50 points
500 words about air transportation.
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Step-by-step explanation:
From ancient times men have wanted to fly, and many attempts were made before suitable methods were discovered. The first really successful method to be developed was the balloon, filled with light gases such as hydrogen or helium which, being lighter than air, were able to rise above the surface.
Apart from controlling the altitude of flight by releasing gas or lessening the amount of ballast carried, balloons were dependent for their general direction upon winds and air currents. Later types of balloons had rudders and steering devices.
At the end of the nineteenth century rigid airships, with a solid framework rather than a simple bag of gas were developed, and these were powered by internal combustion engines. Airships were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, but they proved difficult to handle and were generally an unsatisfactory method of transport, and were not used after the 1920s.
Gliders, utilizing air currents and capable of carrying men were developed in the late nineteenth century and were the forerunners of powered aircraft or aeroplanes. The first successful flight by aeroplane was by the American Wright brothers in 1903, and since that time great developments have revolutionized air transport.
Aircraft engines underwent radical alterations as gas turbines, turbo-props and then jet engines were developed, and other features such as pressurized cabins, safety devices, and remote-control landing devices for use in poor weather conditions have also greatly improved aircraft. Vertical take-off and landing, as in helicopters, has also been, evolved.
Air transportation was slow to take off after the Wright Brothers breakthrough at Kitty Hawk in 1903. More than a decade passed before first faltering efforts to launch scheduled passenger services. On January 1, 1914, the world’s inaugural scheduled flight with a paying passenger hopped across the bay separating Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida. In its earliest years, the airline industry had a symbiotic relationship with military aviation. World War I, which began just months after that first flight from Tampa, provided a powerful spur to the development of commercial aviation as air power began to be used, and better aircraft were quickly designed. The war left a legacy of thousands of unemployed pilots and surplus aircraft along with an appreciation for the future significance of this new technology.
After the war, civilian airliners improved rapidly. For instance, the 8-12 passenger Dutch-built Fokker Trimotor, the most popular airliner in the early interwar years, had a top speed of 170 kilometers per hour and a range of 1,100 kilometers (less than the distance from Amsterdam to Rome). By the eve of World War II, airlines around the world were adopting the USA-built Douglas DC-3 with a capacity of 28 passengers, a speed of 310 kilometers per hour, and a range of more than 2,400 kilometers nonstop, able to fly across the US stopping just three times. The DC-3 made its maiden commercial flight in 1936 between New York and Chicago, a vital business route highlighting the commercial significance of the fast-changing technology.
Governments nurtured the infant airline industry. In Europe, governments established new passenger airlines while on the other side of the Atlantic, the American government heavily subsidized airmail. Airmail was one of the earliest avenues via which air transportation became commercially relevant because it helped to accelerate the velocity of the money supply and helped to tie together far-flung enterprises, facilitating the emergence of continental and intercontinental enterprises. US airmail also subsidized the emergence of the first major US passenger airlines.
By the eve of World War II, air travel was quite literally taking off. In the US, for instance, the number of passengers grew fivefold from 462,000 to 1,900,000 between 1934 and 1939. Still, aviation remained far beyond the means of most travelers, especially for long-haul routes. For instance, in 1936, Pan American World Airways launched services across the Pacific with a roundtrip fare of $1,438 (about $26,100 in 2018 dollars) between San Francisco and Manila. As in this example, many of the long-haul air services were to colonies and dependencies. Only the elite or government officials could afford such early intercontinental routes.