Aeronautical Society of India

World of Aviation

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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1. World of Aviation Hello and welcome! The Aeronautical Society of India and
the Aeronautical Research & Development Board present
to you “World of Aviation”
2. History
3. Inspiration from birds The inspiration to fly must have come from seeing so many
birds flying effortlessly in the sky. That was something that
did not come naturally to man - like walking or running!
4. Indian Mythology There are numerous references to “Flying Machines” in
many ancient Indian texts. The picture is of a carving on
the Ellora caves.
The Rig and Yajur Vedas talk about many “ratha”s that
could operate in air.
The Mahabharata describes the air attack on Krishna’s
capital Dwarak, by king Salva flying in his mysterious
aeroplane.
In an ancient Jain text we read about an aerial chariot that
conveys people to the capital of Ayodhya.
The Ramayana gives a detailed story of a trip to the moon,
and even a battle on the moon!
The Vaimanika Shastra describes various aspects of
designing and building Vimanas, in great detail.
5. Vimanas These pictures of the Shakuna and Sundara Vimanas have
been drawn based on the descriptions given in Ancient
texts. They took off vertically, and could hover like a
modern day helicopter.

The Vaimanika Shastra talks about many kinds of

Vimanas, 31 parts of each Vimana, and 16 materials used
for constructing them. Vimanas were kept in a Vimana
Graha.
6. Greek Mythology According to Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son
Icarus of Greece were imprisoned on the island of Crete by
king Minos. Daedalus said "Minos may control land and
sea but not the air”! So he made wings of wax and
feathers for his son and himself, and they both flew out of
the island and escaped. Well, the story goes on to say that
Daedalus had told his son to neither fly too low nor too
high. But Icarus flew too high, and the heat of the sun
melted his wings. He then fell into the ocean and died.
7. Early flying attempts – clip 1 Let us watch some video clips of man’s early flying
attempts
8. Early flying attempts – clip 2
9. Early flying attempts – clip 3
10. Hot Air Balloon Man first went into the air in a hot air balloon. Joseph &
Jacques Montgolfier invented it in 1783. They gave a
public demonstration on June that year. Later in
September, they put a sheep, a duck and a cockerel in the
balloon .
11. Gliders George Cayley was the first to perform various
experiments with Gliders. In 1849, Cayley made a glider
that could fly carrying a human being. It was this German
by name Otto Lilienthal who designed very efficient gliders.
His gliders could carry a man through long distances. He
did a lot of experiments and generated a lot of
aerodynamic data.
12. First Flight – Slide 1 Many people made many efforts to build an aircraft, but it
was the Wright brothers who were first successful. You are
seeing a historic picture of Wilbur Wright standing on the

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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ground and watching his brother Orville lift off from the
ground. The aircraft “Wright Flyer 1” was a result of years
of research and testing. And they finally achieved the first
manned, powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flight.

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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13. First Flight – Slide 2 This historic event happened on 17-Dec-1903 at 10:35am,
at Kitty Hawk beach. Orville Wright piloted the first flight
that lasted for only 12 secs, in which time the aircraft flew a
distance of 120 ft! On the same day, the Wright brothers
made 3 more flights. Wilbur Wright piloted the fourth and
final flight, when the aircraft flew a distance of 853 ft in 59
secs. Unfortunately the aircraft crashed during that 4 th flight
as you see in the picture here, and the Wright Flyer could
not fly again.
14. Wright Flyer – Clip 1 The Wright brothers made many more aircraft in their
lifetime, and laid the foundation for all developments in the
field of aviation that followed.
15. Principles of Flight
16. Forces on an aircraft in flight When an aircraft flies in the air, it experiences four major
forces in four different directions. The weight of the aircraft,
or the gravitational force, acts downward. In order to fly,
the aircraft needs a Lift force pointing upward. In order to
move forward, the aircraft needs a force in the forward
direction. This is called the Thrust force, provided by the
engine. When a body moves in Air, it experiences a
resistance called Drag.
17. Aerofoil – Drag When a flatplate is kept in an airflow, it experiences a lot of
drag say around 20 kgof the same height is placed in
airflow, it experiences much lesser drag – around 10kg.
Now if an aerofoil of the same height is placed in airflow it
experiences very little drag of around ½ kg only.
18. Aerofoil – Lift When a symmetric aerofoil is placed in airflow, the
pressures on the upper and lower surfaces are the same.
But when a cambered aerofoil is placed in airflow, the
pressure on the lower surface is more than that on the
upper surface. Hence, there is a net force upward called
the Lift force.
19. Stall Angle of attack is the angle that the aerofoil makes with the
airflow. When the angle of attack is increased, the lift
generated also increases. But at one stage, an increase in
angle of attack reduces the lift generated. This is called
Stall.
20. Parts of an Aircraft The body of the aircraft is called the fuselage. This is
where the pilot and all the passengers would sit in a
transport aircraft. Wings are attached to the fuselage. It is
the wings that make the aircraft to fly!
The aircraft also has engines that produce the necessary
power to push the aircraft in air.
The tail consists of two parts – the horizontal tail that may
look like small wings, and the vertical tail.
21. Control Surfaces An aircraft can exhibit 3 kinds of motion while in flight, and
these motions are performed by moving control surfaces.

Elevators are situated on the horizontal tail - one on each

side of the fuselage. The elevators produce pitch motion in
an aircraft. When the two elevators are deflected upwards,
the nose of the aircraft goes up, and vice-versa.

Ailerons are situated near the tip of the wings. Unlike the
elevators, the two ailerons are not deflected in the same
direction. When the aileron on the right wing goes up, the
one on the left wing goes down, thus causing the aircraft to
roll to the right.

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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The third motion called yawing motion is produced by the

rudder, which is situated on the vertical tail. When the
rudder is deflected to the left, the aircraft turns to the left.

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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22. Powerplant Earlier aircraft were powered by piston engines like the
ones in motorbikes and cars. They transmitted the power
to propellers. These propellers, when they rotated in air,
pulled the aircraft. In the picture you see a piston engine
with many cylinders arranged racially, with a twin blade
propeller attached to it.
But most of today’s aircraft use the jet engine. Frank
Whittle invented the jet engine, in 1930.
23. Turbofan Engine Here you see a type of jet engine called the turbofan
engine – that is used by most transport aircraft today.
There is a fan in the front that sends some air into a
compressor and some air outside the compressor, but still
within the engine compartment. The compressor, as the
name suggests, “compresses” the air and sends it to the
combustor. Here, air is mixed with fuel, and ignited or
burnt. The hot air then passes through the turbine. In the
mixer, the hot air from the turbine mixes with the air that
bypassed the compressor. This mixed air then goes out of
the engine through the nozzle at very high speeds.

The fan, compressor and turbine are all rotating parts.

24. Gliding Flight It is also possible to fly without an engine. Such aircraft are
called Gliders.
25. Types pf Aircraft
26. Civil & Fighter Aircraft The modern fighter aircraft can fly at incredible speeds and
can carry a variety of missiles and bombs. Air superiority is
the crucial factor in today’s war scenario. The latest fighter
aircraft technology is vital to protect one’s country from the
enemy. Today’s large airliners can carry hundreds of
passengers across continents very quickly. Air travel is the
fastest and most efficient mode of transport available to
man.
27. Types of Wings – Slide 1 These picture show the various shapes of wings that can
be found on aircraft
28. Types of Wings – Slide 2
29. Types of Tails Different types of tails can also be seen on aircraft
30. Engine Arrangement The number of engines and their locations can also vary
from one aircraft to another
31. Aircraft Structure The aircraft is usually covered with a skin, but beneath that
are so many structural parts and other components as can
be seen here
32. Aircraft Cockpit The pilot of the aircraft sits in the cockpit. Here, he has
access to all controls required to fly the aircraft. You can
see how a fighter aircraft cockpit is different from that of a
transport aircraft
33. Helicopter Helicopters produce lift with the help of rotors. This enables
to hover at one place. Helicopters have various
applications.
34. Rockets & Space
35. Tipu Sultan’s rockets It is Tipu Sultan who was the first to use rockets in war.
Chinese had already developed firecrackers – but it was
Tipu who found this new application. He is said to have
used his rockets extensively in his wars, especially against
the British. Less than 5km in length and about a foot long,
these rockets could travel almost 2.5 km!
36. Principle of Rockets When an inflated balloon is suddenly released, air gushes
out through the mouth and the balloon also moves in the
opposite direction. This principle is applied in rockets as

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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well, where hot air gushes out and the rocket moves
forward.

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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37. Beyond the skies The Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite that was sent
to space. It was launched on 4-Oct-1957, and it remained
in orbit till 4-Jan-1958. It was about the size of a basketball,
and took 98 minutes to orbit the earth in its elliptical orbit.
Laika the dog was the first living being to be sent to space
in 1957. But it was in 1961 when the first man entered
space – Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on the Vostok 1. Many
Astronauts and Cosmonauts subsequently made many trip
to outer space. Perhaps, the greatest human achievement
in space is when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on
20-July-1969. The Apollo 11 left the earth on 16 th July, and
4 days later, the lunar module “Eagle” landed on the Sea of
Tranquility on the moon
38. Aviation Firsts
39. First Transatlantic Flight On May 20 1927, Charles Lindberg left New York in the
“Spirit of St. Louis” in a dare devil attempt to cross the
Atlantic Ocean. He took 33 hrs to fly 5800km and reach
Paris the next day!
40. World’s First Airmail The first official airmail flight took place here in India in the
year 1911. Henri Pequet carried 15 kilos of mail 8 km
across the Ganges – from Allahabad to Naini. The whole
journey lasted only 27 minutes. The day of this flight Feb
18 – 1922 coincided with the Purna Kumbh held every 12
years – so there were thousands of people who witnessed
this historic flight.
41. First Supersonic Flight The first person to break the sound barrier was Chuck
Yeager. On 14-October-1947, he flew the Bell X1 aircraft
faster than the speed of sound. Let us hear Chuck Yeager
as he talks us through his first supersonic flight.
42. Non-stop round-the-world flight The first aircraft that went around the world non-stop was
the Voyager. It flew between December 14 & 23, 1986.
43. First Human Powered Flight Industrialist Henry Kremer established the Kremer Prize in
the year 1959 - £10,000 for a human powered aircraft.
Years passed by with no winners, and the prize money
increased to £50,000. This prize was finally claimed on
August 23, 1977 when the Gossamer Condor successfully
demonstrated human powered flight.

Pilot Bryan Allen took off from Shafter Airport, Shafter,

California, at 7:30 a.m. and landed 7 minutes, 27.5
seconds later covering a total of 1.35 miles
44. Indian Aviation
45. Pioneers of Indian Aviation JRD Tata was the first Indian to hold an official Pilot’s
license. He also started the Tata airlines which the
government took over and formed Indian Airlines.

Seth Walchand Hirachand founded Hindustan Aeronautics

Limited at Bangalore 1940. Today HAL is the biggest
facility for aircraft manufacturing and maintenance in India
with divisions located in 7 different cities.
46. HAL’s Aircraft HAL has built over 20 different types of aircraft, 11 of them
fully designed in India.
- Marut (HF24) is India’s first fighter aircraft. It had
its first flight on 24-June-1961
- Ajeet is a single seat fighter aircraft designed for air
combat as well as ground attack. It first flew in 1978
- HT2 or Hindustan Trainer 2 is an elementary
trainer with 2 seats in tandem. It first flew in 1952,

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903

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and around 8 HT2s were exported to Africa
- Kiran Mk 1(HJT6) first flew in 1964. It is a trainer
with 2 side-by-side seats
- HPT32 had its first flight on 6-Jan-1977
- Basant & Krishak are agricultural aircraft
- Pushpak first flew in 1958. It has 2 side-by-side
seats. Around 50 pushpaks are still operational. In
1997, a pushpak flew from Kanya Kumari to Kashmir
to celebrate 50 years of independence

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47. Light Combat Aircraft The Light Combat Aircraft is the world’s smallest lightest
single seat single engine multirole fighter aircraft. It
incorporates many cutting technologies, making it one of
the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft today. LCA is a
result of years of research and development by many
Indian research laboratories, industries and educational
institutions. The first LCA took off on 4-Jan-2001, a red
letter day in Indian aviation. LCA will replace the ageing
MiG fleet currently used by the Indian Airforce.
48. Light Combat Aircraft – Clip
49. Hansa Hansa is an all composite trainer aircraft designed and built
by the National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore. It is
currently being used for pilot training in flying schools
around the country.
50. Saras Saras is a 14 seat multirole light transport aircraft, also
designed by NAL.
51. Avanced Light Helicopter The Advanced Light Helicopter designed and built by HAL
is India’s most sophisticated helicopter. It has finished flight
trails and has been inducted into service. It has separate
versions for the Airforce, Navy and Army. It can also be
used to transport passengers and as an ambulance.
52. Advanced Light Helicopter –
clip
53. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs do not have a pilot
onboard the aircraft. Two of India’s UAVs are Lakshya and
Nishant.
- Lakshya is a reusable pilotless target aircraft used
in military training for target practice
- Nishant is a low speed reconnaissance aircraft. It
has cameras onboard to take pictures
Both Lakshya and Nishant have been designed and built
by Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore.
54. IGMDP The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme is
the brain child of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, our President.
55. Indian Missiles - Prithvi is a short range ballistic missile. It is 9m
long and weighs 4 tons. It uses liquid fuel and is very
accurate.
- Agni is a medium range ballistic missile. It is 15m
long and weighs 12 tons. It uses solid fuel and has a
range of 1200km. Future versions of Agni will cross
3000km
- Trishul is an all weather surface to air missile. It is
highly manoeuvrable and can be used against aircraft
and helicopters. It can carry a 5.5 kg warhead, and
has a range of 9km.
- Nag is an anti tank missile, and can be launched
from land or sea.
- Akash is a medium range surface to air missile. It
has a 15 second reaction time.
56. Brahmos The Brahmos missile is developed jointly by India and
Russia. It is a supersonic antiship cruise missile that can
be launched from sea, sub-sea or air. It is
9m long and weighs 3000 kg. It can carry a 200 kg
warhead. It has a range of upto 300 km. It travels at a top
speed of over 2½ times the speed of sound. It is “fire &
forget” missile that automatically keeps tracking the target
and ensures a hit.
57. ISRO Dr. Vikram Sarabhai is considered the Father of the Indian

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space industry. The Indian Space Research Organization
is a result of his vision.

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58. Satellites ISRO has launched a number of satellites over the years.
- Aryabhatta- first Indian satellite, launched into
near earth orbit on 19-Apr-1975 by Intercosmos
rocket
- Rohini- series of technological/scientific satellites
launched by India’s own SLV. The SROSS
(Stretched Rohini Satellite Series) is launched by the
Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV)
 
- INSAT series of satellites are used for
communication & meteorology
- IRS satellites are used for remote sensing
59. Launch Vehicles - The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) places
IRS satellites in polar orbit
- The Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle
(GSLV) places heavy satellites weighing more than
1500 kg in geosynchronous orbit.
60. Indians in Space Rakesh Sharma was the 1st Indian Cosmonaut and 138th
man in space. He spent 8 days in space aboard Salyut 7
along with other Russian cosmonauts.

Kalpana Chawla who now works for NASA, was a mission

specialist on STS-87. She was in space from Nov 19 to
Dec 5, 1997.
61. Aircraft of the IAF The aircraft currently used by the Indian Air Force are of
foreign origin. The IAF uses MiGS , Jaguars, Mirage 2000s
and Sukhois.
62. Civil Aircraft in India Airline operators in India include government operators like
Indian Airlines and Air India, and private operators like Jet
and Sahara airways.
63. Airports in India There are 5 international airports and 87 domestic airports
in India. All the airports are managed by the Airports
Authority of India.
64. Aerospace Education &
Careers
65. Aerospace Education If you would like to do study Aerospace engineering, you
can do a BE or [Link]. The AeSI offers associate
membership – you need to take AeSI exams, and you will
be able to become an associate member of the AeSI,
equivalent to a BE degree. Similarly, you can take up
exams that would give you a degree in Aircraft
Maintenance Engineering. For AMAeSI and AME, there
are many institutes for the exams. The Director General of
Civil Aviation offers certificates for various professions in
the maintenance and operation of aircraft (i.e. commercial
aircraft) and airports.
66. Aerospace Careers R&D activities are limited to Defence Research
Laboratories, CSIR labs and to some extent in educational
institutions as well. In fact every discipline of science and
technology finds a place in an aircraft or space vehicle. So
you can enter the aerospace industry after any engineering
degree.

In Civil aviation, you need to join the AAI if you want to be

in the ATC or take up any job at the airport. If you want to
work on the aircraft or other related areas either in air or on
the ground, you can join an airline.

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And if you want be anywhere near fighter aircraft, you need
to join the IAF!
67. Wish you a Bright &
Prosperous Future

World of Aviation Centennial Celebrations of Wright Brother’s First Flight in 1903