizers and chemicals, erosion control.
Air photography makes it possible to describe in detail the natural recourses, to determine geological structure of the terrain and its topographical peculiarities.
Aviation is widely used in steering the ships during Arctic navigation and in exploration of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The helicopters are also used in such special flights as highway watch.
Aviation plays a vital role in peoples health protection. There are specially equipped ambulance planes and helicopters which are on duty round the clock ready to help people.
In recent years scientific and technological development has greatly changed life on our planet. Today science and technology are closely connected and related. Flights depend on science and the application of scientific knowledge and principles. A lot of modern passengers and freight aircraft have been appeared. They are high-speed, comfortable, reliable airplanes with modern flight and navigation equipment which provides flight safety.
One of the widely used planes is the IL 62, a long-range liner for both domestic and international routes. Now it is being replaced by a new airplane the IL 96 300. It will cover from 9000 to 11000 m. Its passengers capacity is 300. It has four turbo-fan engines.
The Jumbo (Boeing 747) is a large subsonic airliner, it is quiet, cheap and far more profitable than supersonic Concord that was designed and built by the British and French engineers working together. One of the largest cargo planes both in our country and the world is the AN 124 (Ruslan).
A new freighter, the AN 225 Mriya is the world largest cargo airplane. It can carry 250 tons of cargo. Its take off weight is 600 tons.
Probably the most significant development in air traffic control over the next 20 years will be the introduction of precise navigation and position reporting through Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS) cover three principle areas: voice and datalinks, global navigation and automatic dependent surveillance.
Indicate the terms you associate with words AIR and AVIATION.
1 Scan the text. Which of the following statements do you agree or disagree with according to the information in the text? Explain why.
1. There was a boom in general aviation after Otto Liliental made his first controlled flight on glider of his own design.
2. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first successful powered flight.
3. Douglas DC-3 was the first airliner to start the modern era of passenger airline service.
4. Aviation began to be associated with Ukraine just after World War II.
5. There are no main determined divisions in aviation to emphasize.
6. All types of aviation play a significant role in national economy.
7. Air traffic controllers should pay special attention to the special flights.
8. The AN 225 Mriya, the world largest cargo airplane, can carry no more than 150 tons of cargo.
