Wikipedia:WikiProject Aviation/WikiEagle/February 2022/On the Main Page

In the news

Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford becomes the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.

Today's Featured Article

January 26

AAC Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 fighter

The Australian Air Corps (AAC) was a temporary military formation that existed in the interval between the disbandment of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1921. Raised in January 1920, the AAC was commanded by Major William Anderson, a former AFC pilot. Many members of the AAC were also from the AFC and went on to join the RAAF. Although part of the Australian Army, the AAC was overseen by a board of senior officers that included members of the Royal Australian Navy. The primary purpose of the corps was to maintain assets of the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, but it also undertook several pioneering activities: AAC personnel set an Australian altitude record that stood for a decade, made the first non-stop flight between Sydney and Melbourne, and took the country's initial steps in the field of aviation medicine. The RAAF inherited Point Cook and most of its initial equipment from the AAC. (Full article...)

January 28

Challenger breaking up

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members aboard. Challenger disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC), 73 seconds into its flight. The disaster was caused by the failure of the two O-ring seals in a joint in the Space Shuttle's right solid rocket booster in record-low temperatures. Several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft, but the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable, and the orbiter had no escape system. President Ronald Reagan created the Rogers Commission to investigate the accident; it criticized NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes that had contributed to the accident. There was a 32-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program. To replace Challenger, the construction of Endeavour was approved in 1987, and the new orbiter first flew in 1992. (Full article...)

Did you know ...

... that beauty queen Veronica Volkersz was the first woman to pilot an operational jet fighter? (27 January)
... that Rudi Kappel, co-founder of the first airline of Suriname, was arrested both on entering and leaving Santiago de Cuba? (26 January)
... that after training for the Soyuz T-11 mission, Indian Air Force pilot Ravish Malhotra stayed on the ground as a backup astronaut for Rakesh Sharma, who became the first Indian in space? (20 January)
... that from 1996 to 2019, Turkish Airlines operated an aircraft that wouldn't move a meter on the ground when "she didn't feel like it"? (15 January)
... that Alexander Tahy became a pilot via on-the-job training? (13 January)
... that Rudolf Szepessy-Sokoll shot down a pair of Macchi L.3 seaplanes to become a flying ace? (7 January)