Jet aircraft

A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines (jet propulsion).

Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, jet engines and aircraft achieve maximum efficiency (see specific impulse) at speeds close to or even well above the speed of sound. Jet aircraft generally cruise at faster than about M 0.8 (609 mph, 981 km/h or 273 m/s) at altitudes around 10,000–15,000 metres (33,000–49,000 ft) or more.

Frank Whittle, an English inventor and RAF officer, developed the concept of the jet engine in 1928,Hans von Ohain in Germany, a decade later developed the concept independently at the end of the 1930s. He wrote in February 1936 to Ernst Heinkel, telling him of the design and its possibilities. However, it can be argued that the English engineer A. A. Griffith, who published a paper in July 1926 on compressors and turbines, also deserves credit.

Vanuatu

Coordinates: 16°S 167°E / 16°S 167°E / -16; 167

Vanuatu (English ⁱ/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is a Pacific island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, east of New Guinea, southeast of the Solomon Islands, and west of Fiji.

Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island in 1606. He then claimed the archipelago for Spain, as part of the colonial Spanish East Indies, and named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.

In the 1880s, France and Great Britain claimed parts of the archipelago, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was founded in 1980.

Port Vila

Port Vila /ˌpɔərt ˈviːlə/ is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu and is located on the island of Efate.

Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 50% on the previous census result (29,356 in 1999). In 2009, the population of Port Vila formed 18.8% of the country's population, and 66.9% of the population of Efate.

Situated on the south coast of the island of Efate, in Shefa Province, Port Vila is the economic and commercial centre of Vanuatu. The current mayor is Ulrich Sumptoh, of the Union of Moderate Parties, elected in January 2014; his deputy is Leimara Malachi, of the Vanua'aku Pati.

On March 13, 2015, Port Vila bore extensive damage from Cyclone Pam.

Name

Locally the town is most commonly referred to simply as "Vila" (with a long i sound, not like English "villa").

The name of the area is Efil in the native South Efate language and Ifira in neighbouring Mele-Fila language. Vila is a variant of these names. Today, Ifira refers to the small island in Vila harbour where many of the area's traditional landowners reside.

Air Vanuatu

Air Vanuatu is an airline with its head office in the Air Vanuatu House, Port Vila, Vanuatu. It is Vanuatu's national flag carrier, operating to Australia, New Zealand and points in the South Pacific. Its main base is Bauerfield International Airport, Port Vila.

History

Air Vanuatu was established in early 1981 after Vanuatu gained independence from the United Kingdom and France the previous year. The assistance of Ansett Airlines was sought and a five-year agreement put in place for Ansett to provide aircraft and operating staff. Ansett also took a 40% stake in the new airline, the government of Vanuatu holding the other 60%. The first Air Vanuatu flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 owned and operated by Ansett, departed Sydney for Port Vila on 5 September 1981. In May 1982 a Boeing 737–200 of Polynesian Airlines replaced the DC-9; this was replaced in turn by an Ansett 737-200 in October 1985. In March 1986 the agreement with Ansett expired and was not renewed, this had the effect of grounding the airline.

New Caledonia

Coordinates: 21°15′S 165°18′E / 21.25°S 165.30°E / -21.25; 165.30

New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia and 16,136 km (10,026 mi) east of Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. Locals refer to Grande Terre as Le Caillou ("the pebble").

New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576 km² (7,172 sq mi). Its population of 268,767 (Aug. 2014 census) consists of a mix of Kanak people (the original inhabitants of New Caledonia), people of European descent (Caldoches and Metropolitan French), Polynesian people (mostly Wallisians), and Southeast Asian people, as well as a few people of Pied-Noir and Maghreban descent. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.