Portal:Aviation/Selected Aircraft/archive
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This is an archive of aircraft which have previously appeared as the selected aircraft. This does not include Future articles, or Nominations.
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[edit] 2007
[edit] February 2007
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST), along with the Tupolev Tu-144, was one of only two models of supersonic passenger airliners to have seen commercial service.
Concorde had a cruise speed of Mach 2.02 (around 2170 km/h or 1,350 mph) and a maximum cruise altitude of 60,000 feet (18 300 metres) with a delta wing configuration and a reheat-equipped evolution of the engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. The engines were built by Rolls-Royce. Concorde was the first civil airliner to be equipped with an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system. Commercial flights, operated by British Airways and Air France, began on January 21, 1976 and ended on October 24, 2003, with the last "retirement" flight on November 26 that year.
Construction of the first two prototypes began in February 1965. Concorde 001 was built by Aerospatiale at Toulouse and Concorde 002 by BAC at Filton, Bristol. Concorde 001 took off for the first test flight from Toulouse on March 2, 1969 and the first supersonic flight followed on October 1. As the flight programme of the first development aircraft progressed, 001 started off on a sales and demonstration tour beginning on September 4, 1971. Concorde 002 followed suit in June 2, 1972 with a sales tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to commemorate its opening.
- Span: 84 ft 0 in (25.6 m).
- Length: 202 ft 4 in[2] (61.66 m)
- Height: 40 ft 0 in (12.2 m )
- Engines: 4× Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk 610 afterburning turbojets 170 kN each.
- Cruising Speed: Mach 2.04 (1,350 mph, 2,170 km/h)
- First Flight: March 2, 1969
- Number built: 20 (including prototypes)
[edit] January 2007
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, four-engined airliner manufactured by Airbus S.A.S. It first flew on April 27, 2005 from Toulouse, France. Commercial flights should begin in late 2006 after 15 months of testing, with the delivery of the first aircraft to launch, for one of Airbus's customers–Singapore Airlines. During much of its development phase, the aircraft was known as the Airbus A3XX, and the nickname Superjumbo has also become associated with the A380.
The A380 is double decked, with the upper deck extending along the entire length of the fuselage. This allows for a spacious cabin, with the A380 in standard three-class configuration to seat 555 people, up to maximum of 853 in full economy class configuration. Two models of the A380 will be available at launch. The A380-800, the passenger model, is the largest passenger airliner in the world superseding the Boeing 747. The other launch model, the A380-800F, will be a freight aircraft, and will be one of the largest freight aircraft after the Antonov An-225, An-124, and the C-5 Galaxy.
- Span: 79.8 m (261 ft 10 in )
- Length: 73 m (239 ft 6 in)
- Height: 24.1 m (79 ft 1 in )
- Engines: 4 * Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or Engine Alliance GP7200 (311 kN, 70,000 lbf)
- Cruising Speed: 0.85 Mach (approx 1050 km/h, 647 mph, 562 kt)
- First Flight: April 27, 2005
- Number built: 5 (159 ordered)
[edit] 2006
[edit] December 2006
The Douglas DC-3 is a fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft which revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s, and is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made.
The DC-3 was engineered by a team led by chief engineer Arthur E. Raymond and first flew on December 17, 1935 (the 32nd. anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk). The plane was the result of a marathon phone call from American Airlines CEO C.R. Smith demanding improvements in the design of the DC-2. The amenities of the DC-3 (including sleeping berths on early models and an in-flight kitchen) popularized air travel in the United States. With just one refuelling stop, transcontinental flights across America became possible. Before the DC-3, such a trip would entail short hops in commuter aircraft during the day coupled with train travel overnight.
During World War II, many civilian DC-3s were drafted for the war effort and thousands of military versions of the DC-3 were built under the designations C-47, C-53, R4D, and Dakota. The armed forces of many countries used the DC-3 and its military variants for the transport of troops, cargo and wounded. Over 10,000 aircraft were produced (some as licensed copies in Japan as Showa L2D, and in the USSR as the Lisunov Li-2).
- Span: 95 ft (28.96 m)
- Length: 64 ft 5 in (19.65 m)
- Height: 16 ft 11 in (5.16 m)
- Engines: 2× Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1C3G 14-cylinder radial engines, 1,200 hp (895 kW)
- Cruising Speed: 170 mph (274 km/h)
- First Flight:December 17, 1935
- Number built: 13,140 (including license built types)
[edit] November 2006
The Antonov An-225 Mriya (Антонов Ан-225 Мрія, NATO reporting name: Cossack) is a strategic airlift transport aircraft built by Antonov, and is the world's largest powered aircraft. Mriya (Мрія) means "dream" (inspiration) in Ukrainian.
With a maximum gross weight of 640,000 kg (1,400,000 lb), the An-225 is the world's heaviest aircraft. Although its wingspan is less than that of the Hughes H-4 "Spruce Goose", the latter never went beyond a single short low-altitude test flight, making the An-225 the largest aircraft in the world to take off more than once. Both the An-124 and An-225 are larger than the C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the U.S. inventory. The An-225 is also larger than the Airbus A380.
- Span: 88.40 m (291 ft 2 in)
- Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
- Height: 18.1 m (59.3 ft)
- Engines: 6× ZMKB Progress D-18 turbofans, 229 kN (51,600 lbf) each
- Cruising Speed: 750 km/h (400 knots, 465 mph)
- First Flight: December 21, 1988
[edit] October 2006
The Aero Spacelines B-377PG Pregnant Guppy was an oversize cargo aircraft of the 1960s and 70s. It was based on the Boeing Stratocruiser.
- Span:141 feet, 3 inches.
- Length: 127 feet.
- Height: 31 feet, 3 inches.
- Engines: 4 3500hp P&W R-4360.
- Cruising Speed: 250 mph
- First Flight:September 19, 1962
- Number built: 1
[edit] September 2006
The Airbus A340 is a long-range four-engined widebody commercial passenger airplane manufactured by Airbus. The latest variants (-600 & A340E) now compete with Boeing's 777 series of aircraft on long-haul and ultra long-haul routes.
The A340-600 flies 380 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (419 in 2 class) over 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km). It provides similar passenger capacity to a 747 but with twice the cargo volume, and at lower trip and seat costs.
The A340-600 is more than 10 m longer than a basic -300, making it the longest airliner in the world, more than four meters longer than a Boeing 747-400.
- Span: 63.45 m (208 ft 2 in)
- Length: 75.30 m n(246 ft 11 in)
- Height: 17.30 m (56 ft 9 in)
- Engines: four 56,000 lbf (249 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 556 turbofans
- Cruising Speed: Mach 0.83 (885 km/h, 550 mph)
- First Flight: October 25, 1991
[edit] August 2006
The Airbus A400M is a four-engine turboprop aircraft, designed by Airbus Military to meet the demand of European nations for military airlift. Since its formal launch the aircraft has also been ordered by South Africa, Chile and Malaysia.
The A400M will start to be assembled in the Seville plant of EADS Spain (part of Airbus Military) in October 2006, manufacturing three aircraft per month. The first test flight will be in 2007.
- Span: 42.4 m (139 ft 1 in)
- Length: 43.8 m (143 ft 8 in)
- Height: 14.6 m (47 ft 11 in)
- Engines: 4 EPI TP400-D6 (8,250 kW power)
- Cruising Speed: 250 mph
- First Flight: Scheduled for 2007
- Number built: 0 (195 ordered)
[edit] July 2006
NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. The winged shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, carrying usually five to seven astronauts (although eight have been carried) and up to about 22,700 kg (50,000 lb) of payload into low earth orbit. When its mission is complete, it re-enters the earth's atmosphere and makes an unpowered horizontal landing like a glider.
- Span: 78.06 ft (23.79 m)
- Length: 122.17 ft (37.24 m)
- Height: 58.58 ft (17.25 m)
- Engines: 3 Rocketdyne Block 2 A SSMEs
- Cruising Speed: 25,404 ft/s (7,743 m/s, 27,875 km/h, 17,321 mi/h)
- First Flight: August 12, 1977 (glider), April 12, 1981 (powered).
- Operational Altitude: 100 to 520 nmi (185 to 1,000 km)
- Number built: 6 (+2 mockups)
