United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, the natural hazards that threaten it; the organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility; the USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. The USGS employs 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia; the USGS has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, Menlo Park, California. The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world." The agency's previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service." Since 2012, the USGS science focus is directed at six topical "Mission Areas", namely Climate and Land Use Change, Core Science Systems, Ecosystems and Minerals and Environmental Health, Natural Hazards, Water.
In December 2012, the USGS split the Energy and Minerals and Environmental Health Mission Area resulting in seven topical Mission Areas, with the two new areas being: Energy and Minerals and Environmental Health. Administratively, it is divided into six Regional Units. Other specific programs include: Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide; the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location and magnitude of global earthquakes. The USGS runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System; the USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, the public, both domestic and worldwide, about significant earthquakes. It maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research, it conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards. USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast.
As of 2005, the agency is working to create a National Volcano Early Warning System by improving the instrumentation monitoring the 169 volcanoes in U. S. territory and by establishing methods for measuring the relative threats posed at each site. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time; the USGS collaborates with Canadian and Mexican government scientists, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, to produce the North American Environmental Atlas, used to depict and track environmental issues for a continental perspective. The USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online. National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center implements partner-driven science to improve understanding of past and present land use change, develops relevant climate and land use forecasts, identifies lands and communities that are most vulnerable to adverse impacts of change from the local to global scale.
Since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global and planetary exploration and mapping. In collaboration with Stanford University, the USGS operates the USGS-Stanford Ion Microprobe Laboratory, a world-class analytical facility for U--Pb geochronology and trace element analyses of minerals and other earth materials. USGS operates a number of water related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program and National Water-Quality Assessment Program. USGS Water data is publicly available from their National Water Information System database; the USGS operates the National Wildlife Health Center, whose mission is "to serve the nation and its natural resources by providing sound science and technical support, to disseminate information to promote science-based decisions affecting wildlife and ecosystem health. The NWHC provides information, technical assistance, research and leadership on national and international wildlife health issues." It is the agency responsible for surveillance of H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in the United States.
The USGS runs 17 biological research centers in the United States, including the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. The USGS is investigating collaboration with the social networking site Twitter to allow for more rapid construction of ShakeMaps; the USGS produces several national series of topographic maps which vary in scale and extent, with some wide gaps in coverage, notably the complete absence of 1:50,000 scale topographic maps or their equivalent. The largest and best-known topographic series is the 7.5-minute, 1:24,000 scale, quadrangle, a non-metric scale unique to the United States. Each of these maps covers an area bounded by two lines of latitude and two lines of longitude spaced 7.5 minutes apart. Nearly 57,000 individual maps in this series cover the 48 contiguous states, Hawaii, U. S. territories, areas of Alaska near Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay. The area covered by each map varies with the latitude of its represented location due to convergence of the meridians. At lower latitudes, near 30° north, a 7.5-minute quadrangle contains an area of about 64 square miles.
At 49° north latitude, 49 square miles are contained within a quadrangle of that size. As a unique non-metric map scale, the 1:24,000 scale requires a separate and specialized romer scale for pl
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport, locally referred to as LAX, is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California. LAX is in the Westchester district of the city of Los Angeles, California, 18 miles southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, with the commercial and residential areas of Westchester to the north, the city of El Segundo to the south and the city of Inglewood to the east. Owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, an agency of the government of Los Angeles known as the Department of Airports, the airport has over 3,500 acres of land, LAX has four parallel runways. In 2018, LAX handled 87,534,384 passengers, making it the world's fourth busiest and the United States' second busiest airport following Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; as the largest and busiest international airport on the U. S. West Coast, LAX is a major international gateway to the United States, serves a connection point for passengers traveling internationally; the airport holds the record for the world's busiest origin and destination airport, since relative to other airports, many more travelers begin or end their trips in Los Angeles than use it as a connection.
It is the only airport to rank among the top five U. S. airports for both passenger and cargo traffic. LAX serves as a hub or focus city for more passenger airlines than any other airport in the United States, it is the only airport that four U. S. legacy carriers have designated as a hub and is a focus city for Air New Zealand, Allegiant Air, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Southwest Airlines, Volaris. While LAX is the busiest airport in the Greater Los Angeles Area, several other airports, including Hollywood Burbank Airport, John Wayne Airport, Long Beach Airport, as well as Ontario International Airport serve the area. In 1928, the Los Angeles City Council selected 640 acres in the southern part of Westchester for a new airport; the fields of wheat and lima beans were converted into dirt landing strips without any terminal buildings. It was named Mines Field for the real estate agent who arranged the deal; the first structure, Hangar No. 1, is in the National Register of Historic Places. Mines Field opened as the airport of Los Angeles in 1930 and the city purchased it to be a municipal airfield in 1937.
The name became Los Angeles Airport in 1941 and Los Angeles International Airport in 1949. In the 1930s the main airline airports were Burbank Airport in Burbank and the Grand Central Airport in Glendale. Mines Field did not extend west of Sepulveda Boulevard. A tunnel was completed in 1953 allowing Sepulveda Boulevard to revert to straight and pass beneath the two runways. For the next few years the two runways were 8,500 feet long. Before the 1930s, existing airports used a two-letter abbreviation based on the weather stations at the airports. At that time, "LA" served as the designation for Los Angeles Airport, but with the rapid growth in the aviation industry the designations expanded to three letters c. 1947, "LA" became "LAX." The letter "X" has no specific meaning in this identifier. "LAX" is used for the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro and by Amtrak for Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The "Imperial Hill" area in El Segundo is a prime location for aircraft spotting for takeoffs. Part of the Imperial Hill area has been set aside as Clutter's Park.
Another popular spotting location sits under the final approach for runways 24 L&R on a lawn next to the Westchester In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard. This is one of the few remaining locations in Southern California from which spotters may watch such a wide variety of low-flying commercial airliners from directly underneath a flight path. At 12:51 p.m. on Friday, September 21, 2012, a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft carrying the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at LAX on runway 25L. An estimated 10,000 people saw the shuttle land. Interstate 105 was backed up for miles at a standstill. Imperial Highway was shut down for spectators, it was taken off the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, was moved to a United Airlines hangar. The shuttle spent about a month in the hangar while it was prepared to be transported to the California Science Center; the distinctive white googie Theme Building, designed by Pereira & Luckman architect Paul Williams and constructed in 1961 by Robert E. McKee Construction Co. resembles a flying saucer that has landed on its four legs.
A restaurant with a sweeping view of the airport is suspended beneath two arches. The Los Angeles City Council designated the building a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1992. A $4 million renovation, with retro-futuristic interior and electric lighting designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, was completed before the Encounter Restaurant opened there in 1997. Visitors are able to take the elevator up to the roof of the "Theme Building", which closed after the September 11, 2001 attacks for security reasons and reopened to the public on weekends beginning on July 10, 2010. Additionally, a memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks is located on the grounds, as three of the f
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, one of the seven American uniformed services. Formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U. S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947, it is the youngest branch of the U. S. Armed Forces, the fourth in order of precedence; the USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, command and control; the U. S. Air Force is a military service branch organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense; the Air Force, through the Department of the Air Force, is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation.
The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Air Force components are assigned, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, to the combatant commands, neither the Secretary of the Air Force nor the Chief of Staff of the Air Force have operational command authority over them. Along with conducting independent air and space operations, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for land and naval forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field; as of 2017, the service operates more than 5,369 military aircraft, 406 ICBMs and 170 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget and is the second largest service branch, with 318,415 active duty airmen, 140,169 civilian personnel, 69,200 reserve airmen, 105,700 Air National Guard airmen. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF: In general, the United States Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned.
It shall be organized and equipped for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peacetime components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war. §8062 of Title 10 US Code defines the purpose of the USAF as: to preserve the peace and security, provide for the defense, of the United States, the Territories and possessions, any areas occupied by the United States. The stated mission of the USAF today is to "fly and win...in air and cyberspace". "The United States Air Force will be a trusted and reliable joint partner with our sister services known for integrity in all of our activities, including supporting the joint mission first and foremost. We will provide compelling air and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance and Power for the nation".
The five core missions of the Air Force have not changed since the Air Force became independent in 1947, but they have evolved, are now articulated as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, command and control. The purpose of all of these core missions is to provide, what the Air Force states as, global vigilance, global reach, global power. Air superiority is "that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea and special operations forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force". Offensive Counterair is defined as "offensive operations to destroy, disrupt, or neutralize enemy aircraft, launch platforms, their supporting structures and systems both before and after launch, but as close to their source as possible". OCA is the preferred method of countering air and missile threats since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source and enjoys the initiative.
OCA comprises attack operations, sweep and suppression/destruction of enemy air defense. Defensive Counter air is defined as "all the defensive measures designed to detect, identify and destroy or negate enemy forces attempting to penetrate or attack through friendly airspace". A major goal of DCA operations, in concert with OCA operations, is to provide an area from which forces can operate, secure from air and missile threats; the DCA mission comprises both passive defense measures. Active defense is "the employment of limited offensive action and counterattacks to deny a contested area or position to the enemy", it includes both ballistic missile defense and air-breathing threat defense, encompasses point defense, area defense, high-value airborne asset defense. Passive defense is "measures taken to reduce the probability of and to minimize the effects of damage caused by hostile action without the intention of taking the initiative", it includes warning.
Concrete
Concrete Portland cement concrete, is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that hardens over time—most a lime-based cement binder, such as Portland cement, but sometimes with other hydraulic cements, such as a calcium aluminate cement. It is distinguished from other, non-cementitious types of concrete all binding some form of aggregate together, including asphalt concrete with a bitumen binder, used for road surfaces, polymer concretes that use polymers as a binder; when aggregate is mixed together with dry Portland cement and water, the mixture forms a fluid slurry, poured and molded into shape. The cement reacts chemically with the water and other ingredients to form a hard matrix that binds the materials together into a durable stone-like material that has many uses. Additives are included in the mixture to improve the physical properties of the wet mix or the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding reinforced concrete.
Famous concrete structures include the Panama Canal and the Roman Pantheon. The earliest large-scale users of concrete technology were the ancient Romans, concrete was used in the Roman Empire; the Colosseum in Rome was built of concrete, the concrete dome of the Pantheon is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. Today, large concrete structures are made with reinforced concrete. After the Roman Empire collapsed, use of concrete became rare until the technology was redeveloped in the mid-18th century. Worldwide, concrete has overtaken steel in tonnage of material used; the word concrete comes from the Latin word "concretus", the perfect passive participle of "concrescere", from "con-" and "crescere". Small-scale production of concrete-like materials was pioneered by the Nabatean traders who occupied and controlled a series of oases and developed a small empire in the regions of southern Syria and northern Jordan from the 4th century BC, they discovered the advantages of hydraulic lime, with some self-cementing properties, by 700 BC.
They built kilns to supply mortar for the construction of rubble-wall houses, concrete floors, underground waterproof cisterns. They kept the cisterns secret; some of these structures survive to this day. In the Ancient Egyptian and Roman eras, builders discovered that adding volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set underwater. German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann found concrete floors, which were made of lime and pebbles, in the royal palace of Tiryns, which dates to 1400–1200 BC. Lime mortars were used in Greece and Cyprus in 800 BC; the Assyrian Jerwan Aqueduct made use of waterproof concrete. Concrete was used for construction in many ancient structures; the Romans used concrete extensively from 300 BC to a span of more than seven hundred years. During the Roman Empire, Roman concrete was made from quicklime, pozzolana and an aggregate of pumice, its widespread use in many Roman structures, a key event in the history of architecture termed the Roman Architectural Revolution, freed Roman construction from the restrictions of stone and brick materials.
It enabled revolutionary new designs in terms of both structural dimension. Concrete, as the Romans knew it, was a revolutionary material. Laid in the shape of arches and domes, it hardened into a rigid mass, free from many of the internal thrusts and strains that troubled the builders of similar structures in stone or brick. Modern tests show that opus caementicium had as much compressive strength as modern Portland-cement concrete. However, due to the absence of reinforcement, its tensile strength was far lower than modern reinforced concrete, its mode of application was different: Modern structural concrete differs from Roman concrete in two important details. First, its mix consistency is fluid and homogeneous, allowing it to be poured into forms rather than requiring hand-layering together with the placement of aggregate, which, in Roman practice consisted of rubble. Second, integral reinforcing steel gives modern concrete assemblies great strength in tension, whereas Roman concrete could depend only upon the strength of the concrete bonding to resist tension.
The long-term durability of Roman concrete structures has been found to be due to its use of pyroclastic rock and ash, whereby crystallization of strätlingite and the coalescence of calcium–aluminum-silicate–hydrate cementing binder helped give the concrete a greater degree of fracture resistance in seismically active environments. Roman concrete is more resistant to erosion by seawater than modern concrete; the widespread use of concrete in many Roman structures ensured that many survive to the present day. The Baths of Caracalla in Rome are just one example. Many Roman aqueducts and bridges, such as the magnificent Pont du Gard in southern France, have masonry cladding on a concrete core, as does the dome of the Pantheon. After the Roman Empire, the use of burned lime and pozzolana was reduced until the technique was all but forgotten between 500 and the 14th century. From the 14th century to the mid-18th century, the use of cement returned; the Canal du Midi was built using concrete in 1670.
The greatest step forward in the modern use
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the Western United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 32nd most populous, but the 9th least densely populated of the U. S. states. Nearly three-quarters of Nevada's people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the state's four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada's capital, however, is Carson City. Nevada is known as the "Silver State" because of the importance of silver to its history and economy, it is known as the "Battle Born State", because it achieved statehood during the Civil War. Nevada is desert and semi-arid, much of it within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada lie on the western edge. About 86% of the state's land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military.
Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute and Washoe tribes inhabited the land, now Nevada. The first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish, they called the region Nevada because of the snow. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, became part of Mexico when it gained independence in 1821; the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a population boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, as the second of two states added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws. In 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century.
Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevada's largest employer, with mining continuing as a substantial sector of the economy: Nevada is the fourth-largest producer of gold in the world; the name "Nevada" comes from meaning "snow-covered", after the Sierra Nevada. Most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the TRAP vowel. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the PALM vowel. Although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators and never received a vote; the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. At one time, the state's official tourism organization, TravelNevada, stylized the name of the state as "Nevăda", with a breve mark over the a indicating the locally preferred pronunciation, available as a license plate design.
Nevada is entirely within the Basin and Range Province, is broken up by many north-south mountain ranges. Most of these ranges have endorheic valleys between them, which belies the image portrayed by the term Great Basin. Much of the northern part of the state is within the Great Basin, a mild desert that experiences hot temperatures in the summer and cold temperatures in the winter. Moisture from the Arizona Monsoon will cause summer thunderstorms; the state's highest recorded temperature was 125 °F in Laughlin on June 29, 1994. The coldest recorded temperature was −52 °F set in San Jacinto in 1972, in the northeastern portion of the state; the Humboldt River crosses the state from east to west across the northern part of the state, draining into the Humboldt Sink near Lovelock. Several rivers drain from the Sierra Nevada eastward, including the Walker and Carson rivers. All of these rivers are endorheic basins, ending in Walker Lake, Pyramid Lake, the Carson Sink, respectively. However, not all of Nevada is within the Great Basin.
Tributaries of the Snake River drain the far north, while the Colorado River, which forms much of the boundary with Arizona, drains much of southern Nevada. The mountain ranges, some of which have peaks above 13,000 feet, harbor lush forests high above desert plains, creating sky islands for endemic species; the valleys are no lower in elevation than 3,000 feet, while some in central Nevada are above 6,000 feet. The southern third of the state, where the Las Vegas area is situated, is within the Mojave Desert; the area is closer to the Arizona Monsoon in the summer. The terrain is lower below 4,000 feet, creating conditions for hot summer days and cool to chilly winter nights. Nevada and California have by far the longest diagonal line as a state boundary at just over 400 miles; this line begins in Lake Tahoe nearly
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is an international airport 13 miles south of downtown San Francisco, United States, near Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is a major gateway to Europe and Asia. SFO is the largest airport in Northern California and the second busiest in California and on the Western Coast of North America, after Los Angeles International Airport. In 2017, it was the seventh-busiest airport in the United States and the 24th-busiest in the world by passenger count, it is the fifth-largest hub for United Airlines and functions as United's primary transpacific gateway. It serves as a secondary hub for Alaska Airlines, it is a major maintenance hub for United Airlines, houses the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum and Library. SFO is in San Mateo County. Between 1999 and 2004 the San Francisco Airport Commission operated city-owned SFO Enterprises, Inc. to oversee its business purchases and operations of ventures. The City and County of San Francisco first leased 150 acres at the present airport site on March 15, 1927, for what was to be a temporary and experimental airport project.
San Francisco held a dedication ceremony at the airfield named the Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco, on May 7, 1927, on the 150-acre cow pasture. The land was leased from the Mills Estate in an agreement made with Ogden L. Mills who oversaw the large tracts of property acquired by his grandfather, the banker Darius O. Mills. San Francisco purchased the property and the surrounding area expanding the site to 1,112 acres beginning in August 1930; the airport's name was changed to San Francisco Airport in 1931 upon the purchase of the land. "International" was added at the end of World War II as overseas service expanded. The earliest scheduled carriers at the airport included Western Air Express, Maddox Air Lines, Century Pacific Lines. United Airlines was formed in 1934 and became the key carrier at the airport, with Douglas DC-3 service to Los Angeles and New York beginning in January 1937. A new passenger terminal opened in 1937, constructed with Public Works Administration funding.
The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows 18 airline departures on weekdays—seventeen United flights and one TWA flight. The aerial view c. 1940 looks west along the runway, now 28R. Earlier aerial looking NW 1943 vertical aerial The August 1952 chart shows runway 1L 7,000 feet long, 1R 7,750 feet, 28L 6,500 feet, 28R 8,870 feet. In addition to United, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines was operating service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1933 with Bellanca CH-300 prop aircraft on a coastal routing of San Francisco – San Jose – Salinas – Monterey – Paso Robles – San Luis Obispo – Santa Maria – Santa Barbara – Los Angeles. Competition with United led Pacific Seaboard to move all of its operations to the eastern U. S. and rename itself Southern Air Lines. It became a large international air carrier. Chicago & Southern was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953 thus providing Delta with its first international routes. Delta used the route authority inherited from C&S to fly one of its first international services operated with Convair 880 jet aircraft from San Francisco to Montego Bay and Caracas, Venezuela via intermediate stops in Dallas and New Orleans in 1962.
During World War II, the airport was used as a Coast Guard base and Army Air Corps training and staging base. Pan American World Airways, which operated international flying boat service from Treasure Island, was forced to relocate its Pacific and Alaska seaplane operations to SFO in 1944 after Treasure Island was expropriated for use as a military base. Pan Am began commercial service from SFO in the wake of World War II with five weekly flights to Honolulu, one of which continued on to Canton Island, New Caledonia, Auckland; the first international service by foreign carriers was jointly operated by Australian National Airways and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines with Douglas DC-4 propliners flying a routing of Sydney – Auckland – Fiji – Kanton Island – Honolulu – San Francisco – Vancouver, BC with the inaugural flight departing from Australia on September 15, 1946. By 1947, the airport had become a stop on Pan Am's "round the world" service serving Guam, the Philippines and other countries, Pan Am served Sydney from SFO.
United Airlines Douglas DC-6 propliners flying to and from Hawaii used the Pan Am terminal beginning in 1947. British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines and Philippine Airlines began trans-Pacific service to SFO in the late 1940s. TWA began flying nonstop to Europe with Lockheed Constellation propliners in 1957. In 1959, Qantas had taken over the ANA/BCPA route from SFO to Sydney and was operating Boeing 707 service to Australia via intermediate stops in Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji. Pan Am attempted to operate Boeing 707-320 jetliners from Tokyo nonstop to SFO in 1960–61. In 1960, British Overseas Airways Corporation was serving the airport with Bristol Britannia turboprops that were flying a westbound routing of London – New York City – San Francisco – Honolulu – Wake Island – Tokyo – Hong Kong as part of the airline's around-the-world service. By the next year, BOAC had replaced the large, British-manufactured Britannia propjets with Boeing 707s now be
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia
The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop commuter airliner, produced by Embraer of Brazil. After the success of the EMB 110 Bandeirante, Embraer began the development of their first transport category airliner in 1974; the Family 12X comprised three models with modular concept designs: EMB 120 Araguaia, EMB 123 Tapajós and EMB 121 Xingu. EMB 121 was the sole 12X model produced. Araguaia's name was changed to Brasilia in 1979 at the official launching of the project, when at a CAAA convention at USA several suggestions from prospective operators were collected and incorporated to EMB 120 design. Thus, a new aircraft – no longer related to the 12X family – was launched. No common parts from EMB 121 Xingu were used, the capacity was revised from 24 to 30 seats. Designed to utilise the new 1500 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PW115 turboprop, it was upgraded to the 1892 eshp PW118; the Brasilia attracted immediate interest from many regional airlines in the US. The size and ceiling allowed faster and more direct services around the US and Europe, compared to similar aircraft.
The first aircraft entered service with Atlantic Southeast Airlines in October 1985. The basic EMB 120RT was upgraded to the extended range EMB 120 ER, with older aircraft retrofitted via a Service Bulletin. Most of the EMB 120s were sold in the United States and other destinations in the Western Hemisphere; some European airlines such as Régional in France, Atlant-Soyuz Airlines in Russia, DAT in Belgium, DLT in Germany purchased EMB-120s, although the Angolan Air Force, for example, received new EMB 120s in 2007. Great Lakes Airlines operates six EMB 120s in its fleet, Ameriflight flies 10 as freighters. EMB 120 Basic production version. EMB 120ER Extended increased capacity version. All EMB-120ER S/Ns may be converted into the model EMB-120FC or into the model EMB-120QC. EMB 120FC Full cargo version. EMB 120QC Quick change cargo version. EMB 120RT Transport version. All EMB-120RT S/Ns may be converted into the model EMB-120ER. VC-97 VIP transport version for the Brazilian Air Force; as of July 2018, 105 Brasilias were in airline service: 45 in North/South America, 26 in Africa, 14 in Europe and 20 in Asia-Pacific, with major operators: 12: Ameriflight 10 Swiftair 7: Airnorth 8: Berry Aviation, InterCaribbean Airways 6: Freight Runners Express, Skippers Aviation, Freedom Airlines Express BrazilBrazilian Air Force 20 Transport UruguayUruguayan Air Force 1 Transport Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988-89General characteristics Crew: Two pilots and one flight attendant Capacity: 30 passengers Length: 20.00 m Wingspan: 19.78 m Height: 6.35 m Wing area: 39.4 m² Airfoil: NACA 23018 at root, NACA 23012 at tip Aspect ratio: 9.9:1 Empty weight: 7,070 kg Max.
Takeoff weight: 11,500 kg Maximum Landing Weight: 11,250 kg Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW118/118A/118B turboprops, 1,340 kW eachPerformance Maximum speed: 608 km/h at 20,000 ft Cruise speed: 552 km/h Stall speed: 162 km/h, Range: 1,750 km Service ceiling: 9,085 m Take-off Run: 1,420 m minimumAvionics Collins 5-screen Electronic Flight Instrument System Dual autopilots On September 19, 1986, an Atlantic Southeast Airlines EMB 120RT struck a mountain near Mantiqueira, Brazil while being delivered to Atlantic Southeast, killing all five on board. On December 21, 1987, an Embraer 120 Brazilia operated by Air Littoral for Air France crashed in a forest during a wrong approach of Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport. All the 16 occupants died On July 8, 1988, Brazilian Air Force Embraer EMB 120RT Brasília FAB-2001 crashed during an engine-out landing at São José dos Campos. Five of the 9 occupants died. On April 5, 1991, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 operating for Delta Connection crashed on approach to Glynco Jetport in Brunswick, Georgia.
The crash claimed the lives of all twenty-three people on board, including former U. S. Senator John Tower of Texas and astronaut Sonny Carter; this was due to propeller control failure. On September 11, 1991, Continental Express Flight 2574, broke up in flight and crashed at Eagle Lake, killing all 14 passengers and crew members; the NTSB determined that missing screws on the horizontal stabilizer led to part of it detaching from the aircraft. On August 21, 1995, one of the blades on Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529's number-one propeller sheared off tearing the left engine from its mount and increasing drag on the left side, it crashed in a field near Georgia. Of the twenty-nine people on board, ten died. On January 9, 1997, Comair Flight 3272 crashed in Michigan. All of the 29 passengers and crew died; the probable cause was in-flight icing. On May 21, 1997, SkyWest Airlines Flight 724, an Embraer EMB-120, experienced a total loss of engine power to the right engine and associated engine fire, followed by a total loss of all airplane hydraulic systems, after takeoff from San Diego International-Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California.
The airplane sustained substantial damage. The 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant, 14 passengers were not injured. Skywest Airlines, Inc. was operating the airplane as a scheduled, passenger fl
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
