Civil Aviation

It is unsurprising that the most produced planes in the world aren’t the giant passenger planes such as the Airbus A380. A handful of these aircraft took part in the numerous battles of the world war, and were highly revered in nations such as the USSR, and a few of these are extremely popular with…

The X-15 was the first aircraft to cross the boundaries of outer space. It was also the first airplane to reach hypersonic speed. Neil A. Armstrong, a NASA pilot and the first person to moon, has been documented at the contracted flight test program.  A modified B-52 Strat fortress, a massive bomber, was used as…

Just because an aircraft takes off (or lands in) from a certain stretch of land, one cannot deem the area an ‘airport’. After all, aircraft are capable of landing on a highway too. During an emergency, a Piper PA-28 landed on a New York City interstate highway, reported the BBC. Various nations have flight test…

In the early days, cattle would often graze on Lukla’s runway while children played nearby. Whenever an aircraft was about to land, a siren would sound, prompting people to clear the runway before the aircraft approached. Photo: BBLBobby | Wikimedia Commons Lukla (IATA: LUA, ICAO: VNLK) is recognized, maybe falsely, as the world’s most dangerous…

    Runway of one of the most dangerous airports in the world Photo : valcker| Wikimedia commons According to Aviation and Space Dictionary compiled by Dr. Wernher, a STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) is defined as “the ability of an aircraft to clear a 50-foot obstacle within 1500 feet of commencing takeoff, or in…

Tribhuvan International Airport – the aerial entrance to Nepal – was inaugurated by King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1955 and was later named in honor of his beloved father, the late King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah. This airport, which was initially dubbed to a cow’s grazing field – “Gauchar”, sees international flights from carriers…

Luxor Aerodrome Terminal, Egypt. in the year 1961. Photo: Mike Loader | Wikimedia Commons The word aerodrome is a portmanteau of Ancient Greek words ἀήρ (aḗr), which means air, and δρόμος (drómos), which means road or course, and therefore translates as “air course”. According to ICAO Annex 14, an aerodrome is defined as “a defined…

Carriers such as Gorkha Airlines and Agni Air once operated in Nepalese skies but had to shut down due to various challenges, including the country’s unpredictable weather patterns, particularly in mountainous regions, which pose significant risks for flight operations. Airports like Lukla have experienced numerous crashes and have even been labeled “the most dangerous airport…

Bird strikes, or collisions between birds and aircraft, began when what is now referred to as “mechanical birds” tread upon the space of birds. The deadliest bird strike on a fixed-wing aircraft was recorded on October 4, 1960, and this incident involving a Lockheed L-188 Electra took the lives of 62 passengers on board. In…