Maiden flight

2025-04-27T13:39:54Z

2A02:560:4DA9:3000:859F:A045:E5A2:C1AB: more hatnote

{{Short description|First occasion in which an aircraft or rocket leaves the ground under its own power}}
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{{use American English|date=January 2022}}

The '''maiden flight''', also known as '''first flight''', of an [[aircraft]] is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of [[rockets]].

In the early days of [[aviation]] it could be dangerous, because the exact [[Aircraft ground handling|handling]] characteristics of the aircraft were generally unknown. The maiden flight of a new type is almost invariably flown by a highly experienced [[test pilot]]. Maiden flights are usually accompanied by a [[chase plane]], to verify items like [[altitude]], [[airspeed]], and general [[airworthiness]].

A maiden flight is only one stage in the development of an aircraft type. Unless the type is a pure research aircraft (such as the [[X-15]]), the aircraft must be tested extensively to ensure that it delivers the desired performance with an acceptable margin of safety. In the case of civilian aircraft, a new type must be certified by a governing agency (such as the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] in the United States) before it can enter operation.

== Notable maiden flights (aircraft) ==
[[File:Wright First Flight 1903Dec17 (full restore 115).jpg|thumb|''[[Wright Flyer]]'' on December 17, 1903]]

[[File:02.03.69 1er vol de Concorde (1969) - 53Fi1931 - cropped.jpg|thumb|[[Concorde]] on March 2, 1969]]
[[File:1er vol de l' A380.jpg|thumb|[[Airbus A380]] on April 27, 2005]]

An incomplete list of maiden flights of notable aircraft types, organized by date, follows.

* June, 1875 – [[Thomas Moy]]'s [[Thomas Moy#The Aerial Steamer|Aerial Steamer]], London, England (pilotless, tethered)<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Prehistory/late_1800s/PH4G7.htm
| title=Thomas Moy's Aerial Steamer, 1874. lifted six inches (15 centimeters) off the ground.
| author=Gary Bradshaw
| publisher=U.S. Centennial of Flight
| access-date=2016-02-18}}</ref>
* October 9, 1890 – [[Clément Ader]] – took off from [[Gretz-Armainvilliers]], Ouest of Paris, France.
* August 14, 1901 – [[Gustave Whitehead]] from [[Leutershausen]], Bavaria.
* May 15, 1902 – [[Lyman Gilmore]] – took off from [[Grass Valley, California|Grass Valley]], California.
* March 31, 1903 – [[Richard Pearse]] – took off from Waitohi Flat, Temuka, South Island, New Zealand.
* December 17, 1903 – [[Wright brothers]] ''[[Wright Flyer]]'' – First successful piloted and controlled heavier-than-air powered aircraft; flights took place four miles south of [[Kitty Hawk, North Carolina]].
* March 18, 1906 – [[Traian Vuia]], a [[Romanians|Romanian]] inventor and engineer, who flew 11 meters in his self-named [[monoplane]] at [[Montesson]] near Paris, France.
* October 23, 1906 – [[Alberto Santos-Dumont]] [[14-bis]] made a manned powered flight in Bagatelle Park, Paris, France, that was the first to be publicly witnessed by a crowd.<ref>{{cite journal|title=10 Milestone Flights|journal=Air and Space Magazine|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/10-milestone-flights-4056259/}}</ref>
* July 4, 1908 – [[Glenn Curtiss]] flew the first pre-announced public flight in the United States of America of a heavier-than-air flying machine. He flew 5,080 feet, to win the [[Scientific American]] Trophy and its $2,500 purse ({{Inflation|US|2500|1908|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).
* December 22, 1916 – [[Sopwith Camel]] – this iconic [[biplane]] first took off from [[Brooklands]], [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]].
* July 28, 1935 – [[Boeing]] [[B-17 Flying Fortress]] – World War II American [[heavy bomber]].
* December 17, 1935 – [[Douglas DC-3]] – propeller-driven passenger and [[cargo aircraft]] of which more than 10,000 were produced.
* December 29, 1939 – [[Consolidated B-24]] – World War II American heavy bomber.
* November 2, 1947 – [[Hughes H-4 Hercules]] – only flight of this oversized [[flying boat]] whose common name is ''Spruce Goose''.
* July 27, 1949 – [[de Havilland Comet]] – first [[jet airliner]].
* August 23, 1954 – [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] [[C-130 Hercules]] – [[military transport]] plane.
* May 27, 1955 – [[Sud Aviation Caravelle]] – first jet airliner with engines mounted in the tail.
* March 25, 1958 – [[Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow]] – Canadian [[supersonic]] [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] [[Interceptor aircraft|interceptor]]. First non-experimental aircraft designed and equipped with a [[fly-by-wire]] flight control system.
* April 25, 1962 – [[Lockheed A-12]] – supersonic [[reconnaissance aircraft]].
* June 29, 1962 – [[Vickers VC10]] – first airliner with 4 engines mounted in the tail.
* April 9, 1967 – [[Boeing 737]] – short-to-medium-range airliner.
* October 4, 1968 – [[Tupolev Tu-154]] – Soviet/Russian airliner, still in operation.
* December 31, 1968 – [[Tupolev]] [[Tu-144]] – Soviet supersonic airliner.
* February 9, 1969 – [[Boeing 747]] – first [[widebody]] airliner.
* March 2, 1969 – Anglo-French [[Concorde]] – supersonic airliner.
* September 19, 1969 – [[Mil Mi-24]] – Russian/Soviet-made [[helicopter]] used by many countries to this day.
* October 28, 1972 – [[Airbus A300]] – first [[Airbus]] aircraft, short- to medium-range wide-body jet airliner.
* February 22, 1987 – [[Airbus A320 family|Airbus A320]] airliner – first civilian aircraft to have an all-digital fly-by-wire system.
* December 21, 1988 – [[Antonov An-225 Mriya]] – jet with the longest fuselage and wingspan and overall heaviest aircraft.
* June 12, 1994 – [[Boeing 777]] – long-range airliner with the most powerful jet engines ever made.
* May 20, 2003 – [[SpaceShipOne|Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne]] – The first commercial sub-orbital space craft.
* April 27, 2005 – [[Airbus A380]] – [[Double-deck aircraft|double-decker]] jet airliner, currently largest capacity in the world, took off from [[Toulouse–Blagnac Airport]].
* December 11, 2009 – [[Airbus A400M]] – military cargo plane, Airbus' first propeller plane.
* December 15, 2009 – [[Boeing 787]] ''Dreamliner'' – first major widebody airliner to use non-metal [[composite material]]s for most of its construction.
* November 11, 2015 – [[Mitsubishi Regional Jet]] – Japanese [[twinjet|twin-engine]] [[regional jet]], the first designed and built in Japan, took off from [[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]], Tokyo.
* May 5, 2017 – [[Comac C919]] – Chinese commercial aircraft.
* April 13, 2019 – [[Scaled Composites Stratolaunch]] – The world's largest airplane
* January 25, 2020 – [[Boeing 777X]] – The world's longest and largest twin-engine airliner.
* April 19, 2021 – [[Ingenuity (helicopter)|Ingenuity]] – an unmanned robotic helicopter, first aircraft to fly on [[Mars]].
* July 19, 2022 – [[KF-21 Boramae]] - Advanced [[Multirole combat aircraft|multirole fighter]] designed by the [[Agency for Defense Development]] (ADD) and [[Korea Aerospace Industries]] (KAI).

== Notable maiden flights (rockets) ==

* October 3, 1942 – [[V-2 Rocket]] made its first successful test flight. The nose cone crossed the [[Karman line]], widely considered the end of Earth's atmosphere, making it the first human-made object to reach space.
* August 3, 1953 – [[PGM-11 Redstone]], designed by [[Wernher von Braun]], was the US's first large [[ballistic missile]]. [[Rocket launch|Launched]] from [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 4]], it flew for 80 seconds until an engine failure caused it to crash into the sea.
* October 4, 1957 – [[Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik]], first orbital rocket.
* December 22, 1960 – [[Vostok-K]], first human-rated rocket (first manned flight April 12, 1961).
* November 9, 1967 – [[Saturn V]], was used to launch humans to the Moon.
* April 12, 1981 – [[Space Shuttle]], first partially reusable launch system, largest payload at the time of its maiden flight.
* February 15, 1996 – [[Long March 3B]], the [[Intelsat 708]] satellite was onboard instead of a dummy payload. The launch failed.
* December 21, 2004 – [[Delta IV Heavy]], largest payload at the time of its maiden flight.
* February 6, 2018 – [[Falcon Heavy]], largest payload at the time of its maiden flight, partially reusable.<ref name="cbs-harwood">{{cite news |first=William |last=Harwood |title=SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch puts on spectacular show in maiden flight |publisher=[[CBS News]] |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-spectacular-maiden-flight/ |date=6 February 2018 |access-date=6 February 2018}}</ref> The flight carried [[Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster]]
* November 16, 2022 - [[Space Launch System]] block 1, carried [[Artemis 1]].
* April 20, 2023 - [[SpaceX Starship|Starship]], currently the most powerful launch vehicle.
* January 8, 2024 - [[Vulcan Centaur]], carried [[Peregrine Mission One]]

==See also==
* [[Flight test]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Maiden flights}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Aerospace engineering]]

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Maiden flight