RVSM is an aviation standard that reduces the required vertical separation between aircraft from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet between flight levels FL290–FL410. This effectively doubled the number of usable cruising altitudes, improving airspace capacity and fuel efficiency. Phase 1 was essentially a controlled trial (operational evaluation) to validate safety, aircraft performance, and monitoring systems before […]
Amelia Earhart’s Second Leg of Her Around-the-World Flight
On March 20, 1937, at 5:30 a.m. Earhart restarted the engines. At 5:40 a.m., she began to taxi to the northeast corner of the runway. At 5:53 a.m. with good weather and visibility 3,500 feet in pre-dawn darkness, Earhart accelerated for takeoff. The twin-engine airplane gained momentum but suddenly, at the 1,000 foot mark the […]
First Pilot to Fly a Million Miles in a Jet Airplane
In 1959, Garlow was flying a jet-prop Vickers Viscount, which Capital Airlines first put into service on July 26, 1955. Garlow’s record was described as “a million miles of jet flying,” even though the aircraft had propellers, because in the late 1950s, turboprops like the Viscount were widely marketed as “jet-prop” or turbine aircraft since […]
Rudolph W. “Shorty” Schroeder Reached World-Record Height of 33,114 Feet
On February 27, 1920,U.S. Major Rudolph W. “Shorty” Schroeder reached a world-record height of 33,114 feet in a LePere airplane fitted with a General Electric turbo-supercharger. When he removed his goggles to change oxygen flasks in order to continue breathing in the rarified atmosphere, the minus 63 degree air temperature immediately froze his eyeballs. Schroeder […]
Washington National Airport Renamed
Gulfstream G280 Set Overwater Record
“Operation Power Flite”: The First Nonstop Around-the-World Flight Completed by Three U.S. Air Force B-52 Bombers
The 52Bs launched from Castle AFB, California at 1:00 PM, and landed at March AFB, California. The flights were completed at an average speed of 534 miles per hour (859 kilometers per hour) and required multiple in-flight aerial refuelings to stay airborne. In-flight aerial refueling (AAR) transfers fuel between two aircraft mid-air, extending range and […]
Gulfstream G550 Set Three Transcontinental Speed Records between Cities in Asia and the United States of America
On November 21, 2005, Gulfstream Aerospace announced that a Gulfstream G550 had set three speed records. The first of the two trips began on October 28 when the G550’s took off from Seoul, South Korea, at 6:04 p.m., flew nonstop, and landed a in Teterboro, NJ, 13 hours and 45 minutes later. The flight achieved the […]
First Anniversary of the Gulfstream G280’S Entry into Service
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp first announced the G280 on Oct. 5, 2008, and its first flight took place on Dec. 11, 2009. The flight lasted 3 hours and 21 minutes and the aircraft flew to 32,000 feet or 9,754 meters. The G280 earned its type certificate from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Aug. 30, […]
The First Maiden Flight of the First Prototype of the B4
The company Firma Rheintalwerke G. Basten, from which the “B” in the original designation is derived, manufactured the first two prototypes. In 1972 Pilatus bought the manufacturing license for the B-4 and renamed it the B4-PC11. In the spring of the same year the first production example (numbered HB-1100) made its first flight. About 300 […]