1.
Roberts International Airport
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Roberts International Airport, informally also known as Robertsfield, is an international airport in the West African nation of Liberia. The airport is named in honor of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first President of Liberia, the airport is clearly the nations busiest most important aviation facility, with the only connections to Europe. In 1942, Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the United States and this commenced a period of strategic road building and other construction related to US military interests in checking the expansion of the Axis powers. The airport was built by the United States government as an Air Force base as part of these activities. The runway was long enough for B-47 Stratojet bombers to land for refueling, giving Liberia what was for many years the longest runway in Africa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States had lunch with President Edwin J. Barclay at Robertsfield visit to Liberia in January 1943 and their main base was at Tokoradi, Ghana. The story of Robertsfield is consistently intertwined with the history of Pan American World Airways, in fact, from the end of World War II until 1985, the airport was administered and operated by Pan American under contract with the Republic of Liberias Ministry of Transport. Monrovia was consistently a key link in Pan Americans African network, Pan Ams presence diminished during the 1980s, as Pan Ams African network was slowly pulled down. Pan Am ended its management of the airport in 1985 but as late as 1986 the airport was still a stop on the JFK-Dakar-Monrovia-Lagos-Nairobi route, by 1987, Pan Am was no longer serving Monrovia at all. Scandinavian Airline System also served Monrovia, from Copenhagen, vARIGs Flight between Rome and Rio crashed at Monrovia in March 1967, and remains the worst aviation accident in Liberia to this day. As with Pan Am, several African flag carriers utilized Robertsfield as a waystation on transatlantic routes and this also included for a time a weekly Monrovia-Port of Spain-Miami flight. Until 1983, Air Afriques DC-10s also stopped at Robertsfield on that airlines Abidjan-Monrovia-Dakar-New York services, likewise, Zambia Airways made two stops per week at RIA on the way to New York-JFK from Lusaka, a service which commenced in April 1988 with a DC-10 and lasted until 1992. In the past, Roberts Airport was listed as a landing site for NASAs Space Shuttle. During the Second Liberian Civil War, the terminal building suffered major damage. Other airside buildings are used by the United Nations, with a VIP facility adjacent to the original. After the end of the war in 2003, commercial air service was slow to return to Liberia. Royal Air Maroc started flights to Mohamed V International Airport in November 2007, the proposed service would have commenced in June 2009, utilizing a Boeing 757-200 configured for ETOPS operations in a two-class configuration. The route was revised in May to originate from New Yorks JFK and connect via Dakar, beginning on 9 June, Monday, one week prior to the inaugural flight, Delta announced that its planned launch would be suspended indefinitely
2.
ICAO airport code
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The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating aerodromes around the world. ICAO codes are used to identify other aviation facilities such as weather stations, International Flight Service Stations or Area Control Centers. Flight information regions are identified by a unique ICAO-code. Code selections in North America were based on existing radio station identifiers, for example, radio stations in Canada were already starting with C, so it seemed logical to begin Canadian airport identifiers with Cxxx. The United States had many pre-existing airports with established mnemonic codes and their ICAO codes were formed simply by prepending a K to the existing codes, as half the radio station identifiers in the US began with K. Most ICAO codes outside the US and Canada have a geographical structure. Most of the rest of the world was classified in a more planned top-down manner, thus Uxxx referred to the Soviet Union with the second letter denoting the specific region within it, and so forth. Europe had too many locations for one starting letter, so it was split into Exxx for northern Europe. The second letter was more specific, EGxx was the United Kingdom, EDxx was West Germany, ETxx was East Germany, LExx was Spain, LAxx was Albania, France was designated LFxx, as the counterpart EFxx was the unambiguously northern Finland. ICAO codes are separate and different from IATA codes, which are used for airline timetables, reservations. For example, the IATA code for Londons Heathrow Airport is LHR, in general IATA codes are usually derived from the name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more aerodromes have ICAO codes than IATA codes, and to add to the confusion IATA codes are assigned to railway stations. Unlike the IATA codes, the ICAO codes generally have a structure and are comprehensive. In general, the first letter is allocated by continent and represents a country or group of countries within that continent, the second letter generally represents a country within that region, and the remaining two are used to identify each airport. The exception to rule is larger countries that have single-letter country codes. In either case, ICAO codes generally provide geographical context unlike IATA codes, for example, if one knows that the ICAO code for Heathrow is EGLL, then one can deduce that the airport EGGP is somewhere in the UK. On the other hand, knowing that the IATA code for Heathrow is LHR does not enable one to deduce the location of the airport LHV with any greater certainty, there are a few exceptions to the regional structure of the ICAO code made for political or administrative reasons. Similarly Saint Pierre and Miquelon is controlled by France, and airports there are assigned LFxx as though they were in Europe, further, in region L, all available 2-letter prefixes have been exhausted and thus no additional countries can be added
3.
George Town, Grand Cayman
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George Town is a city situated on Grand Cayman island of the Cayman Islands. It serves as the capital of the Cayman Islands, in the British West Indies, as of 2007, the city had a population of 28,836, making it the second largest city of all the British Overseas Territories. George Town is the heart of the Cayman Islands financial services industry, the Caymanian government offices are located in the city. The Caymanian government offices are located in George Town and these offices include the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands, the Court Houses and the Government Administration Building. The Government Administration Building houses the offices of the Premier and other members of Cabinet, the former Old Courts Building located at the corner of Shedden Road and Harbour Drive is now the National Museum of Grand Cayman. The building was more than 150 years ago and has served the Caymanian government not only as a court building but as a jail. George Towns famous Seven Mile Beach is a crescent of coral-sand beach extending up to the West Bay region of Grand Cayman and is the most popular. The financial services generated CI$1.2 billion of GDP in 2007, 36% of all employment, the Cayman Islands ranks fifth internationally in terms of value of liabilities booked and sixth in terms of assets booked. It has branches of 40 of the worlds 50 largest banks, the Cayman Islands are the second largest captive domicile in the world with more than 700 captives, writing more than US$7.7 billion of premiums and with US$36.8 billion of assets under management. There are more than 9,500 funds under licence with globally recognised legal, audit/accounting, major law firms such as Maples and Calder have established themselves in the Cayman Islands. Similarly, large accounting firms such as KPMG, Ogier, Ernst & Young, as a result, the Cayman Islands are a leader in captive domiciles, hedge fund registrations and is considered a major international banking centre. George Town is a port of call for the Caribbean with cruise ships anchoring in George Town Harbour Tuesday through Friday. Cruise ships calling at George Town anchor offshore and ferry their passengers ashore by tenders, passengers disembark in George Town, in the centre of the Grand Cayman shopping district and usually remain anchored from early morning until mid-afternoon. For nightlife, Seven Mile Beach is host to numerous nightclubs, George Towns waterfront is also home to a Harley-Davidson shop, a Jimmy Buffetts Margaritaville franchise, and a Guy Harvey art studio and restaurant. Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman is the grandest hotel on the island, George Town, as well as the rest of Grand Cayman, is served by nearby Owen Roberts International Airport. It is one of the two entrance points to the Cayman Islands by air, the other being Charles Kirkconnell Airport on Cayman Brac. There are over 55 weekly flights into the Cayman Islands, Cayman Airways is the National Flag Carrier of the Cayman Islands and features five Boeing 737 jets and two Twin Otters. Non-stop service to Grand Cayman are available from Atlanta, Chicago, Tampa, Newark, London, Toronto, New York, Montego Bay, havana, Miami, Panama City, La Ceiba and more
4.
Grand Cayman
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Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territorys capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of the territorys entire land mass. The island is approximately 22 miles long with its widest point being 8 miles wide, the elevation ranges from sea level at the beaches to 60 feet above sea level on the North Sides Mastic Trail. Grand Cayman Island includes five of the six districts of the Cayman Islands, Bodden Town, East End, George Town, North Side, and West Bay. Bodden Town - Founded in the 1700s, Bodden Town district comprises the part of Grand Cayman Island. The village of Bodden Town was the capital of the Cayman Islands. Its population is listed at 5,764. East End - The East End district is located at the east side of Grand Cayman Island and consists mostly of the Village of East End, numerous attractions, restaurants. Its population is listed at 1,371. George Town - The capital of the Cayman Islands and world-famous centre for offshore banking, North Side - Includes Kaibo, Rum Point, and Breakers. Its population is listed at 1,079. Sand Point Cove in Rum Point is home to a Bioluminescent Bay or Bio Bay, West Bay - Has numerous tourist attractions including the Cayman Turtle Farm and the Cayman Motor Museum. Towns in the West Bay district include Seven Mile Beach, Hell and its population is currently listed at 8,243. The remaining district is Sister Islands, which consists of the islands of Cayman Brac and its population is currently listed at 1,937. Of the flora, a representation of the variety of plant life on Grand Cayman can be found at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park located in the North Side District. Wild banana orchids, ghost orchids, thatch palm trees, red birch trees, mahogany trees and various fruit trees such as avocado, mango, guinep, naseberry, breadfruit, and tamarind. Yellow mastics, black mastics are also seen in the park as well as on the 2 miles -long Mastic Trail, elsewhere outside the park, all of these species can be seen around Grand Cayman, including coconut palm, Casuarina pine, mangrove, and poinciana trees. Fauna seen in locations around the island include blue iguanas, Grand Cayman amazon parrots, Central American agouti, and Gecarcinus ruricola
5.
Airline hub
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Airline hubs or hub airports are used by one or more airliners to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations at a given airport. They serve as points to get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the hub-and-spoke system, an airline operates flights from several non-hub cities to the hub airport, and passengers traveling between spoke cities need to connect through the hub. This paradigm creates economies of scale that allow an airline to serve city-pairs that could not be economically served on a non-stop basis. This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in there are no hubs. Hub airports also serve origin and destination traffic, the hub-and-spoke system allows an airline to serve fewer routes, so fewer aircraft are needed. The system also increases passenger loads, a flight from a hub to a spoke carries not just passengers originating at the hub, additional employees and facilities are needed to cater to connecting passengers. To serve spoke cities of varying populations and demand, an airline requires several aircraft types, in addition, airlines may experience capacity constraints as they expand at their hub airports. For the passenger, the system offers one-stop air service to a wide array of destinations. However, having to make connections en route to their final destination increases travel time. Additionally, airlines can come to monopolise their hubs, allowing them to increase fares. Airlines may operate banks of flights at their hubs, in several flights arrive. The banks may be known as peaks of activity at the hubs, banking allows for short connection times for passengers. In addition, banking could result in inefficient aircraft utilisation, with aircraft waiting at spoke cities for the next bank, instead, some airlines have debanked their hubs, introducing a rolling hub in which flight arrivals and departures are spread throughout the day. This phenomenon is known as depeaking. While costs may decrease, connection times are longer at a rolling hub, American Airlines was the first to depeak its hubs, trying to improve profitability following the September 11 attacks. It rebanked its hubs in 2015, however, feeling the gain in connecting passengers would outweigh the rise in costs, the hub-and-spoke system is also used by some cargo airlines. FedEx Express established its main hub in Memphis in 1973, prior to the deregulation of the air industry in the United States
6.
Cayman Airways
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Cayman Airways is the flag carrier airline of the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands. With its head office in Grand Cayman, it mainly as an international and domestic scheduled passenger carrier. Its operations are based at Owen Roberts International Airport in George Town, the airline also offers a limited charter service with a recent example being flights to and from Los Angeles. Cayman Airways slogan is Those who fly us love us, the airline was established and started operations on August 7,1968. It was formed following the Cayman Islands Governments purchase of 51% of Cayman Brac Airways from LACSA, the Costa Rican flag carrier, by 1970, LACSA had introduced British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets on its San Jose, Costa Rica – Grand Cayman – Miami route. Early on, Cayman Airways first aircraft was a single Douglas DC-3, a few months after it was formed, the airline flew its first international route to Kingston, Jamaica using a BAC One-Eleven wet leased from LACSA. International service to Miami was initiated using a single leased Douglas DC-6 propliner, the airline was also offering direct connecting jet service between Miami and Kingston via Grand Cayman at this time. In 1979, an additional BAC One-Eleven jet as well as a Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprop, Cayman Airways also operated a Douglas DC-8-52 jetliner and a leased Boeing 727-100 jet during the 1980s. These jets were replaced with Boeing 737-200 and then with Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Boeing 737-400 jetliners were previously operated at as well, louis as well as Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica. The airline also served Panama City, Panama in the recent past, the airline also flew nonstop at one point between Miami and Grand Turk Island and Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands with Boeing 727-200 and Boeing 737-200 jetliners. These were the routes flown by the carrier that did not directly serve the Cayman Islands. Non-jet flights between Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are currently operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter series 300, worth and Havana, Cuba appear to have helped the airline. The airline has also added one Boeing 737-800 as an interim measure, on Wednesday January 5,2017, Cayman Airways initiated charter service to Los Angeles with their Boeing 737-800 registration VP-CNG. The companys mascot is an embellishment of the original Sir Turtle designed by Suzy Soto, as first designed, Sir Turtle did not have the red flying scarf. That original design was used on baggage stickers by Cayman Islands Customs, mrs. Soto was married to Eric Bergstrom, with whom she built the Tortuga Club on the East End of Grand Cayman. The red flying scarf was later added to Sir Turtle in 1978 by Capt. Wilbur Thompson, the Chief Pilot of Cayman Airways at the time, Cayman Airways largely serves major destinations in the United States, Jamaica and Cuba as well as destinations in Honduras. These ramps also allow passengers with limited mobility, including those in wheel chairs to have easier access to the aircraft
7.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
8.
Runway
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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 surface or a natural surface. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally the magnetic azimuth of the heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west, when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane would be heading 90°. A runway can normally be used in both directions, and is named for each separately, e. g. runway 33 in one direction is runway 15 when used in the other. The two numbers usually differ by 18, Runway Zero Three Left becomes Runway Two One Right when used in the opposite direction. In some countries, if parallel runways are too close to each other, at large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, for clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually, runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in runway zero six or runway zero one left, is included for all ICAO, however, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero as required by FAA regulation. This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield and this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04. 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. Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earths surface, depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, for example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees to 228, if on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226, and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon
9.
Cayman Islands
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The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean Sea. Its population is approximately 60,000, and its capital is George Town, the Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is considered a major world offshore financial haven for many wealthy individuals. The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century, the first recorded permanent inhabitant of the Cayman Islands, Isaac Bodden, was born on Grand Cayman around 1661. He was the grandson of the original settler named Bodden who was one of Oliver Cromwells soldiers at the taking of Jamaica in 1655. England took formal control of the Cayman Islands, along with Jamaica, following several unsuccessful attempts at settlement, a permanent English-speaking population in the islands dates from the 1730s. With settlement, after the first royal land grant by the Governor of Jamaica in 1734, many were brought to the islands from Africa, this is evident today with the majority of native Caymanians being of African and English descent. The results of the first census taken in the islands in 1802 showed the population on Grand Cayman to be 933 with 545 of those inhabitants being enslaved, slavery was abolished in the Cayman Islands in 1833. At the time of abolition, there were over 950 Blacks of African ancestry enslaved by 116 white families of English ancestry. The islands continued to be governed as part of the Colony of Jamaica until 1962, the Cayman Islands historically have been a tax-exempt destination. On 8 February 1794, the Caymanians rescued the crews of a group of ten merchant ships, including HMS Convert, the ships had struck a reef and run aground during rough seas. Legend has it that King George III rewarded the island with a never to introduce taxes as compensation for their generosity. While this remains a legend, the story is not true. However, whatever the history, in practice the government of the Cayman Islands has always relied on indirect, the islands have never levied income tax, capital gains tax, or any wealth tax, making them a popular tax haven. On 11 September 2004 the island of Grand Cayman, which lies largely unprotected at sea level, was hit by Hurricane Ivan, an estimated 83% of the dwellings on the island were damaged including 4% requiring complete reconstruction. A reported 70% of all dwellings suffered severe damage from flooding or wind, another 26% sustained minor damage from partial roof removal, low levels of flooding, or impact with floating or wind driven hurricane debris. Power, water and communications were disrupted for months in areas as Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the islands in 86 years. Grand Cayman began a rebuilding process and within two years its infrastructure was nearly returned to pre-hurricane status.23 years
10.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period
11.
Displaced threshold
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A displaced threshold is a runway threshold located at a point other than the physical beginning or end of the runway. The portion of the runway so displaced may be used for takeoff, landing aircraft may use the displaced area on the opposite end for roll out. Most often the offset threshold is in place to give arriving aircraft clearance over an obstruction while still allowing departing aircraft the maximum amount of runway available. A displaced threshold may also be introduced if a section of the runway is no longer able to sustain the continuous impact from landing aircraft. Aircraft are expected to land beyond the displaced threshold, departing aircraft are permitted to use the displaced section of the runway for takeoffs or landing rollouts because those aircraft are not impacting the runway with the force of a landing aircraft. Displaced thresholds have arrows as the line of the runway. A thick white line with four arrows pointing in the direction of the runway denotes the end of the threshold. Thresholds are counted as part of the runway, and are included in the runway size, when viewing a runways size with displaced thresholds, one must find out how long the displaced thresholds are in order to calculate the available landing distance. Indira Gandhi international airport has one of the worlds longest paved threshold displacements of 1,460 m
12.
Non-directional beacon
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A non-directional beacon is a radio transmitter at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB signals follow the curvature of the Earth, so they can be received at greater distances at lower altitudes. However, NDB signals are affected more by atmospheric conditions, mountainous terrain, coastal refraction and electrical storms. Each NDB is identified by a one, two, or three-letter Morse code callsign, in Canada, privately owned NDB identifiers consist of one letter and one number. The ADF can also locate transmitters in the standard AM medium wave broadcast band and this bearing may be displayed on a relative bearing indicator. This display looks like a card with a needle superimposed. In order to track toward an NDB the aircraft is flown so that the points to the 0 degree position. Similarly, the aircraft will track directly away from the NDB if the needle is maintained on the 180 degree mark. With a crosswind, the needle must be maintained to the left or right of the 0 or 180 position by an amount corresponding to the due to the crosswind. This gives the bearing that must be flown, mod 360 = MB. When tracking to or from an NDB, it is usual that the aircraft track on a specific bearing. To do this it is necessary to correlate the RBI reading with the compass heading. Having determined the drift, the aircraft must be flown so that the heading is the required bearing adjusted for drift at the same time as the RBI reading is 0 or 180 adjusted for drift. An NDB may also be used to locate a position along the current track. When the needle reaches an RBI reading corresponding to the required bearing then the aircraft is at the position, however, using a separate RBI and compass, this requires considerable mental calculation to determine the appropriate relative bearing. To simplify this task, a compass card driven by the magnetic compass is added to the RBI to form a Radio Magnetic Indicator. The ADF needle is then referenced immediately to the magnetic heading. The principles of ADFs are not limited to NDB usage, such systems are used to detect the locations of broadcast signals for many other purposes
13.
VOR/DME
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VOR/DME refers to combined radio navigation station for aircraft, which consists of two radio beacons, placed together, a VHF omnidirectional range and distance measuring equipment. VOR produces an angle between the station and the receiver in the aircraft, while DME does the same for range, together, they provide the two measurements needed to produce a navigational fix using a chart. The VOR system was first introduced in the 1950s, but became more practical with the introduction of low-cost solid state receivers in the 1960s. DME was a modification of World War II-era navigation systems like Gee-H, like VOR, it only became practical with the introduction of solid state receivers during the 1960s. During the mid-1960s, ICAO began the process of introducing a standardized radio navigation system for medium-area coverage on the order of a few hundred kilometres and this system would replace the older Low-frequency radio range and similar systems used to navigate over national ranges. VOR/DME eventually won the standardization effort, due to a number of factors, the choice of VOR/DME as a hybrid was due largely to it being easier to measure and then plot on a map. With VOR/DME, measurement from a single station reveals an angle and range, which can be easily drawn on a chart
14.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
15.
Tampa, Florida
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Tampa is a major city in, and the county seat of, Hillsborough County, Florida. It is located on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay, near the Gulf of Mexico, the city had a population of 346,037 in 2011. The current location of Tampa was once inhabited by peoples of the Safety Harbor culture. The area was explored by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, resulting in violent conflicts and the introduction of European diseases, which wiped out the original native cultures. In 1824, the United States Army established a frontier outpost called Fort Brooke at the mouth of the Hillsborough River, near the site of todays Tampa Convention Center. The first civilian residents were pioneers who settled near the fort for protection from the nearby Seminole population, today, Tampa is part of the metropolitan area most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area. For U. S. Census purposes, Tampa is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, the Greater Tampa Bay area has over 4 million residents and generally includes the Tampa and Sarasota metro areas. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U. S. Census data showed an annual growth of 2.47 percent. A2012 estimate shows the Tampa Bay area population to have 4,310,524 people, Tampa was ranked as the 5th best outdoor city by Forbes in 2008. Tampa also ranks as the fifth most popular American city, based on where people want to live, a 2004 survey by the NYU newspaper Washington Square News ranked Tampa as a top city for twenty-somethings. Tampa is ranked as a Gamma+ world city by Loughborough University, ranked alongside other world cities such as Phoenix, Charlotte, Rotterdam, and Santo Domingo. The word Tampa may mean sticks of fire in the language of the Calusa and this might be a reference to the many lightning strikes that the area receives during the summer months. Other historians claim the name means the place to gather sticks, toponymist George R. Stewart writes that the name was the result of a miscommunication between the Spanish and the Indians, the Indian word being itimpi, meaning simply near it. The name first appears in the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda and he calls it Tanpa and describes it as an important Calusa town. While Tanpa may be the basis for the modern name Tampa, archaeologist Jerald Milanich places the Calusa village of Tanpa at the mouth of Charlotte Harbor, the original Bay of Tanpa. A later Spanish expedition did not notice Charlotte Harbor while sailing north along the west coast of Florida, the name was accidentally transferred north. Map makers were using the term Bay or Bahia Tampa as early as 1695, people from Tampa are known as Tampans or Tampanians. Latin Americans from Tampa are known as tampeños, or tampeñas for females and these terms of Spanish origin emerged after 1900 for the immigrant communities in West Tampa and Ybor City
16.
Kingston, Jamaica
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Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States. The local government bodies of the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were amalgamated by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation Act of 1923, to form the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. Greater Kingston, or the Corporate Area refers to areas under the KSAC, however, it does not solely refer to Kingston Parish. Kingston Parish had a population of 96,052, and St. Andrew parish had a population of 555,828 in 2001, Kingston is only bordered by Saint Andrew to the east, west and north. The city proper is bounded by Six Miles to the west, Stony Hill to the north, Papine to the northeast and Harbour View to the east, communities in urban and suburban Saint Andrew. Communities in rural St. Andrew such as Gordon Town, Mavis Bank, Lawrence Tavern, Mt. Airy, two parts make up the central area of Kingston, the historic Downtown, and New Kingston. Both are served by Norman Manley International Airport and also by the smaller, Kingston was founded in July 1692 as a place for survivors of the 1692 earthquake that destroyed Port Royal. Before the earthquake, Kingston’s functions were purely agricultural, the earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases, initially the people lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barrys Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West, by 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica. The government sold land to people with the regulation that they no more than the amount of the land that they owned in Port Royal. Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the lands north on the plains of Liguanea. The first free school, Wolmerss, was founded in 1729 and there was a theatre, first on Harbour Street, in 1755 the governor, Sir Charles Knowles, had decided to transfer the government offices from Spanish Town to Kingston. It was thought by some to be a location for the Assembly in proximity to the moral distractions of Kingston. By the end of the 18th century, the city contained more than 3,000 brick buildings, the harbour fostered trade, and played part in several naval wars of the 18th century
17.
Belize
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Belize, formerly British Honduras, is an independent country on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the north by Mexico, on the south and west by Guatemala and its mainland is about 290 km long and 110 km wide. Belize has an area of 22,800 square kilometres and a population of 368,310 and it has the lowest population density in Central America. The countrys population growth rate of 1. 87% per year is the second highest in the region, Belizes abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems gives it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Belize has a society, composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the language of Belize, with Belizean Kriol being the unofficial language. Over half the population is multilingual, with Spanish being the second most common spoken language, Belize is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the Latin American and Caribbean regions. Belize is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, Belize is known for its September Celebrations, its extensive coral reefs, and punta music. The origin of the name Belize remains unclear, the earliest known record of the name appears in the journal of the Dominican priest Fray José Delgado, dating to 1677. Delgado recorded the names of three rivers that he crossed while travelling north along the Caribbean coast, Rio Soyte, Rio Xibum. The names of these waterways, which correspond to the Sittee River, Sibun River and it is likely that Delgados Balis was actually the Mayan word belix, meaning muddy-watered. Others have suggested that the name derives from a Spanish pronunciation of the name of the Scottish buccaneer Peter Wallace, there is no proof that Wallace settled in this area and some scholars have characterized this claim as a myth. Writers and historians have suggested other possible etymologies, including postulated French. Many aspects of this culture persist in the area despite nearly 500 years of European domination, prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages, they later domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers. A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture, between about 2500 BC and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilisation emerged. The peak of this occurred during the classic period, which began about 250 AD. The Maya civilisation spread across what is now Belize around 1500 BC, the recorded history of the middle and southern regions is dominated by Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people. North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai, in the late Classic Era of Maya civilisation, as many as 1 million people may have lived in the area that is now Belize
18.
Consolidated PBY Catalina
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The Consolidated PBY Catalina, also known as the Canso in Canadian service, was an American flying boat, and later an amphibious aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II, Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. During World War II, PBYs were used in warfare, patrol bombing, convoy escorts, search and rescue missions. The PBY was the most numerous aircraft of its kind and the last active military PBYs were not retired from service until the 1980s. In 2014, nearly 80 years after its first flight, the continues to fly as a waterbomber in aerial firefighting operations all over the world. In accordance with contemporary British naming practice of naming seaplanes after coastal towns, Royal Canadian Air Force examples were named Canso. The Royal Air Force used the name Catalina and the US Navy adopted this name in 1942, the United States Army Air Forces and later the United States Air Force used the designation OA-10. US Navy Catalinas used in the Pacific against the Japanese for night operations were painted black overall, and as a result were sometimes referred to locally as Black Cats. The PBY was originally designed to be a bomber, an aircraft with a long operational range intended to locate. Flying boats had the advantage of not requiring runways, in effect having the entire ocean available, several different flying boats were adopted by the Navy, but the PBY was the most widely used and produced. Although slow and ungainly, Catalinas distinguished themselves in World War II, Allied forces used them successfully in a wide variety of roles for which the aircraft was never intended. They are remembered for their role, in which they saved the lives of thousands of aircrew downed over water. Catalina airmen called their aircraft the Cat on combat missions and Dumbo in air-sea rescue service, Naval doctrine of the 1930s and 1940s used flying boats in a wide variety of roles that today are handled by multiple special-purpose aircraft. The U. S. Navy had adopted the Consolidated P2Y and Martin P3M models for this role in 1931, Consolidated and Douglas both delivered single prototypes of their new designs, the XP3Y-1 and XP3D-1, respectively. Although the Douglas aircraft was a design, the Navy opted for Consolidateds because the projected cost was only $90,000 per aircraft. Consolidateds XP3Y-1 design had a wing with external bracing struts. Wingtip stabilizing floats were retractable in flight to form streamlined wingtips and had licensed from the Saunders-Roe company. The two-step hull design was similar to that of the P2Y, cleaner aerodynamics gave the Model 28 better performance than earlier designs
19.
Amphibious aircraft
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This article discusses fixed-wing amphibious aircraft. For rotary-wing amphibious aircraft, see Amphibious helicopter, an amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft that can take off and land on both land and water. Some amphibians are fitted with reinforced keels which act as skis, many amphibian aircraft are of the flying boat type. While these impose weight and drag, amphibious aircraft also face the possibility of getting hit when operating from a runway. A common solution is to make them retractable as those found on the Consolidated Catalina however these are heavier than fixed floats. Some aircraft may have the tip floats removed for extended use from land and these are not built to take the impact of the aircraft landing on them. An occasional problem with amphibians is with ensuring the wheels are in the position for landing. In normal operation, the uses a checklist, verifying each item. Since amphibians can land with them up or down though, the pilot must take care to ensure they are correct for the chosen landing place. Landing wheels up on land may damage the keel, while landing wheels down on water will almost always flip the aircraft upside down, Amphibious aircraft are heavier and slower, more complex and more expensive to purchase and operate than comparable landplanes but are also more versatile. Even if they cannot hover or land vertically, for jobs they compete favorably with helicopters. This makes an amphibious aircraft, such as the Grumman Albatross, the most notable being the Short Sunderland which carried out many anti-submarine patrols over the North Atlantic on sorties of 8 –12 hours duration. The Grumman Corporation, late-comers to the game, introduced a pair of light utility amphibious aircraft - the Goose, however, their military potential could not be ignored, and many were ordered by the US Armed forces and their allies during World War II. Not coincidentally, the Consolidated Catalina was redeveloped from being a flying boat into an amphibian during the war. Development of amphibians continues in Russia with the jet engined Beriev Be-200, italy, bordering the Mediterranean and Adriatic has had a long history of waterborne aircraft going back to the first Italian aircraft to fly. While most were not amphibians, quite a few were, including the Savoia-Marchetti S. 56A, although successful, flying boat amphibians like it ultimately proved less versatile than floatplane amphibians and are no longer as common as they once were. Many today are homebuilts, by necessity as the demand is too small to justify the costs of development, Amphibious helicopter Amphibious vehicle List of seaplanes and amphibious aircraft Floatplane Flying boat Seaplane Tigerfish Aviation Unmanned aerial vehicle
20.
Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar
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The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar is a passenger transport aircraft of the World War II era. In order to improve the economics, Lockheed decided to stretch the aircrafts fuselage by 5 feet 6 inches. The modified aircraft first flew in this form on September 21,1939, a total of 625 Lodestars of all variants were built. The Lodestar received its Type certificate on March 30,1940, allowing it to service with the first customer. As hoped, the extra seats greatly improved the Model 18s economics, reducing its costs to a similar level to that of the DC-3. Despite this, sales to US domestic customers were slow as most US airlines were already committed to the DC-3. Overseas sales were a better, with 29 bought by the government of the Netherlands East Indies. South African Airways, New Zealand National Airways Corporation, Trans-Canada Air Lines, various Pratt & Whitney and Wright Cyclone powerplants were installed. When the United States started to build up its air strength in 1940–41. This was followed by the construction of many new-build Lodestars which were flown by the Army Air Force as the C-60, lend-lease aircraft were used by the RNZAF as transports. One was purchased in 1942 to serve as Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas personal aircraft and this aircraft was specially designed for that purpose and had 11 seats. A few of the latter were converted to tricycle landing gear, many of the New Zealand aircraft were later used for aerial topdressing. A single Lodestar served with the Israeli Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a number of skydiving operations in the United States used Lodestars during the 1970s and 1980s. 18-07 Powered by two 875 hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet S1E2-G engines,25 built plus two prototypes, 18-08 Powered by two 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1C3-G engines,33 built. 18-10 Powered by two 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1C3-G engines,39 built, 18-14 Powered by two 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S4C4-G engines, four built. 18-40 Powered by two 1,200 hp Wright Cyclone G-1820-G104A engines,26 built, 18-50 Powered by two 1200hp Wright Cyclone G-1820-G202A engines,13 built. C-56 Powered by 1,200 hp Wright 1820-89 engines, one Model 18-50 for evaluation, c-56A One impressed Model 18-07 with two Pratt & Whitney R-1690-54 engines. C-56B Thirteen impressed Model 18-40s with two Wright 1820-97 engines, c-56E Two Model 18-40s impressed in 1943
21.
British Airways
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British Airways, often shortened to BA, is the flag carrier and the largest airline in the United Kingdom based on fleet size. When measured by passengers carried, it is second-largest in the United Kingdom behind easyJet, the airline is based in Waterside near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways, after almost 13 years as a state company, British Airways was privatised in February 1987 as part of a wider privatisation plan by the Conservative government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987, followed by Dan-Air in 1992, British Airways is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third-largest, after SkyTeam, IAG is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE100 Index. A long-time Boeing customer, British Airways ordered 59 Airbus A320 family aircraft in August 1998, in 2007 it purchased 12 Airbus A380s and 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, marking the start of its long-haul fleet replacement. The centrepiece of the airlines fleet is the Boeing 777. British Airways is the largest operator of the Boeing 747-400, with 51 registered to the airline, on 1 September 1972 the management service functions of both BOAC and BEA were combined under the newly formed British Airways Group. British Airways was established as an airline on 31 March 1974 by the dissolution of BOAC, British Airways and Air France operated the supersonic airliner Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde, and the worlds first supersonic passenger service flew in January 1976 from London Heathrow to Bahrain. Services to the US began on 24 May 1976 with a flight to Washington Dulles airport, service to Singapore was established in co-operation with Singapore Airlines as a continuation of the flight to Bahrain. The final commercial Concorde flight was BA002 from New York JFK to London Heathrow on 24 October 2003, in 1981 the airline was instructed to prepare for privatisation by the Conservative Thatcher government. Sir John King, later Lord King, was appointed chairman, while many other large airlines struggled, King was credited with transforming British Airways into one of the most profitable air carriers in the world. The flag carrier was privatised and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in February 1987, British Airways effected the takeover of the UKs second airline, British Caledonian, in July of that same year. The formation of Richard Bransons Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984 created a competitor for BA and this campaign included allegations of poaching Virgin Atlantic customers, tampering with private files belonging to Virgin and undermining Virgins reputation in the City. As a result of the case BA management apologised unreservedly, Lord King stepped down as chairman in 1993 and was replaced by his deputy, Colin Marshall, while Bob Ayling took over as CEO. Virgin filed an action in the US that same year regarding BAs domination of the trans-Atlantic routes. In 1992 British Airways expanded through the acquisition of the financially troubled Dan-Air, British Asia Airways, a subsidiary based in Taiwan, was formed in March 1993 to operate between London and Taipei. That same month BA purchased a 25% stake in the Australian airline Qantas and, with the acquisition of Brymon Airways in May, in September 1998, British Airways, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Canadian Airlines, formed the Oneworld airline alliance
22.
Boeing 777-200
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The Boeing 777 is a family of long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airliners developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the worlds largest twinjet and has a seating capacity of 314 to 396 passengers. Developed in consultation with eight major airlines, the 777 was designed to replace older wide-body airliners, as Boeings first fly-by-wire airliner, it has computer-mediated controls. It was also the first commercial aircraft to be designed entirely with computer-aided design, the 777 is produced in two fuselage lengths as of 2017. The original 777-200 variant entered service in 1995, followed by the extended-range 777-200ER in 1997. The stretched 777-300, which is 33.25 ft longer, the initial 777-200, -200ER and -300 versions are equipped with General Electric GE90, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, or Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines. The 777-200LR is the worlds longest-range airliner, able to fly more than halfway around the globe, the 777 first entered commercial service with United Airlines on June 7,1995. It has received more orders than any other wide-body airliner, as of March 2017,60 customers had placed orders for 1,911 aircraft of all variants, with 1,481 delivered. The most common and successful variant is the 777-300ER with 722 delivered and 815 orders, Emirates operates the largest 777 fleet, with 157 passenger and freighter aircraft as of July 2016. The 777 has been involved in six hull losses as of October 2016, the 777 ranks as one of Boeings best-selling models. Airlines have acquired the type as a comparatively fuel-efficient alternative to other wide-body jets and have deployed the aircraft on long-haul transoceanic routes. Direct market competitors include the Airbus A330-300, newly launched Airbus A350 XWB, the 787 Dreamliner, which entered service in 2011, shares design features and a common type rating for pilots with the 777. The new 777X series is planned to service by 2020. In the early 1970s, the Boeing 747, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, the mid-size 757 and 767 launched to market success, due in part to 1980s extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards regulations governing transoceanic twinjet operations. These regulations allowed twin-engine airliners to make ocean crossings at up to three hours distance from emergency diversionary airports, under ETOPS rules, airlines began operating the 767 on long-distance overseas routes that did not require the capacity of larger airliners. The trijet 777 was later dropped, following marketing studies that favored the 757 and 767 variants, Boeing was left with a size and range gap in its product line between the 767-300ER and the 747-400. By the late 1980s, DC-10 and L-1011 models were approaching retirement age, McDonnell Douglas was working on the MD-11, a stretched and upgraded successor of the DC-10, while Airbus was developing its A330 and A340. The initial proposal featured a fuselage and larger wings than the existing 767
23.
Heathrow Airport
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Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. In 2016, it handled a record 75.7 million passengers, Heathrow lies 14 miles west of Central London, and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres. London Heathrow is the hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic. In September 2012, the UK government established the Airports Commission, in July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow and the government approved a third runway in October 2016. Heathrow is 14 mi west of central London, near the end of the London Borough of Hillingdon on a parcel of land that is designated part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The airport is surrounded by the areas of Harlington, Harmondsworth, Longford and Cranford to the north and by Hounslow. To the south lie Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough in Berkshire by the M25 motorway, Heathrow falls entirely under the TW postcode area. As the airport is west of London and as its runways run east–west, for a chronicled history of Heathrow Airport, see History of Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport originated in 1929 as an airfield on land south-east of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time there were farms, market gardens and orchards there, there was a Heathrow Farm about where Terminal 1 is now, a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House. This hamlet was largely along a lane which ran roughly along the east. Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944. But by the time the airfield was nearing completion, World War II had ended, the government continued to develop the airport as a civil airport, it opened as London Airport in 1946 and was renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966. Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries, the airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four terminals and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrows 73.4 million passengers in 2014, 93% were international travellers, the busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram, from the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways
24.
Nassau, Bahamas
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Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has an population of 274,400 as of 2016. The city is located on the island of New Providence, which much like a business district. Nassau is the site of the House of Assembly and various departments and was considered historically to be a stronghold of pirates. The city was named in honour of William III of England, nassaus modern growth began in the late eighteenth century, with the influx of thousands of American Loyalists and their slaves to the Bahamas following the American Revolutionary War. Many of them settled in Nassau and eventually came to outnumber the original inhabitants, as the population of Nassau grew, so did its populated areas. Today the city dominates the island and its satellite, Paradise Island. However, until the post-Second World War era, the outer suburbs scarcely existed, most of New Providence was uncultivated bush until Loyalists were resettled there following the American Revolutionary War, they established several plantations, such as Clifton and Tusculum. In addition, slaves freed from American ships, such as the Creole case in 1841, were allowed to settle there, Nassau was formerly known as Charles Town, it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684 during one of their frequent wars with the English. The name Nassau derives from the House of Nassau and ultimately from the town of Nassau, due to a lack of effective Governors, Nassau fell on hard times. In 1703 Spanish and French allied forces briefly occupied Nassau, from 1703 to 1718 there was no governor in the colony and by 1713, the sparsely settled Bahamas had become a pirate haven. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1,000 pirates in Nassau and they proclaimed Nassau a pirate republic, establishing themselves as governors. Examples of pirates that used Nassau as their base are Charles Vane, Thomas Barrow, Benjamin Hornigold, Calico Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, in 1718, the British sought to regain control of the islands and appointed Captain Woodes Rogers as Royal governor. He successfully clamped down on the pirates, reformed the civil administration, Rogers cleaned up Nassau and rebuilt the fort, using his own wealth to try to overcome problems. In 1720 the Spanish made an attempt to capture Nassau. During the wars in the Thirteen Colonies, Nassau experienced an economic boom, with funds from privateering, a new fort, street lights and over 2300 sumptuous houses were built and Nassau was extended. In addition to this, mosquito breeding swamps were filled, in 1778 after an overnight invasion, American raiders led by Captain Rathburn, left with ships, gunpowder and military stores after stopping in Nassau for only two days. In 1782 Spain captured Nassau for the last time when Don Juan de Cagigal, governor-general of Cuba, attacked New Providence with 5000 men
25.
Virgin Atlantic
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Virgin Atlantic, a trade name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, United Kingdom. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and was planned by its co-founders Randolph Fields. Soon after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company after disagreements with Sir Richard Branson over the management of the company, the maiden flight from London Gatwick to Newark Liberty International Airport took place on 22 June 1984. The airline along with Virgin Holidays is controlled by a company, Virgin Atlantic Limited. It is administratively separate from other Virgin-branded airlines, the airline also operates flights from Glasgow and seasonal flights from Belfast. Virgin Atlantic aircrafts consist of 3 cabins, Economy, Premium Economy, in 2012, Virgin Atlantic carried 5.4 million passengers, making it the seventh-largest UK airline in terms of passenger volume. In the year to 31 December 2013, it reported a £51 million group pre-tax loss, however, Randolph Fields, an American-born lawyer, and Alan Hellary, a former chief pilot for Laker Airways, set up British Atlantic Airways as a successor to Laker Airways. Fields had the idea for an airline operates between London and the Falkland Islands in June 1982, when the Falklands War had just finished. Fields needed expertise, and contacted Alan Hellary, who had also been thinking about establishing a commercial service to the Falklands. Hellary was in contact with colleagues out of following the collapse of Laker Airways. However, the runway at Port Stanley Airport and the time it would take to improve it made the scheme unviable. Instead, Hellary and Fields tried to secure a licence from Gatwick Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, a three-day inquiry in May 1983 rejected the application after British Airways, British Caledonian, and BAA objected. Hellary and Fields then applied for a licence between Gatwick and Newark, using a 380-seat McDonnell Douglas DC-10, however, faced with the prospect of direct competition from People Express, a post-deregulation no frills discount airline at Newark, they decided to secure more funding before proceeding. Fields met Richard Branson at a party in London during which he proposed a business partnership, after protracted and testy negotiations, Fields agreed to a reduced stake of 25% in the airline and became its first chairman. Following disagreements over operations, Fields agreed to be out for an initial sum of £1 million with further payment on Virgins first dividend. As a result of a High Court action, this payment was received shortly before Fields death in 1997. Part of Richard Bransons approach to business is to succeed within the first year or exit the market and this includes a one-year limit on everything associated with starting up. Virgin Atlantic became profitable within the first 12 months, aided by sister company Virgin Records ability to finance the lease of a secondhand Boeing 747, the firm timed operations to take advantage of a full summer, from June to September, the most profitable period of the year
26.
Airbus A330
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The Airbus A330 is a medium- to long-range wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of Airbus Group. Versions of the A330 have a range of 5,000 to 13,430 kilometres, the A330s origin dates to the mid-1970s as one of several conceived derivatives of Airbuss first airliner, the A300. The A330 was developed in parallel with the four-engine A340, which shared many common airframe components, both airliners incorporated fly-by-wire flight control technology, first introduced on an Airbus aircraft with the A320, as well as the A320s six-display glass cockpit. In June 1987, after receiving orders from customers, Airbus launched the A330. The A330 was Airbuss first airliner that offered a choice of three engines, General Electric CF6, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, and Rolls-Royce Trent 700. The A330-300, the first variant, took its flight in November 1992. Airbus followed up with the slightly shorter A330-200 variant in 1998, subsequently-developed A330 variants include a dedicated freighter, the A330-200F, a military tanker, the A330 MRTT, and a corporate jet, ACJ330. Since its launch, the A330 has allowed Airbus to expand market share in wide-body airliners, competing twinjets include the Boeing 767 and 777, along with the 787, which entered service in late 2011. The long-range Airbus A350 XWB was planned to succeed both the A330 and A340, the current A330 is to be replaced by the A330neo, which includes new engines and other improvements. As of February 2017, A330 orders stand at 1,682, the largest operator is Turkish Airlines with 60 A330s in its fleet. Airbuss first airliner, the A300, was envisioned as part of a family of commercial aircraft. In pursuit of this goal, studies began in the early 1970s into derivatives of the A300, before introducing the A300, Airbus identified nine possible variations designated B1 through B9. A tenth variant, the A300B10, was conceived in 1973, Airbus then focused its efforts on single-aisle studies, conceiving a family of airliners later known as the Airbus A320 family, the first commercial aircraft with digital fly-by-wire controls. During these studies Airbus turned its focus back to the aircraft market. In the mid-1970s Airbus began development of the A300B9, a derivative of the A300. The B9 was essentially a lengthened A300 with the same wing and it was targeted at the growing demand for high-capacity, medium-range, transcontinental trunk routes. It was also considered as a successor to the A300. At the same time, a 200-seat four-engine version, the B11 was also under development, to differentiate from the SA series, the B9 and B11 were re-designated as the TA9 and TA11, with TA standing for twin aisle
27.
Airbus A340
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The Airbus A340 is a long-range, four-engine, wide-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed and produced by the European aerospace company Airbus. The A340 was assembled in Toulouse, France and it seats up to 375 passengers in the standard variants and 440 in the stretched -600 series. Depending on the model, it has a range of 6,700 to 9,000 nautical miles and its distinguishing features are four high-bypass turbofan engines and three-bogie main landing gears. The A340 was manufactured in four fuselage lengths, the initial variant, A340-300, which entered service in 1993, measured 63.69 metres. The shorter -200 was developed next, and the A340-600 was a 15.96 metres stretch of the -200, the -600 was developed alongside the shorter A340-500, which would become the longest-range commercial airliner until the arrival of the Boeing 777-200LR. The -200 and -300 models were powered by the 151 kilonewtons CFM56-5C, the initial A340-200 and -300 variants share the fuselage and wing of the twin-engine Airbus A330 with which it was concurrently designed. The heavier A340-500 and -600 are longer and have larger wings, launch customers Lufthansa and Air France placed the A340 into service in March 1993. In September 2011,379 orders had been placed, of which 375 were delivered, the most common type were the A340-300 model, with 218 aircraft delivered. Lufthansa is the biggest operator of the A340, having acquired 59 aircraft, Airbus announced on 10 November 2011 that A340 production had been concluded. When Airbus designed the Airbus A300 during the 1970s, it envisioned a broad family of airliners to compete against Boeing and Douglas, from the moment of formation, Airbus had begun studies into derivatives of the Airbus A300B in support of this long-term goal. Prior to the introduction of the first Airbus airliners, Airbus had identified nine possible variations of the A300 known as A300B1 to B9. A 10th variation, conceived in 1973, later the first to be constructed, was designated the A300B10 and it was a smaller aircraft that would be developed into the long-range Airbus A310. Airbus then focused its efforts on the market, which resulted in the Airbus A320 family. The decision to work on the A320, instead of an aircraft proposed by the Germans. The A300B11, a derivative of the A310, was designed upon the availability of ten ton engines and it would seat between 180 and 200 passengers, and have a range of 6,000 nautical miles. It was deemed the replacement for the less-efficient Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s still in service, the A300B11 was joined by another design, the A300B9, which was a larger derivative of the A300. The B9 was developed by Airbus from the early 1970s at a pace until the early 1980s. It was essentially a stretched A300 with the wing, coupled with the most powerful turbofan engine at the time
28.
Boeing 747-400
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The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe. Its most distinguishing features versus preceding 747 models are 6-foot winglets mounted on 6-foot wing tip extensions, the aircraft also features an all-new interior with upgraded in-flight entertainment architecture. As on the 747-300, passenger variants include an upper deck as standard. The model has a capacity of 660 passengers with the 747-400D variant. Northwest Airlines first placed the 747-400 in commercial service in February 9,1989, the 747-400 was produced in passenger, freighter, combi, domestic, extended range passenger and extended range freighter versions. The last 747−400, a -400ERF, was delivered in 2009, the 747-400 is the second-most recent version of the Boeing 747 family, having been superseded by the improved Boeing 747-8. Following its introduction in 1969, the Boeing 747 became a success with airlines. As the worlds first wide-body jetliner, the 747 had revolutionized air travel, in 1980, Boeing announced the 747-300, its latest 747 variant featuring greater passenger capacity. This was made possible by making a stretched upper deck, previously an option on the 747-200, the SUD was almost twice as long as the original 747 upper deck. Besides increased capacity, the 747-300 did not offer any increase in range, at the same time, 747s were becoming more costly to operate due to a number of factors, notably conventional flight control systems, three-person flight crews, and fuel costs. In 1982, Boeing introduced a glass cockpit, new engines. Similar technologies were included in the design plans for newly announced rival wide-body aircraft, namely the Airbus A340. At the same time, combined sales of the 747-100, −200, and −300 models neared 700, the introduction of the 747-300 did little to stem the decline, and itself faced potential competition from more modern designs. As a result, Boeing began considering a more significant upgrade for its largest passenger jet, in September 1984, Boeing announced development of the newest 747 derivative, the Advanced Series 300, at the Farnborough Airshow. On October 22,1985, the type was launched when Northwest Airlines became the first 747-400 customer. Cathay Pacific, KLM, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and British Airways also announced several months later, followed by United Airlines, Air France. Seven early customers, namely British Airways, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest, Qantas, while the aircraft was planned as a new-technology upgrade, Boeing originally proposed minimal design changes in order to reduce development cost and retain commonality with existing models
29.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American long-haul, mid-size widebody, twin-engine jet airliner made by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Its variants seat 242 to 335 passengers in typical three-class seating configurations and it is Boeings most fuel-efficient airliner and is a pioneering airliner with the use of composite materials as the primary material in the construction of its airframe. The 787 was designed to be 20% more fuel efficient than the Boeing 767, the 787 Dreamliners distinguishing features include mostly electrical flight systems, raked wingtips, and noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles. It shares a type rating with the larger Boeing 777 to allow qualified pilots to operate both models. The aircrafts initial designation was the 7E7, prior to its renaming in January 2005, the first 787 was unveiled in a roll-out ceremony on July 8,2007 at Boeings Everett factory. Development and production of the 787 has involved a collaboration with numerous suppliers worldwide. Final assembly takes place at the Boeing Everett Factory in Everett, Washington, originally planned to enter service in May 2008, the project experienced multiple delays. The airliners maiden flight took place on December 15,2009, Boeing has reportedly spent $32 billion on the 787 program. Final US Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency type certification was received in August 2011 and it entered commercial service on October 26,2011 with launch customer All Nippon Airways. The stretched 787-9 variant, which is 20 feet longer and can fly 450 nautical miles farther than the -8, first flew in September 2013. Deliveries of the 787-9 began in July 2014, it entered service on August 7,2014 with All Nippon Airways. As of February 2017, the 787 had orders for 1,207 aircraft from 64 customers, the aircraft has suffered from several in-service problems, including fires on board related to its lithium-ion batteries. These systems were reviewed by both the FAA and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, the FAA issued a directive in January 2013 that grounded all 787s in the US and other civil aviation authorities followed suit. After Boeing completed tests on a revised design, the FAA approved the revised design and lifted the grounding in April 2013. During the late 1990s, Boeing considered replacement aircraft programs as sales of the 767, the global airline market was disrupted by the September 11,2001 attacks and increased petroleum prices, making airlines more interested in efficiency than speed. The worst-affected airlines, those in the United States, had considered the most likely customers of the Sonic Cruiser. On January 29,2003 Boeing announced a product, the 7E7. The replacement for the Sonic Cruiser project was named 7E7, Technology from the Sonic Cruiser and 7E7 was to be used as part of Boeings project to replace its entire airliner product line, an endeavor called the Yellowstone Project
30.
Cayman Brac Airways
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Cayman Airways is the flag carrier airline of the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands. With its head office in Grand Cayman, it mainly as an international and domestic scheduled passenger carrier. Its operations are based at Owen Roberts International Airport in George Town, the airline also offers a limited charter service with a recent example being flights to and from Los Angeles. Cayman Airways slogan is Those who fly us love us, the airline was established and started operations on August 7,1968. It was formed following the Cayman Islands Governments purchase of 51% of Cayman Brac Airways from LACSA, the Costa Rican flag carrier, by 1970, LACSA had introduced British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin jets on its San Jose, Costa Rica – Grand Cayman – Miami route. Early on, Cayman Airways first aircraft was a single Douglas DC-3, a few months after it was formed, the airline flew its first international route to Kingston, Jamaica using a BAC One-Eleven wet leased from LACSA. International service to Miami was initiated using a single leased Douglas DC-6 propliner, the airline was also offering direct connecting jet service between Miami and Kingston via Grand Cayman at this time. In 1979, an additional BAC One-Eleven jet as well as a Hawker Siddeley 748 turboprop, Cayman Airways also operated a Douglas DC-8-52 jetliner and a leased Boeing 727-100 jet during the 1980s. These jets were replaced with Boeing 737-200 and then with Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Boeing 737-400 jetliners were previously operated at as well, louis as well as Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica. The airline also served Panama City, Panama in the recent past, the airline also flew nonstop at one point between Miami and Grand Turk Island and Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos Islands with Boeing 727-200 and Boeing 737-200 jetliners. These were the routes flown by the carrier that did not directly serve the Cayman Islands. Non-jet flights between Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are currently operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter series 300, worth and Havana, Cuba appear to have helped the airline. The airline has also added one Boeing 737-800 as an interim measure, on Wednesday January 5,2017, Cayman Airways initiated charter service to Los Angeles with their Boeing 737-800 registration VP-CNG. The companys mascot is an embellishment of the original Sir Turtle designed by Suzy Soto, as first designed, Sir Turtle did not have the red flying scarf. That original design was used on baggage stickers by Cayman Islands Customs, mrs. Soto was married to Eric Bergstrom, with whom she built the Tortuga Club on the East End of Grand Cayman. The red flying scarf was later added to Sir Turtle in 1978 by Capt. Wilbur Thompson, the Chief Pilot of Cayman Airways at the time, Cayman Airways largely serves major destinations in the United States, Jamaica and Cuba as well as destinations in Honduras. These ramps also allow passengers with limited mobility, including those in wheel chairs to have easier access to the aircraft
31.
Avianca Costa Rica
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Avianca Costa Rica, formerly known as LACSA, minority owned by the Synergy Group, is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José. It operates international scheduled services to over 35 destinations in Central, the airline previously used the TACA/LACSA moniker when it was a subsidiary of Grupo TACA. Since May 2013, following Aviancas purchase of Grupo TACA, Avianca Costa Rica became one of seven nationally branded airlines operated by Avianca Holdings group of Latin American airlines. LACSA was established on 17 October 1945 by Pan American World Airways and it started operations on 1 June 1946 and was designated the national carrier in 1949. Its domestic network was transferred to its wholly owned subsidiary Sansa in September 1959, LACSA operated the Douglas DC-6B four-engined piston airliner from 1960 until 1976 on their regular passenger, and eventually freight, scheduled flights to Miami International Airport. The airline introduced the first of their British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven twin-engined jet airliners onto their Caribbean passenger route network in April 1967, LACSA served Grand Cayman for many years as an intermediate stop on its services between San Jose, Costa Rica and Miami. In 2008 a new TACA logo was introduced, followed by a new fleet of Embraer 190 airplanes registered in Costa Rica, in 2009, Aerovías del Continente Americano S. A. and TACA announced their merger plans to be completed in 2010. By 2013, the airlines began operating as a commercial brand using the Avianca name. LACSA services were previously flown exclusively by Airbus A320 family jetliners drawn from the fleet of the former Grupo TACA. In 2008, a new fleet of Embraer 190 jets was introduced, the excess of weight in the front part of the airplane was the cause of the accident. There were no fatalities out of the 23 occupants, on 11 January 1998, LACSA flight 691, an Airbus A320, veered off a runway at San Francisco International Airport during the takeoff roll. The aircraft left the runway at full speed, coming to rest in a field of mud, the runway was closed after the incident, reducing take-off capacity by 50 percent, leading to massive delays at the airport. None of the 122 passengers on board the aircraft sustained injuries, the cause of the incident was not determined. Roach, J. Jet Airliner Production List - Volume 2, hardy, M. J. Aviation in Costa Rica. TACA Official Site From LACSA to TACA to Avianca,28 May 2013
32.
Costa Rica
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It has a population of around 4.5 million, of whom nearly a quarter live in the metropolitan area of the capital and largest city, San José. Costa Rica was sparsely inhabited by people before coming under Spanish rule in the 16th century. Since then, Costa Rica has remained among the most stable, prosperous, following a brief civil war, it permanently abolished its army in 1949, becoming one of only a few sovereign nations without a standing army. Costa Rica is a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. The country has consistently performed favourably in the Human Development Index, placing 69th in the world as of 2015 and its rapidly developing economy, once heavily dependent on agriculture, has diversified to include sectors such as finance, pharmaceuticals, and ecotourism. Costa Rica is known for its environmental policies, being the only country to meet all five UNDP criteria established to measure environmental sustainability. Costa Rica officially plans to become a country by 2021. In 2012, it became the first country in the Americas to ban recreational hunting, historians have classified the indigenous people of Costa Rica as belonging to the Intermediate Area, where the peripheries of the Mesoamerican and Andean native cultures overlapped. More recently, pre-Columbian Costa Rica has also described as part of the Isthmo-Colombian Area. The oldest evidence of occupation in Costa Rica is associated with the arrival of various groups of hunter-gatherers about 10,000 to 7,000 years BCE in the Turrialba Valley. The presence of Clovis culture type spearheads and arrows from South America opens the possibility that, in this area, agriculture became evident in the populations that lived in Costa Rica about 5,000 years ago. They mainly grew tubers and roots, for the first and second millennia BCE there were already settled farming communities. These were small and scattered, although the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the livelihood in the territory is still unknown. The earliest use of pottery appears around 2,000 to 3,000 BCE, shards of pots, cylindrical vases, platters, gourds and other forms of vases decorated with grooves, prints, and some modelled after animals have been found. The impact of indigenous peoples on modern Costa Rican culture has been small compared to other nations. Costa Rica was described as the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America by a Spanish governor in 1719, for all these reasons, Costa Rica was, by and large, unappreciated and overlooked by the Spanish Crown and left to develop on its own. Costa Rica became a democracy with no oppressed mestizo or indigenous class. It was not long before Spanish settlers turned to the hills, where they found rich volcanic soil, like the rest of Central America, Costa Rica never fought for independence from Spain
33.
Douglas DC-3
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The Douglas DC-3 is a fixed-wing propeller-driven airliner. Its cruise speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s and its lasting effect on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made. The DC-3 was a twin-engine metal monoplane, developed as a larger and it had many exceptional qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had a range and could operate from short runways. It was reliable and easy to maintain and carried passengers in greater comfort, before the war it pioneered many air travel routes. Civil DC-3 production ended in 1942 with 607 aircraft being produced, however, together with its military derivative, the C-47 Skytrain, and with Russian- and Japanese-built versions, over 16,000 were built. Following the Second World War, the market was flooded with surplus C-47s and other transport aircraft. While the DC-3 was soon made redundant on main routes by more advanced such as the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation. Large numbers continue to see service in a variety of niche roles well into the 21st century. In 2013 it was estimated that approximately 2,000 DC-3s and military derivatives were still flying, the DC-3 was the culmination of a development effort that began after an inquiry from Transcontinental and Western Airlines to Donald Douglas. TWA asked Douglas to design and build an aircraft that would allow TWA to compete with United, Douglas design, the 1933 DC-1, was promising, and led to the DC-2 in 1934. The DC-2 was a success, but there was room for improvement, Douglas agreed to go ahead with development only after Smith informed him of Americans intention to purchase twenty aircraft. The new aircraft was engineered by a led by chief engineer Arthur E. Raymond over the next two years, and the prototype DST first flew on December 17,1935. Its cabin was 92 in wide, and a version with 21 seats instead of the 14–16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3, there was no prototype DC-3, the first DC-3 built followed seven DSTs off the production line and was delivered to American Airlines. The DC-3 and DST popularized air travel in the United States, eastbound transcontinental flights could cross the U. S. in about 15 hours with three refueling stops, westbound trips against the wind took 17 1⁄2 hours. A few years such a trip entailed short hops in slower and shorter-range aircraft during the day. A variety of engines were available for the DC-3. Early-production civilian aircraft used Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9s, but later used the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp
34.
Miami
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Miami is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Miamis metro area is the eighth-most populous, Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Groups inventory, in 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities, in 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami Americas Cleanest City, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, Miami is nicknamed the Capital of Latin America and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U. S. with over 300 high-rises, Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the Cruise Capital of the World, has been the number one cruise port in the world. It accommodates some of the worlds largest cruise ships and operations, Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U. S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes, the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River, in 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567, Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress, the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as the major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower. The Miami area was known as Biscayne Bay Country in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness, the area was also characterized as one of the finest building sites in Florida. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miamis growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region
35.
Douglas DC-6
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The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, more than 700 were built and many still fly today in cargo, military, and wildfire control roles. The United States Army Air Forces commissioned the DC-6 project as the XC-112 in 1944, the Army Air Forces wanted a lengthened, pressurized version of the DC-4-based C-54 Skymaster transport with more powerful engines. By the time the prototype XC-112A flew on 15 February 1946 the war was over, the USAAF had rescinded its requirement, Douglas Aircraft modified the design into a civil transport 80 in longer than the DC-4. The civil DC-6 first flew on 29 June 1946, being retained by Douglas for testing, the first airline deliveries were to American Airlines and United Airlines on 24 November 1946. A series of inflight fires grounded the DC-6 fleet in 1947, the cause was found to be a fuel vent next to the cabin cooling turbine intake, all DC-6s were modified and the fleet was flying again after four months on the ground. In April 1949, United, American, Delta, National, United flew them to Hawaii, Braniff flew them to Rio de Janeiro, and Panagra flew Miami-Buenos Aires, KLM, SAS, and Sabena flew DC-6s across the Atlantic. BCPA DC-6s flew Sydney to Vancouver, and Philippine flew Manila to London, pan Am used DC-6Bs to start transatlantic tourist-class flights in 1952. These were the first DC-6Bs that could gross 107,000 lb, several European airlines followed with their own transatlantic services. The DC-6A/B/C subtypes could perhaps fly nonstop from the eastern US to Europe, the military version, similar to the DC-6A, was the USAF C-118 Liftmaster, the USN R6D version used the more powerful R-2800-CB-17 engines. These were later used on the commercial DC-6B to allow international flights, the R6D Navy version had Curtiss Electric constant-speed reversing propellers. The USAF and USN renewed their interest in the DC-6 during the Korean War, Harry Trumans first presidential aircraft was an Air Force short-fuselage DC-6 which was designated VC-118, and named The Independence. It is preserved in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Dayton, total production of the DC-6 series was 704, including military versions. In the 1960s two DC-6s were used as platforms for educational television, based at Purdue University, in a program called the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction. DC-6/7s surviving into the jet age were replaced in frontline intercontinental passenger service by the Boeing 707, basic prices of a new DC-6 in 1946–47 were around £210, 000–£230,000 and had risen to £310,000 by 1951. By 1960, used prices were around £175,000 per aircraft, prices for the DC-6A in 1957–58 were £460, 000–£480,000. By 1960, used prices were around £296,000, equivalent prices for the DC-6B in 1958 were around £500,000. Used prices in 1960 were around £227,000, from 1977 to 1990 five yellow-painted Douglas DC-6Bs were used as water bombers in France by the Sécurité Civile
36.
British Aircraft Corporation
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The British Aircraft Corporation was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd. Vickers-Armstrongs, the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1960, Bristol, English Electric and Vickers became parents of BAC with shareholdings of 20%, 40% and 40% respectively. BAC in turn acquired the capital of their aviation interests. Its head office was on the top floors of the 100 Pall Mall building in the City of Westminster, BAC was formed following a warning from government that it expected consolidation in the aircraft, guided weapons and engine industries. The new corporation was owned by Vickers, English Electric. Internally it had two divisions – the Aircraft Division under Sir George Edwards and the Guided Weapons Division under Viscount Caldecote, the aircraft operations of the three parents were now subsidiaries of BAC, Bristol Aircraft Ltd, English Electric Aviation Ltd and Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. BAC also had a controlling interest in Hunting Aircraft, the parents still had significant aviation interests outside BAC. English Electric had Napier & Son aero-engines, Bristol had 50% of Bristol Aerojet and Bristol Siddeley engines and smaller investments in Westland and it remains operational today as Bristol Cars. Most of the BAC designs were taken over from the companies that formed it. BAC did not apply its new identity retrospectively, hence the VC10 remained the Vickers VC10, instead the company applied its name to marketing initiatives, the VC10 advertising carried the name Vickers-Armstrongs Limited, a member company of the British Aircraft Corporation. The first model to bear the BAC name was the BAC One-Eleven, the first Concorde contracts were signed with Air France and BOAC in September 1972. In 1963, BAC acquired the previously autonomous guided weapons divisions of English Electric and Bristol to form a new subsidiary, the company enjoyed some success, including development of the Rapier, Sea Skua and Sea Wolf missiles. BAC eventually expanded this division to include electronics and space systems and, in 1966, Hughes awarded major contracts to BAC, including sub-systems for Intelsat satellites. The cancellation of the TSR-2 in April 1965 was a blow to the new company. After successfully flying the aircraft, political pressure forced development to cease. Given the numerous government contract cancellations during the 1960s, the BAC 1–11, launched as a private venture, in May 1966, BAC and Breguet formed SEPECAT, a joint company to manage the Jaguar aircraft programme. The first of eight prototypes flew on 8 September 1968, and service entry was achieved with the French Air Force in 1973, also in 1966, Rolls-Royce acquired Bristol Aeroplane for its Bristol Siddeley aero-engine business, but declared it had no interest in the BAC shareholding. Despite this, Rolls-Royce still had not disposed of its BAC shareholding by 1971 when Rolls-Royce was declared bankrupt, the 20% share was eventually acquired from receivership by Vickers and GEC, who had acquired English Electric in 1968
37.
BAC One-Eleven
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The British Aircraft Corporation One-Eleven, also known as the BAC-111 or BAC 1-11, was a British short-range jet airliner used during the 1960s and 1970s. It was the second jet airliner to enter service, following the French Sud Aviation Caravelle. The aircraft was produced under license in Romania during the 1980s as the Rombac One-Eleven. The One-Eleven was intended to replace the earlier turboprop-powered Vickers Viscount on short-range routes, the One-Eleven made it to market ahead of rivals such as the Douglas DC-9-10, which gave it a temporary edge on the market. As of 2013, two remain in service as testbeds for Northrop-Grumman. Several aircraft manufacturers raced to release their own passenger jets, including those aimed at the short-haul market, in July 1956, British European Airways published a paper calling for a second generation jet airliner to operate beside their existing turboprop designs. This led to a variety of designs all of the major players in the British aerospace industry. Hunting Aircraft started design studies on a replacement for the successful Vickers Viscount. Around the same time, Vickers started a development of a 140-seat derivative of its VC10 project. Many other aviation firms had produced their own designs. In 1960 Hunting, under British government pressure, merged with Vickers-Armstrongs, Bristol, the newly formed BAC decided that the Hunting project had merit, but that there would be little market for a 30-seat jet airliner. The design was reworked into the BAC107, a 59-seat airliner powered by two 7,000 pounds-force Bristol Siddeley BS75 turbofan engines, BAC also continued development of the larger, 140-seat VC-11 development of the Vickers VC10 which it had inherited. Other competing internal projects, such as the Bristol Type 200, were abandoned following the absorption of Hunting into BAC. The revised design was redesignated the BAC111, with BAC abandoning the VC11 project to concentrate on the more promising One-Eleven, test flying was conducted by Squadron Leader Dave Glaser. On 9 May 1961 the One-Eleven was publicly launched when British United Airways placed the first order for ten One-Eleven 200s, on 20 October Braniff International Airways in the United States ordered six. Mohawk Airlines sent representatives to Europe seeking out a new aircraft to bring them into the jet era, other orders followed from Kuwait Airways for three, and Central African Airways for two. Braniff subsequently doubled their order to 12, while Aer Lingus ordered four, Western Airlines ordered ten aircraft but later cancelled. The CAB also stopped Frontier Airlines and Ozark Air Lines from ordering One-Elevens, although allowing Ozark to order the similar Douglas DC-9, the CAB had also unsuccessfully tried to block Mohawks orders
38.
Little Cayman
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Little Cayman is one of three islands comprising the Cayman Islands. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, approximately 60 miles northeast of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman is by far the least populous, with a permanent population of about 170. It is about 10 miles long with a width of 1 mile. Almost the entire island is at sea level, the highest elevation is about 40 feet. Little Cayman is known for its excellent scuba diving and birdwatching, unspoiled wildlife habitat, despite its small size, the island hosts a heritage festival and parade as part of Pirates Week, the annual Mardi Gras celebration of the Cayman Islands and the Sister Islands Cook-off. The first recorded sighting of Little Cayman, along with Cayman Brac, was by Christopher Columbus on May 10,1503 on his fourth and final voyage, at that time, he named the islands Las Tortugas for the many sea turtles found living there. The islands were later renamed Las Caymanas for the iguanas that were thought to be living there. The first settlement on the island was in the 17th century, after a raid by a Spanish privateer, the settlements were abandoned in 1671 and the island was not resettled until 1833, when Blossom Village was established by a few families. By the early 20th century, a few hundred people lived on Little Cayman and exported phosphate ore, coconuts, Little Cayman is famous for its scuba diving. The most popular dive site areas, Bloody Bay and Jacksons Bight, are located on the north side of the island, just west of its midpoint. The deeper sites on its side are generally visited on winter days when the north side is too rough. Little Cayman features dive sites as shallow as 20 feet and its walls are deep enough to effectively be infinite, Bloody Bay in particular is consistently ranked as one of the worlds top dive sites. Many dive operations claim the late Philippe Cousteau declared its wall to be one of the three best dives in the world, although this story may be apocryphal. At its shallowest point, the drop-off begins at a depth of 18 feet, allowing divers who plan carefully to achieve depth of over 100 feet. But the wall is so famous primarily because sections of it are so sheer as to be effectively vertical, the most vertical section of the wall was immortalized in 1999 by the Bloody Bay Wall Mural Project. A crew of photographers directed by Jim Hellemn photographed the wall piece by piece, the photograph was reproduced in National Geographic magazine in 2001. In 2010, photographers returned to the section of wall in an effort to create a comparison image showing changes over the intervening decade. The depth of Little Caymans dropoffs is often exaggerated by local divemasters claiming depths of 3,000 feet or 5,000 feet
39.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
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George Bush Intercontinental Airport
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Located about 23 miles north of Downtown Houston, between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/U. S. Highway 59 with direct access to the Hardy Toll Road expressway, George Bush Intercontinental Airport has scheduled flights to a number of domestic. The airport is named after George H. W. Bush, George Bush Intercontinental Airport served 43,023,224 passengers in 2015, making the airport the tenth busiest for total passengers in North America. In 2006, the airport was named the fastest-growing of the top ten airports into the United States by the United States Department of Transportation. Houston Bush Intercontinental is the largest passenger hub for United Airlines enplaning 16.6 million passengers annually with an average of 45,413 passengers daily, the airport also serves as a focus city for Spirit Airlines. Under operations as United Express, Expressjet Airlines and Skywest Airlines operate hub operations from IAH, during the 1970s and early 1980s, Intercontinental served as focus city for several major airlines including the original Braniff International Airways, Delta, Eastern, National, and Pan Am. Although the name Jetero was no longer used in planning documents after 1961. Most of Jetero Boulevard was later renamed Will Clayton Parkway, the City of Houston annexed the Intercontinental Airport area in 1965. This annexation, along with the 1965 annexations of the Bayport area, the Fondren Road area, Houston Intercontinental Airport, which was the original name for IAH, opened in June 1969. All scheduled passenger airline service operated from William P. Hobby Airport moved to Intercontinental upon the airports completion. Houston Intercontinental had been scheduled to open in 1967, but design changes regarding the terminals created cost overruns, in the late 1980s, Houston City Council considered a plan to rename the airport after Mickey Leland—an African-American U. S. Congressman who died in an accident in Ethiopia. Instead of renaming the airport, the city named Mickey Leland International Arrivals Building. In April 1997, Houston City Council unanimously voted to rename the airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport/Houston, after George H. W. Bush, as of 2007, Terminals A and B remain from the airports original design. Lewis W. Cutrer Terminal C opened in 1981, the Mickey Leland International Arrivals Building opened in May 1990, the rest of Terminal E opened on January 7,2004. On January 7,2009, a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 departing Bush Intercontinental was the first U. S. commercial jet to fly on a mix of jet fuel and biofuel. In December 2009, the Houston City Council approved a plan to allow Midway Cos. to develop 10 acres of land owned by Houston Airport System on the grounds of Bush Airport, Midway plans to develop a travel center for the airports rental car facility. The city dictated the developer needed to place a convenience store and gas facility, a flight information board, a fast casual restaurant
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Boeing 727
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The Boeing 727 is a midsized, narrow-body three-engined jet aircraft built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes from the early 1960s to 1984. It can carry 149 to 189 passengers and later models can fly up to 2,700 nautical miles nonstop, intended for short and medium-length flights, the 727 can use relatively short runways at smaller airports. It has three Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines below the T-tail, one on side of the rear fuselage with a center engine that connects through an S-duct to an inlet at the base of the fin. The 727 is Boeings only trijet aircraft, the 727 followed the 707, a quad-jet airliner, with which it shares its upper fuselage cross-section and cockpit design. The 727-100 first flew in February 1963 and entered service with Eastern Air Lines in February 1964, the 727 became a mainstay of airlines domestic route networks and was also used on short- and medium-range international routes. Passenger, freighter, and convertible versions of the 727 were built, the 727 was heavily produced into the 1970s, the last 727 was completed in 1984. As of July 2016, a total of 64 Boeing 727s were in service with 26 airlines, plus a few more in government. Airport noise regulations have led to 727s being equipped with hush kits, United Airlines requested a four-engine aircraft for its flights to high-altitude airports, especially its hub at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. American Airlines, which was operating the four-engined Boeing 707 and Boeing 720, eventually, the three airlines agreed on a trijet design for the new aircraft. In 1959, Lord Douglas, chairman of British European Airways, suggested that Boeing and de Havilland Aircraft Company work together on their trijet designs, the two designs had a similar layout, the 727 being slightly larger. At that time Boeing intended to use three Allison AR963 turbofan engines, license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce RB163 Spey used by the Trident, Boeing and de Havilland each sent engineers to the other companys locations to evaluate each others designs, but Boeing eventually decided against the joint venture. Once Pratt & Whitney agreed to go ahead with development of the JT8D, Eddie Rickenbacker, chairman of the board of Eastern, told Boeing that the airline preferred the JT8D for its 727s. Boeing had not offered the JT8D, as it was about 1,000 lb heavier than the RB163, though more powerful. Boeing reluctantly agreed to offer the JT8D as an option on the 727, with high-lift devices on its wing, the 727 could use shorter runways than most earlier jets. The airliners middle engine at the rear of the fuselage gets air from an inlet ahead of the vertical fin through an S-shaped duct. This S-duct proved to be troublesome in that flow distortion in the duct induced a surge in the engine on the take-off of the first flight of the 727-100. This was fixed by the addition of several large vortex generators in the inside of the first bend of the duct, the 727 was designed for smaller airports, so independence from ground facilities was an important requirement. This led to one of the 727s most distinctive features, the built-in airstair that opens from the underbelly of the fuselage
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Boeing 737
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The Boeing 737 is an American short- to medium-range twinjet narrow-body airliner. The 737 is Boeings only narrow-body airliner in production, with the 737 Next Generation variants currently being built, production has also begun on the re-engined and redesigned 737 MAX, which is set to enter service in 2017. Originally envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967, Next, the lengthened 737-200 entered service in April 1968. In the 1980s Boeing launched the -300, -400, and -500 models, the 737 Classics added capacity and incorporated CFM56 turbofan engines along with wing improvements. In the 1990s, Boeing introduced the 737 Next Generation, with changes including a redesigned, increased span laminar flow wing, upgraded glass cockpit. The 737 Next Generation comprises the four -600, -700, -800, Boeing Business Jet versions of the 737 Next Generation are also produced. The 737 series is the best-selling jet commercial airliner in history, the 737 has been continuously manufactured by Boeing since 1967 with 9,401 aircraft delivered and 4,423 orders yet to be fulfilled as of February 2017. Assembly of the 737 is performed at the Boeing Renton Factory in Renton, Washington, many 737s serve markets previously filled by 707,727,757, DC-9, and MD-80/MD-90 airliners, and the aircraft currently competes primarily with the Airbus A320 family. As of 2006, there were an average of 1,250 Boeing 737s airborne at any given time, Boeing had been studying short-haul jet aircraft designs and wanted to produce another aircraft to supplement the 727 on short and thin routes. Preliminary design work began on May 11,1964, and Boeings intense market research yielded plans for a 50- to 60-passenger airliner for routes 50 to 1,000 mi long, consultation with Lufthansa over the previous winter resulted in an increase in capacity to 100 seats. On April 5,1965, Boeing announced an order by United Airlines for 40 737s, United wanted a slightly larger airplane than the original 737. So Boeing stretched the fuselage 91 centimeters ahead of, and 102 cm behind the wing, the longer version was designated 737-200, with the original short-body aircraft becoming the 737-100. Detailed design work continued on both variants at the same time, Boeing was far behind its competitors when the 737 was launched, as rival aircraft BAC-111, Douglas DC-9, and Fokker F28 were already into flight certification. To expedite development, Boeing used 60% of the structure and systems of the existing 727 and this fuselage permitted six-abreast seating compared to the rival BAC-111 and DC-9s five-abreast layout. Design engineers decided to mount the nacelles directly to the underside of the wings to reduce the landing gear length and kept the low to the ground for easy ramp inspection. Originally, the arrangement of the airfoil sections of the 737 wing was planned to be very similar to that of the 707 and 727. However, an improvement in drag at high Mach numbers was achieved by altering these sections near the nacelle. The engine chosen was the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-1 low-bypass ratio turbofan engine, with the wing-mounted engines, Boeing decided to mount the horizontal stabilizer on the fuselage rather than the T-tail style of the Boeing 727
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Boeing 737 Classic
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The Boeing 737 Classic is the -300/-400/-500 series of the Boeing 737, so named following the introduction of the -600/-700/-800/-900 series. They are short- to medium-range, narrow-body jet airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the Classic series was introduced as the new generation of the 737. Produced from 1984 to 2000,1,988 aircraft were delivered, development began in 1979, and in 1980 preliminary aircraft specifications were released at the Farnborough Airshow. In March 1981, USAir and Southwest Airlines each ordered 10 aircraft, the wing incorporated a number of changes for improved aerodynamics. The wing tip was extended 9 inches, the leading-edge slats and trailing-edge flaps were adjusted. The flight deck was improved with the optional EFIS, and the passenger cabin incorporated improvements similar to those on the Boeing 757, Boeing selected the CFM56-3 to exclusively power the 737-300 variant. The 737 wings were closer to the ground than previous applications for the CFM56, the overall thrust was also reduced, from 24,000 to 20,000 lbf, mostly due to the reduction in bypass ratio. The prototype of the -300 rolled out of the Renton plant on January 17,1984, after it received its flight certification on November 14,1984, USAir received the first aircraft on November 28. A very popular aircraft, Boeing received 252 orders for it in 1985, the 300 series remained in production until 1999 when the last aircraft was delivered to Air New Zealand on December 17,1999, registration ZK-NGJ. The 737-300 can be retrofitted with Aviation Partners Boeing winglets, the 737-300 retrofitted with winglets is designated the -300SP. Used passenger -300 aircraft have also converted to freighter versions. The 737-300 has been replaced by the 737-700 in the Boeing 737 Next Generation family, the 737-400 design was launched in 1985 to fill the gap between the 737-300 and the 757-200, and competed with the Airbus A320 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80. It stretched the 737-300 another 10 ft to carry up to 188 passengers and it included a tail bumper to prevent tailscrapes during take-off, and a strengthened wing spar. The prototype rolled out on January 26,1988, and flew for the first time on 19 February 1988, the aircraft entered service on September 15,1988, with launch customer Piedmont Airlines. The 737-400F was not a model delivered by Boeing, but a 737-400 converted to freighter, the Boeing 737-400 never included winglets as an option, just like the Boeing 737-600. Alaska Airlines was the first to one of their 400s from regular service to an aircraft with the ability to handle ten pallets. The airline has also converted five more into fixed combi aircraft for half passenger and these 737-400 Combi aircraft are now in service. The 737-400 was replaced by the 737-800 in the Boeing 737 Next Generation family, the fuselage length of the -500 is 1 ft 7 in longer than the 737-200, accommodating up to 140 passengers
Media related to Owen Roberts International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
