The era of modern aviation started in USA when the Wright Brothers build the first powered flight aircraft the Kittty Hawk.

1. EARLY HISTORY
OF POWERED FLIGHT
Joha Rahman
http:pramugari.info/

2. THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
 It all began in 1903 in USA. The Wright
Brother’s first mechanical flight in the aircraft
named Kitty Hawk was accepted as the
beginning of the modern aviation industry.

3. FIRST WORLD WAR
 The first world’s war acted as the first major stimulus to the
growth of the industry. The military strategists saw the
potential of aircraft to be used as major weapons.
 1917 – After the war, with the excess aircrafts, US Post
Office wanted to experiment of the airmail services. A grant
of $100,000 was made available for this purpose. The Post
Office bought nearly 100 ex-military t be used to transport
the mail

Note: A biplane refer to the aircraft with 2 layers of wings.
The top and bottom, attached by wires and wooden
structure.

4. AIRMAIL SERVICES
 1921 – The post office utilized four aircrafts to carry
mail between Los Angeles and New York. The flight took
33 hours. The navigation was assisted by nearly 300
flashing beacons for a distant of 2600 miles. Emergency
landing strips were provided beside the beacons.
 1925 Under the new Air Mail Act of 1925 or better
known as The ‘Kelly Act’, the airmail services were
privatized through 4 year betting system. The private
carriers can also expand the business to carry other
products including cargo and passengers.

5. US AVIATION
 Early aviation was fully unregulated, anybody
can build aircraft and anybody can fly them.
You can fly to any place you want.
 1926, due to high number of fatal accidents,
The Air Commerce Act was passed. This is the
first attempt to regulate the flight and the
concern was the safety and not the commerce.

6. BEGINNING OF INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT
 1927, Charles Lindbergh had successfully
made the first solo flight across the Atlantic
Ocean. This had created a massive public
interest in flying.
 1927 – American Airlines was formed as the
first major airline.
 1931 – United Airlines was formed.

7. WORLD WAR 2
 World War II – The war had generated intensive
research and development of aircraft and the
engines. Although the original purpose was for
military usage, the benefits were extended
commercial aviation after the world.
 The major in the post-war, was the development of
four-engine aircraft, the Lockheed Constellation.
This had substantially cut down the flying time for
the Atlantic crossings.

8. START OF REGULATION
 1958 – sparked by the air collisions, the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was
created. The focus was on the safety.

9. THE JET AGE
 1949 – Jets were introduced.
 The de Havilland Comet was the world's first
commercial. It was the pride of the British
aeronautical design. The initial planes suffered
the window fatigue problem.

10. THE DERRGULATION
 1978 – Airline Deregulation Act – started in
USA. It was intended removed government
control from commercial aviation and the
passenger airline industry was exposed to
market forces.

11. THE RESOURCE
Blog site: http://pramugari.info/
The author had work with an international airline
for more than 35 years, the last 10 years
in Training and development.
eMail : mktg@joharahman.com