Almost all planes operating in
American airspace and planes serving European countries are
required to use a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance
System, or TCAS. TCAS displays the relative positions and
velocities of aircraft up to 40 miles away and sounds an alarm
if it determines that another aircraft will pass too closely.
The system tells each plane which direction to fly to avoid a
collision
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Military aircraft use a
different jet fuel from commercial airlines. JP-5 has a higher
flashpoint and lower flammability decreasing the likelihood of
fiery crashes.
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The first Flight Simulator was
created by Edwin Albert Link (patented in 1931). Used first
for military air mail pilots The Link Trainer was used to in
the training of virtually all American pilots of World War
II.
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The first reported hijacking of
a plane – also known as skyjacking – occurred in 1931 in
Peru.
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The cruising altitude of a
normal commercial jet airplane today is around 12,000 m
(35,000 ft). The highest recorded airplane flight was reached
by Joseph Walker in an X-15 on Aug 22, 1963: 67 miles (354,200
ft, 108 km)
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The first flight attendant was
Ellen Church, a registered nurse from Iowa, who began work as
a “skygirl” on May 15th, 1930 for Boeing Air Transport –
predecessor to United Airlines – on the route between Oakland
and Chicago. Ms. Church had applied for the position of pilot
but was instead hired to carry out her suggestion of having
nurses on flights to combat public fear of
flying.
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The first supersonic,
passenger-carrying, commercial airplane (or supersonic
transport, SST), the Concorde, was built jointly by aircraft
manufacturers in Great Britain and France and entered regular
service in 1976; British Airways and Air France stopped flying
the Concorde in 2003. The Concorde had a maximum cruising
speed of 2,179 km (1,354 miles) per hour, or Mach
2.04.
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The first flight air
stewardesses were introduced by Boeing Air Transport in 1930.
An early manual for stewards included the following
instructions: Swat flies in cabin after takeoff and warn
passengers against throwing lighted smoking butts or other
objects out of the windows, particular over populated
areas.
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The deadliest single aircraft
disaster in aviation history occurred on 12 August 1985 when
Japan Air Lines flight 747 crashed, killing all 15 crew
members and 505 of the 509 passengers.
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The first take-off from a ship
was accomplished by American civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, in
Nov 1910. Ely flew a plane off a platform on the deck of the
U.S. Birmingham near Hampton Roads, Virginia. Ely also managed
the first landing on a ship on Jan 18, 1911 onto platform on
the deck of the battleship Pennsylvania in San Francisco
Bay.
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