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Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, jet engines and aircraft achieve maximum efficiency (see specific impulse) at speeds close to or even well above the speed of sound. Jet aircraft generally cruise at faster than about Mach 0.8 (609 mph, 981 km/h or 273 m/s) at altitudes around 10,000–15,000 metres (33,000–49,000 ft) or more. Frank Whittle, an English inventor and RAF officer, developed the concept of the jet engine in 1928,[1] and Hans von Ohain in Germany developed the concept independently in the early 1930s. He wrote in February 1936 to Ernst Heinkel, who led the construction of the world’s first turbojet aircraft and jet plane Heinkel He 178. However, [...]

Below you’ll find interesting aerial photos of the 10 largest airports in the world—largest defined by the number of people passing through each year. Read the original article here 1. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Doc Searls, Flickr // CC BY 2.0 2. Beijing Capital International Airport Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 3.0 3. London Heathrow Airport Konstantin Von Wedelstaedt, Wikimedia Commons // GFDL 1.2 4. O’Hare International Airport Wikimedia Commons 5. Tokyo International Airport © National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs) via Wikimedia Commons 6. Los Angeles International Airport Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

You might not remember, but there used to be a jet called the Concorde that had a cruising speed of 1,354 mph, which is twice the speed of sound. New York City to London, typically a seven-hour flight, only lasted three-and-a-half hours on the Concorde. But the Concorde went bust in 2003, and supersonic jets fell out of favor. A new crop of aviation startups is hoping to resurrect it, and thanks to a new set of laws in the US, that comeback seems all but assured. From The Verge

Accidents such as Air France Flight 447 and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have reminded on just how vital flight recorders, better known as aircraft black boxes, are for accident investigation and improving aviation safety… if you can find them first. So now, companies are introducing solutions. It has been a week since Atlas Air Boeing 767 freighter fatal crash and investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are still searching for missing flight recorders. Hopes are, they will help answer a question on what made the cargo aircraft make a steep descent. But to solve the mystery, investigators [...]

Often, both due to airport rules and restrictions but also dense air traffic, smaller private jets are put on hold behind larger aircrafts, so you might experience a situation where your private jet might wait for a few more minutes on the air for larger airplanes to land first. Speed-wise and around technicalities, a small aircraft is not all that different from a larger one when landing and approaching the airstrip. There are times though when the air traffic controllers ask the private jets pilots to keep their speed high even on approach and in landing to avoid congestion with [...]

Aviation evolves and some things that were deemed as necessary are no longer needed. Regulations tend to lag behind technological developments, so it often takes time before capabilities are implemented, even when it is technically possible. Other times the paradigm is what lags and old methods stay because of public reception. The next in commercial aviation evolution will be the epoch when commercial flights only have one pilot in the cockpit, instead of today’s standard of two. But to make this a reality some technical and social hurdles need to be overcome. While two pilots in the cockpit are the [...]

Cannes –  a glamorous and expensive seaside town considered to be one of the social hubs of Europe. Its moment to shine arrives in May as the venue for the Cannes Film Festival, entertaining the rich and famous. During the festival, fans can see actors, celebrities, and directors up close and in person on the famous steps of the Palais des Festivals at the end of La Croisette.

Sometime around 1955, the first lines of a supersonic commercial plane were put on paper on both sides of the English Channel. For France and the United Kingdom, the objective was not to fall behind the United States in the aviation market. In France, Sud Aviation (later Aerospatiale, EADS and now Airbus) and Générale Aéronautique Marcel Dassault (today known as Dassault Aviation) used their respective knowledge of commercial and supersonic aviation to come up with a design. The “Caravelle” of Sud Aviation was already an iconic figure in the market. As for Dassault, it had already envisioned the idea of [...]