Useless Aviation And Flying Facts
Charles Lindbergh was not the first man to fly the Atlantic. He was the sixty-seventh. The first sixty-six made the crossing in dirigibles and twin-engine mail planes. Lindbergh was the first to make the dangerous flight alone.
Houdini was the first man to fly an airplane solo in Australia.
The top of the tower on the Empire State Building was originally intended (though never used) as a mooring place for dirigibles.
Castor oil is used as a lubricant in jet planes.
An airplane uses more fuel flying at 25,000 feet than at 30,000 feet. The higher it flies, the thinner the atmosphere and the less atmospheric resistance it must buck.
According to the Federal Aviation Authority, United States airlines are four times safer than the airlines of any other country.
The name of the first airplane flown at Kitty Hawk by the Wright Brothers was Bird of Prey. The maiden flight of the Bird of Prey, however, was less than a flight—the plane stayed in the air only long enough to sail 59 feet.