Without the rich history of aviation, FlightWave Aerospace would not be where we are today. We design and manufacture unmanned aerial systems and in honor of #NationalAviationDay, we want to take a look at the past which has cleared a path for our company to emerge in the aviation industry today.
- First Flight
- On December 17, 1903, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk.
- First Female Pilot
- On August 1, 1911, Harriet Quimby became the first U.S. woman to earn a pilot certificate.
- First Commercial Flight
- Tony Jannus conducted the United States’ first scheduled commercial airline flight on January 1, 1914.
- First Unmanned Flight
- In November 1917, the Automatic Airplane was flown for representatives of the U.S. Army. This led the army to commission a project to build an unmanned “aerial torpedo”, which they named the Kettering Bug which first flew in 1918.
- First National Aviation Day
- President Franklin Roosevelt declared in 1939 that August 19, Orville Wright’s birthday would be National Aviation Day.
- First Flight to the Moon
- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to fly to the moon when they landed the Lunar Module (LM) on July 20, 1969.
- First Military Use of “Drones”
- In 1964 the Strategic Air Command deployed USAF drones to the Republic of South Vietnam.
- Commercial Drone Growth
- In 2016, the industry started to see measurable growth in the commercial drone purchases and application of drone technology in new sectors.
Although aviation technology is more than a century old, here at FlightWave our team of scientists and engineers are always looking to the future. Our team prides themselves on pushing the pace for the industry and creating unique and useful new payloads. UAS technology has the power to transform industries from oil and gas to maritime and public safety.
We are thankful for aviation advancement so far and excited to see what new heights are in store for the future of aviation.