First landing in a powered plane: Orville Wright, Wright Flyer, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.
First successful helicopter landing: Paul Cornu, November 13, 1907, Lisieuz, France
First landing on a heavenly body: Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong, Sea of Tranquility, Earth’s Moon, July 20, 1969.
First landing on inflated rubber aircraft tires: Goodyear tires, 1909
Average number of landings before first solo landing: 50-100
Typical number of landings on first solo: One
Definition of “cycle” with commercial aircraft: One takeoff and landing.
Reason for use of “cycles”: Each landing completes a pressure vessel cycle.
Oldest pilot, first solo flight/landing: Cliff Garl, 91 years old, April 24, 2006
Why landings must be to full stop for night currency: safety and skill building
First touch and go landing: Unknown
British term for “touch and goes”: Circuits and bumps.
Percentage of aircraft carrier fighter jet landings that are attempted touch and goes: 100
Reason: Need full power for touch and go if the wire is missed.
Nickname for missed wire go-arounds: Bolters
Approximate percentage of landings that are bolters: less than 10.
Max landing crosswind component, Boeing 747: 35 knots
With wet runway: 25 knots
Max crosswind component, Cessna 172: 15 knots
Max crosswind, Piper J-3 Cub: Not published. Estimated, 7 knots
Fastest landing speed any aircraft: North American X-15, 242 mph
Space Shuttle landing speed: 210 mph
Shortest landing ever, with a headwind: Zero feet and zero inches.
Most landings per day any airport: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, around 2,500
Most landings at a single-runway airport in a day: Maybe, Mumbai, 969 landings
But!typical number of landings at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh per hour: 123, most to a full stop
Most time between takeoff and landing: Rutan Voyager, 216 hours
Pilots: Jeana Yeager, Dick Rutan, first non-stop, unrefueled circumnavigation
Longest distance between takeoff and landing: Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, 25,766 statute miles
Pilot of Global Flyer: Steve Fossett, first solo, non-stop circumnavigation
First successful landing on water, powered airplane: Henri Fabre’s hydravion, March 28, 1910
First landing on a stationary ship: Eugene Ely, November, 1911, USS Birmingham
First successful carrier landing at sea: Commander Edwin Dunning, HMS Furious February 8, 1917 in a Sopwith Pup
Fate of Dunning: Died less than a week later attempting the same feat
First landing of a jet on a carrier: Eric “Winkle” Brown, December, 1945, de Havilland Sea Vampire, HMS Ocean
Most aircraft carrier landings ever: 2,271, Eric “Winkle” Brown
First fully automatic approach and landing: August 23, 1937, Dayton, Ohio, Fokker C-14B.
Monitoring pilots: Captains Carl Crane and G.V. Holloman
First commercial planes with autoland: 1965: Siddeley HS 121 Tridents
