Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is a governmental body of the United States with powers to regulate all aspects of civil aviation in that nation as well as over its surrounding international waters. Its powers include the construction and operation of airports, air traffic management, the certification of personnel and aircraft, the protection of U. S. assets during the launch or re-entry of commercial space vehicles. Powers over neighboring international waters were delegated to the FAA by authority of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Created in August 1958, the FAA replaced the former Civil Aeronautics Administration and became an agency within the US Department of Transportation; the FAA's roles include: Regulating U. S. commercial space transportation Regulating air navigation facilities' geometric and flight inspection standards Encouraging and developing civil aeronautics, including new aviation technology Issuing, suspending, or revoking pilot certificates Regulating civil aviation to promote transportation safety in the United States through local offices called Flight Standards District Offices Developing and operating a system of air traffic control and navigation for both civil and military aircraft Researching and developing the National Airspace System and civil aeronautics Developing and carrying out programs to control aircraft noise and other environmental effects of civil aviation The FAA is divided into four "lines of business".
Each LOB has a specific role within the FAA. Airports: plans and develops projects involving airports, overseeing their construction and operations. Ensures compliance with federal regulations. Air Traffic Organization: primary duty is to safely and efficiently move air traffic within the National Airspace System. ATO employees manage air traffic facilities including Airport Traffic Control Towers and Terminal Radar Approach Control Facilities. See Airway Operational Support. Aviation Safety: Responsible for aeronautical certification of personnel and aircraft, including pilots and mechanics. Commercial Space Transportation: ensures protection of U. S. assets during the launch or reentry of commercial space vehicles. The FAA is headquartered in Washington, D. C. as well as the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City and its nine regional offices: Alaskan Region – Anchorage, Alaska Northwest Mountain – Seattle, Washington Western Pacific – Los Angeles, California Southwest – Fort Worth, Texas Central – Kansas City, Missouri Great Lakes – Chicago, Illinois Southern – Atlanta, Georgia Eastern – New York, New York New England – Boston, Massachusetts The Air Commerce Act of May 20, 1926, is the cornerstone of the federal government's regulation of civil aviation.
This landmark legislation was passed at the urging of the aviation industry, whose leaders believed the airplane could not reach its full commercial potential without federal action to improve and maintain safety standards. The Act charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering air commerce and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certifying aircraft, establishing airways, operating and maintaining aids to air navigation; the newly created Aeronautics Branch, operating under the Department of Commerce assumed primary responsibility for aviation oversight. In fulfilling its civil aviation responsibilities, the Department of Commerce concentrated on such functions as safety regulations and the certification of pilots and aircraft, it took over the building and operation of the nation's system of lighted airways, a task initiated by the Post Office Department. The Department of Commerce improved aeronautical radio communications—before the founding of the Federal Communications Commission in 1934, which handles most such matters today—and introduced radio beacons as an effective aid to air navigation.
The Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce in 1934 to reflect its enhanced status within the Department. As commercial flying increased, the Bureau encouraged a group of airlines to establish the first three centers for providing air traffic control along the airways. In 1936, the Bureau itself began to expand the ATC system; the pioneer air traffic controllers used maps and mental calculations to ensure the safe separation of aircraft traveling along designated routes between cities. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred the federal civil aviation responsibilities from the Commerce Department to a new independent agency, the Civil Aeronautics Authority; the legislation expanded the government's role by giving the CAA the authority and the power to regulate airline fares and to determine the routes that air carriers would serve. President Franklin D. Roosevelt split the authority into two agencies in 1940: the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board.
CAA was responsible for ATC, airman and aircraft certification, safety enforcement, airway development. CAB was entrusted with safety regulation, accident investigation, economic regulation of the airlines; the CAA was part of the Department of Commerce. The CAB was an independent federal agency. On the eve of America's entry into World War II, CAA began to extend its ATC responsibilities to takeoff and landing operations at airports; this expanded role became permanent after the war. The application of radar to ATC helped controllers in their drive to keep abreast of the postwar boom in commercial air transportation. In 1946, Congress gave CAA the added task of administering the federal-aid airport program, the first peacetime program of financial assistance aimed exclusivel
Servant Air
Servant Air, Inc. is an American regional airline with operations throughout The United States and Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled charter services, its main scheduled airline service base is Kodiak Airport with regional operations bases in Boston, White Plains, New York, Manassas Virginia. The airline was established in the spring of 1992 in Fairbanks and began service with single engine commuter aircraft; the airline fleet consisted of a Cessna 185 Floatplanes, Cessna 206 and Cessna 207, Piper Lance, Britten Norman Islander wheel aircraft. The current fleet consists of King Air 200's and King Air 100's operating scheduled and charter service to multiple villages on Kodiak Island and the Southcentral and Southeast regions of Alaska. Servant Air provides scheduled air service between Westchester County Airport and Boston Logan International Airport under the Beacon Air brand using King Air 200 aircraft; the Servant Air main hub is located at Kodiak State Airport in Alaska. Facilities at the Kodiak hub include a terminal, a heavy maintenance facility, hangar.
Servant air has hubs at Anchorage International Airport and Washington Executive Airport. Seasonally, Servant air operates at Westchester County Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport; the Servant Air fleet includes Cessna 208 Caravan, Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, King Air 200, King Air 100 aircraft. Servant Air offers scheduled passenger service to the following destinations in Alaska: Akhiok - Akhiok Airport Kodiak - Kodiak Airport Old Harbor - Old Harbor Airport Ouzinkie - Ouzinkie Airport Port Lions - Port Lions Airport Servant Air offers unscheduled on-demand passenger service in Alaska to: Anchorage - Anchorage international Airport Fairbanks - Fairbanks International Airport Juneau - Juneau International Airport Kenai - Kenai Airport Karluk - Karluk Airport Homer - Homer Airport King Salmon - King Salmon Airport Unalaska - Dutch Harbor Airport Larsen Bay - Larsen Bay Airport Servant Air seasonal scheduled passenger service: White Plains - Westchester County Airport Boston - Logan International Airport Weyers Cave - Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport Dulles - Washington Dulles International Airport On January 6, 2008, Servant Air Flight 109 crashed just short of Kodiak Airport shortly after take off, en route to Homer, Alaska.
Of the 9 passengers and the pilot aboard the Piper Navajo Chieftain, there were 4 survivors. According to the NTSB, the failure of the nose baggage door latching mechanism resulted in an inadvertent opening of the nose baggage door in flight. Contributing to the accident were the lack of information and guidance available to the operator and pilot regarding procedures to follow should a baggage door open in flight and an inadvertent aerodynamic stall. Official website
Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin
The Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin is a twin-engine, single main rotor, medevac-capable search and rescue helicopter operated by the United States Coast Guard. It is a variant of the French-built Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin; the SA366 G1 Dauphin version was selected by the United States Coast Guard in 1979 as its new short range recovery air-sea rescue helicopter, replacing the Sikorsky HH-52A Sea Guard. In total 99 helicopters, optimised for the USCG's search and rescue role tasks and given the designation HH-65A Dolphin, were acquired. Unlike the HH-52, the HH-65A is not able to perform water landings; the HH-65 carries a crew of four: Pilot, Flight Mechanic and Rescue Swimmer. The Dolphin was manufactured by Aerospatiale Helicopter Corporation in Texas. Lycoming LTS101-750B-2 turboshaft engines were selected for the twin engine powerplant whilst Rockwell Collins manufactured the HH-65's avionics in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the HH-65 Dolphin is used for homeland security patrols, drug interdiction, ice breaking, military readiness, pollution control, search and rescue missions.
The HH-65 is known for its Fenestron tail rotor and its autopilot capabilities, which can complete an unaided approach to the water and bring the aircraft into a stable 50 ft hover, or automatically fly search patterns, an ability which allows the crew to engage in other tasks. In order to comply with U. S. regulations relating to local content, engineering changes were required—notably, the SA365's original Turbomeca Arriel engines were replaced with LTS101-750B-2 powerplants, which at the time were required to be American. Initial teething problems with this engine worsened as the HH-65's weight grew, resulting in several in-flight loss-of-power events; the USCG funded a program to improve engine reliability, but the resulting LTS101-850 failed to meet expectations. In 1994, the USCG therefore held a fast-track competition to select a new powerplant, in March 2004 the Guard announced the selection of the Turbomeca Arriel 2C2-CG installed on the EC155; this upgrade began in 2004, has resulted in a safer and more capable aircraft.
These modified HH-65As and HH-65Bs, which gained new avionics and other enhancements, have been designated as HH-65Cs. The HH-65A's minimum equipment requirements exceeded anything packaged into a helicopter weighing less than 10,000 pounds. Seventy-five percent of the HH-65's structure—including rotorhead, rotor blades and fuselage—consists of corrosion-resistant composite materials. A unique feature of the Dolphin is its computerized flight management system, which integrates state-of-the-art communications and navigation equipment; this system provides automatic flight control. At the pilot's direction, the system will bring the aircraft to a stable hover 50 feet above a selected object; this is an important safety feature in darkness or inclement weather. Selected search patterns can be flown automatically, freeing the pilot and copilot to concentrate on sighting & searching the object. A distinctive feature of the MH-65 is its fenestron ducted-fan anti-torque device; the fenestron consists of 11 blades spinning inside a circular housing at the base of the helicopter's tail fin.
Certified for single-pilot instrument flight rules operation, the HH-65A was the first helicopter certified with a four-axis autopilot, allowing for hands-off hover over a pre-determined location. The Dolphin is a Short Range Recovery aircraft. There are now a total of 102 Dolphins in the Coast Guard Fleet; the fleet has home ports in 17 cities on the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes region. The Dolphin is deployed from shore but it can be deployed from medium and high endurance Coast Guard Cutters, as well as the Polar Icebreakers; the Dolphin's main jobs are: search and rescue, enforcement of laws and treaties, polar ice breaking, marine environmental protection including pollution control, military readiness. When deployed from an icebreaker, the helicopter acts as the ship's eyes, searching out thinner and more navigable ice channels, they have the job of airlifting supplies to villages isolated by winter, or transporting scientists to conduct remote research.
The MH-65 is used to patrol the Air Defense Identification Zone around Washington, D. C. known as the National Capital Region. Seven new-build MH-65Cs were acquired for this mission. In the early 1980s, the Israeli Navy sought to acquire a purpose-built maritime helicopter to bolster its over-the-horizon detection and targeting capabilities. Several helicopter types were evaluated, including the Westland SH-60 Seahawk. Seeking a few examples to gain service experience and with limited funding, Israel acquired two used HH-65A developmental test aircraft from the USCG, the first HH-65A pre-production prototype and the third prototype; these were delivered on August 4, 1985 and although owned by the navy, they were operated by the Israeli Air Force. Serving as the maritime flight of 124 Squadron at Palmachim, in June 1987 the IAF formed a dedicated maritime squadron,193 Squadron, to which the two Dolphins were assigned. On 16 September 1996 one crashed in the Mediterranean; the remaining helicopter was retired a year replaced by the Eurocopter AS565 Panther.
The Dolphins were operated by a crew consisting of an IAF Pilot, IAF mechanic and an IN maritime support officer. First deployed in USCG colors, they were given a blue and gray color schem
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Airpower includes the national means of conducting such warfare, including the intersection of transport and war craft. Military aircraft include bombers, transports, trainer aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft; the first military uses of aviation involved lighter-than-air balloons. During the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, the French observation balloon l'Entreprenant was used to monitor Austrian troop movements; the use of lighter-than-air aircraft in warfare became prevalent in the 19th century, including regular use in the American Civil War. Lighter-than-air military aviation persisted until shortly after World War II being withdrawn from various roles as heavier-than-air aircraft improved. Heavier-than-air aircraft were recognized as having military applications early on, despite resistance from traditionalists and the severe limitations of early aircraft.
The U. S. Army Signal Corps purchased a Wright Model A on 2 August 1909 which became the first military aircraft in history. In 1911, the Italians used a variety of aircraft types in reconnaissance, photo-reconnaissance, bombing roles during the Italo-Turkish War. On October 23, 1911, an Italian pilot, Captain Carlo Piazza, flew over Turkish lines on the world's first aerial reconnaissance mission, on November 1, the first aerial bomb was dropped by Sottotenente Giulio Gavotti, on Turkish troops in Libya, from an early model of Etrich Taube aircraft; the Turks, lacking anti-aircraft weapons, were the first to shoot down an airplane by rifle fire. The earliest military role filled by aircraft was reconnaissance, however, by the end of World War I, military aviation had embraced many specialized roles, such as artillery spotting, air superiority, ground attack, anti-submarine patrols. Technological improvements were made at a frenzied pace, the first all-metal cantilevered airplanes were going into service as the war ended.
Between the major world wars incremental improvements made in many areas powerplants, aerodynamics and weapons, led to an more rapid advance in aircraft technology during World War II, with large performance increases and the introduction of aircraft into new roles, including Airborne Early Warning, electronic warfare, weather reconnaissance, flying lifeboats. Great Britain used aircraft to suppress revolts throughout the Empire during the interwar period and introduced the first military transports, which revolutionized logistics, allowing troops and supplies to be delivered over vastly greater distances. While they first appeared during World War I, ground attack aircraft didn't provide a decisive contribution until the Germans introduced Blitzkrieg during the Invasion of Poland and Battle of France, where aircraft functioned as mobile flying artillery to disrupt defensive formations; the Allies would use rocket-equipped fighters in the same role, immobilizing German armored divisions during the Battle of Normandy and afterwards.
World War I saw the creation of the first strategic bomber units, they wouldn't be tested until the Spanish Civil War where the perceived effects of mass bombardment would encourage their widespread use during World War II. Carrier aviation first appeared during World War I, came to play a major role during World War II, with most major navies recognizing the aircraft carrier's advantages over the battleship and devoting massive resources to the building of new carriers. During World War II, U-boats threatened the ability of the Allies to transport troops and war materiel to Europe, spurring the development of long range Maritime patrol aircraft, whose capability of independently detecting and destroying submerged submarines was increased with new detection systems, including sonobuoys, Leigh Lights, radar, along with better weapons including homing torpedoes and improved depth charges; this played a major role in winning the Battle of the Atlantic. Aircraft played a much expanded role, with many notable engagements being decided through the use of military aircraft, such as the Battle of Britain or the attack on Pearl Harbor, the conclusion of the Pacific War against Japan was marked by two lone aircraft dropping the atomic bombs, devastating the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The introduction of the jet engine, early missiles and computers are World War II advancements which are felt to the present day. Post World War II, the development of military aviation was spurred by the Cold War stand-off between the super-powers; the helicopter appeared late in World War II and matured into an indispensable part of military aviation, transporting troops and providing expanded anti-submarine capabilities to smaller warships, negating the need for large numbers of small carriers. The need to out-perform opponents pushed new technology and aircraft developments in the U. S. S. R. and the United States, among others, the Korean War and the Vietnam War tested the resulting designs. Incredible advances in electronics were made, starting with the first electronic computers during World War II and expanding from its original role of cryptography into communications, data processing, remotely piloted aircraft, many other roles until it has become an integral aspect of modern warfare.
In the early 1960s, missiles were expected to replace manned interceptors and the guns in other manned aircraft. They failed to live up to expectations as surface-to-air missiles lacked flexibility and were not as effective as manned
Runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a natural surface. In January 1919, aviation pioneer Orville Wright underlined the need for "distinctly marked and prepared landing places, the preparing of the surface of reasonably flat ground an expensive undertaking there would be a continuous expense for the upkeep." Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, the magnetic azimuth of the runway's heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the local magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west and runway 36 points to the north; when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane is heading around 90°. A runway can be used in both directions, is named for each direction separately: e.g. "runway 15" in one direction is "runway 33" when used in the other. The two numbers differ by 18.
For clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually: runway one-five, runway three-three, etc.. A leading zero, for example in "runway zero-six" or "runway zero-one-left", is included for all ICAO and some U. S. military airports. However, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero. This includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield; this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is common in a country such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04, the pilot read back the clearance as runway 4. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world. For example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. If there is more than one runway pointing in the same direction, each runway is identified by appending left and right to the number to identify its position — for example, runways one-five-left, one-five-center, one-five-right.
Runway zero-three-left becomes runway two-one-right. In some countries, regulations mandate that where parallel runways are too close to each other, only one may be used at a time under certain conditions. At large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 1 to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this system results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L, 7R though all four runways are parallel at 69°. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, 18R, all oriented at a heading of 175.4°. An airport with only three parallel runways may use different runway identifiers, such as when a third parallel runway was opened at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2000 to the south of existing 8R/26L — rather than confusingly becoming the "new" 8R/26L it was instead designated 7R/25L, with the former 8R/26L becoming 7L/25R and 8L/26R becoming 8/26.
Runway designations may change over time because Earth's magnetic lines drift on the surface and the magnetic direction changes. Depending on the airport location and how much drift occurs, it may be necessary to change the runway designation; as runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10°, this affects some runways sooner than others. For example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233°, it is designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changes downwards by 5 degrees to 228°, the runway remains Runway 23. If on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226°, the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224°, the runway becomes Runway 22; because magnetic drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon, not welcomed, as they require an accompanying change in aeronautical charts and descriptive documents. When runway designations do change at major airports, it is changed at night as taxiway signs need to be changed and the huge numbers at each end of the runway need to be repainted to the new runway designators.
In July 2009 for example, London Stansted Airport in the United Kingdom changed its runway designations from 05/23 to 04/22 during the night. For fixed-wing aircraft it is advantageous to perform takeoffs and landings into the wind to reduce takeoff or landing roll and reduce the ground speed needed to attain flying speed. Larger airports have several runways in different directions, so that one can be selected, most nearly aligned with the wind. Airports with one runway are constructed to be aligned with the prevailing wind. Compiling a wind rose is in fact one of the preliminary steps taken in constructing airport runways. Note that wind direction is given as the direction the wind is coming from: a plane taking off from runway 09 faces east, into an "east wind" blowing from 090°. Runway dimensions vary from as small as 245 m long and 8 m wide in s
General aviation
General Aviation represents the'private transport' and recreational flying component of aviation. General aviation is the name or term given to all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, they are flight activities not involving commercial air transportation of passengers, cargo or mail for remuneration or hire, or an aerial work operation such as agriculture, photography, surveying and patrol, search and rescue, aerial advertisement, etc. It covers certain commercial and private flights that can be carried out under both visual flight and instrument flight rules, such as light aircraft and private jets or helicopters. General aviation thus represents the'private transport' component of aviation; the International Civil Aviation Organization defines civil aviation aircraft operations in three categories: General Aviation, Aerial Work and Commercial Air Transport. The International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations includes the following definitions for General Aviation aircraft activities: Corporate Aviation: Company own-use flight operations Fractional Ownership Operations: aircraft operated by a specialized company on behalf of two or more co-owners Business Aviation: self-flown for business purposes Personal/Private Travel: travel for personal reasons/personal transport Air Tourism: self-flown incoming/outgoing tourism Recreational Flying: powered/powerless leisure flying activities Air Sports: Aerobatics, Air Races, Rallies etc.
In 2003 the European Aviation Safety Agency was established as the central EU regulator, taking over responsibility for legislating airworthiness and environmental regulation from the national authorities. Of the 21,000 civil aircraft registered in the UK, 96 percent are engaged in GA operations, annually the GA fleet accounts for between 1.25 and 1.35 million hours flown. There are 28,000 Private Pilot Licence holders, 10,000 certified glider pilots; some of the 19,000 pilots who hold professional licences are engaged in GA activities. GA operates from more than 1,800 airports and landing sites or aerodromes, ranging in size from large regional airports to farm strips. GA is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, although regulatory powers are being transferred to the European Aviation Safety Agency; the main focus is on standards of airworthiness and pilot licensing, the objective is to promote high standards of safety. General aviation is popular in North America, with over 6,300 airports available for public use by pilots of general aviation aircraft.
In comparison, scheduled flights operate from around 560 airports in the U. S. According to the U. S. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, general aviation provides more than one percent of the United States' GDP, accounting for 1.3 million jobs in professional services and manufacturing. Most countries have authorities that oversee all civil aviation, including general aviation, adhering to the standardized codes of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Examples include the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States, the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom, Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt in Germany, the Bundesamt für Zivilluftfahrt in Switzerland, Transport Canada in Canada, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in Australia, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in India and Iran Civil Aviation Organization in Iran. Aviation accident rate statistics are estimates. According to the U. S. National Transportation Safety Board, in 2005 general aviation in the United States suffered 1.31 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours of flying in that country, compared to 0.016 for scheduled airline flights.
In Canada, recreational flying accounted for 0.7 fatal accidents for every 1000 aircraft, while air taxi accounted for 1.1 fatal accidents for every 100,000 hours. More experienced GA pilots appear safer, although the relations between flight hours, accident frequency, accident rates are complex and difficult to assess. Environmental impact of aviation List of current production certified light aircraftAssociationsAircraft Owners and Pilots Association Canadian Owners and Pilots Association Experimental Aircraft Association General Aviation Manufacturers Association National Business Aviation Association International Aircraft Owners and Pilots Associations European General Aviation Safety Team "No Plane No Gain" website about business aviation Save-GA.org website concerned with General Aviation in the United States "GA price index". Flight International. 13 Oct 1979
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, to fly forward and laterally; these attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of VTOL aircraft cannot perform. The English word helicopter is adapted from the French word hélicoptère, coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix "helix, whirl, convolution" and pteron "wing". English language nicknames for helicopter include "chopper", "copter", "helo", "heli", "whirlybird". Helicopters were developed and built during the first half-century of flight, with the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 being the first operational helicopter in 1936; some helicopters reached limited production, but it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full-scale production, with 131 aircraft built. Though most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, it is the single main rotor with anti-torque tail rotor configuration that has become the most common helicopter configuration.
Tandem rotor helicopters are in widespread use due to their greater payload capacity. Coaxial helicopters, tiltrotor aircraft, compound helicopters are all flying today. Quadcopter helicopters pioneered as early as 1907 in France, other types of multicopter have been developed for specialized applications such as unmanned drones; the earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys; this bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor. The spinning creates lift, the toy flies when released; the 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft. Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in some Renaissance paintings and other works. In the 18th and early 19th centuries Western scientists developed flying machines based on the Chinese toy, it was not until the early 1480s, when Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an "aerial screw", that any recorded advancement was made towards vertical flight.
His notes suggested that he built small flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became more accepted, people continued to pursue the idea of vertical flight. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a wound-up spring device and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences, it was powered by a spring, was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments. In 1783, Christian de Launoy, his mechanic, used a coaxial version of the Chinese top in a model consisting of contrarotating turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, in 1784, demonstrated it to the French Academy of Sciences. Sir George Cayley, influenced by a childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and springs for power.
His writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. Alphonse Pénaud would develop coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870 powered by rubber bands. One of these toys, given as a gift by their father, would inspire the Wright brothers to pursue the dream of flight. In 1861, the word "helicopter" was coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt, a French inventor who demonstrated a small steam-powered model. While celebrated as an innovative use of a new metal, the model never lifted off the ground. D'Amecourt's linguistic contribution would survive to describe the vertical flight he had envisioned. Steam power was popular with other inventors as well. In 1878 the Italian Enrico Forlanini's unmanned vehicle powered by a steam engine, rose to a height of 12 meters, where it hovered for some 20 seconds after a vertical take-off. Emmanuel Dieuaide's steam-powered design featured counter-rotating rotors powered through a hose from a boiler on the ground. In 1887 Parisian inventor, Gustave built and flew a tethered electric model helicopter.
In July 1901, the maiden flight of Hermann Ganswindt's helicopter took place in Berlin-Schöneberg. A movie covering the event was taken by Max Skladanowsky. In 1885, Thomas Edison was given US$1,000 by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. to conduct experiments towards developing flight. Edison built a helicopter and used the paper for a stock ticker to create guncotton, with which he attempted to power an internal combustion engine; the helicopter was damaged by explosions and one of his workers was badly burned. Edison reported that it would take a motor with a ratio of three to four pounds per horsepower produced to be successful, based on his experiments. Ján Bahýľ, a Slovak inventor, adapted the internal combustion engine to power his helicopter model that reached a height of 0.5 meters in 1901. On 5 May 1905, his helicopter flew for over 1,500 meters. In 1908, Edison patented his own design for a helicopter powered by a gasoline engine with box kites attached to a mast by cables for a rotor, but it never flew.
In 1906, two French brothers and Louis Breguet, began experimenting with airfoils for helicopters. In
