Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 18, 1911 The world’s first official mail delivery via airplane took place in the northern area of the present-day Republic of India. At the time, this region of India was under British rule as part of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. French pilot Henri Pequet, who happened to be in the city... Continue Reading →
February 3, 1991 In Albania, the Directory General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was established in the country’s capital city of Tirana. DGCA, which is now known as the Albanian Civil Aviation Authority (AAC), was put into place to monitor and manage Albania’s dramatic growth in air traffic at a time when the country was starting... Continue Reading →
January 31, 1980 A new international airport officially began operations in the south-central area of El Salvador. This facility – originally called Cuscatlan International Airport – is located in the municipality of San Luis Salvador, which is about 26 miles (42 kilometers) from the country’s capital city of San Salvador. The first flight for the... Continue Reading →
January 7, 1911 Just over seven years after the Wright Brothers’ pioneering flight at Kitty Hawk, the first bulk delivery of newspapers via a plane took place in California. French barnstorming pilot Didier Masson agreed to transport several bundles of the Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles to San Bernardino. The bundles were strapped to the... Continue Reading →
January 6, 2011 The Philippines-based airline Cebu Pacific (CEB) achieved a major milestone by flying its 50 millionth passenger. CEB, which in 2010 had become the Philippines’ largest airline based on the number of passengers flown on both domestic and international routes, began operations in 1996. The airline’s 50 millionth passenger was Harold Toifl, who... Continue Reading →
December 17, 2010 In southwestern India’s North Malabar region, the foundation stone was laid for a new airport in the district of Kannur in the state of Kerala. This inaugural event was attended by what the daily newspaper Hindu characterized as “a massive turnout of people from different parts of the district.” The array of... Continue Reading →
December 12, 1933 Indian National Airways Ltd began operations. This airline had been established seven months earlier in Delhi, India, by British industrialist R.E. Grant Govan as part of his business Govan Bros Ltd. (At the time, the Indian subcontinent was still under British rule.) Indian National Airways was only the second commercial airline to... Continue Reading →
Madine Pulaski had a passion for airborne travel that took her from serving as a flight attendant to becoming a versatile pilot. A member of the Cherokee Nation, she was born as Etha Madine Waltrip in 1936 in the community of Eldon, Oklahoma. When Pulaski was in the eighth grade, she and her family moved to... Continue Reading →
November 20, 1897 Aviation pioneer Maude Rose “Lores” Bonney was born in the city of Pretoria in the present-day Republic of South Africa. (At the time of Bonney’s birth, the region where Pretoria is located was part of an independent and internationally recognized state known as the Transvaal Republic.) At an early age, Bonney –... Continue Reading →
November 13, 1907 The first flight of a helicopter that was both piloted and untethered took place near the commune of Coquainvilliers in northwestern France. The pilot was engineer and bicycle-maker Paul Cornu in a twin-rotor aircraft that he had constructed. This experimental helicopter was outfitted with a 24-horsepower (18-kilowatt) Antoinette engine and had an... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 