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aviation
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Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Wright brothers Sopwith Camel Airbus A380 passenger jet in flight, featuring blue and white livery with Airbus A380 and promotional text on the fuselage, photographed against a pale sky. helicopter aviation: Chicago Polar projection map centered on the Northern Hemisphere, showing air distances in statute miles from major U.S. gateway cities to various international destinations. Red lines radiate from U.S. cities such as New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to cities across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, with distance values labeled along each route. The map highlights the relative proximity of global locations to the United States by air travel.
View the launching of the Bell X-1 aircraft from the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber
Seven of the largest flying objects in history
See how air traffic controllers at Frankfurt Airport, Germany manage the rush hour traffic in the skies
Quizzes
Sextant. Celestial navigation at sea. Sailor using sextant. Travel and navigation.
Travel and Navigation
Concorde. Front end of one of the 20 Concorde supersonic airplanes. A joint British French production they flew for 30 years (1973-2003).
Navigating the Sky
Close-up profile view of American aviator Amelia Earhart sitting in the cockpit of a helicopter. Earhart wears a bomber jacket and flight goggles on her head.
Early Aviation
Hindenburg zeppelin crashing, 1937
Transportation and Technology Firsts Quiz
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Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird shortly after refueling in flight.

aviation

transportation
Also known as: air transportation, civil aviation, flight
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Last updated
•History

aviation, the development and operation of heavier-than-air aircraft. The term military aviation refers to the development and use of military aircraft, while the term civil aviation refers to all nonmilitary aviation, such as air transportation provided by airlines or the carrying of cargo by commercial aircraft. (Read Orville Wright’s 1929 biography of his brother, Wilbur.) A brief treatment of aviation follows. For full treatment of military aviation, see military aircraft. For civil aviation, see airplane;...

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