History of Air Transportation

First Hot Air Ballons were Invented

Apr 16, 1783

The Montgolfier brothers invented the first ever hot air ballon, first time people had flown.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_history_of_transportation.htm

First Plane was Flown

Apr 16, 1903

The Wright Brothers flew the first ever plane 120 feet, did not catch on until later though.
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch3en/conc3en/ch3c5en.html

Fist Helicopter was invented

Apr 16, 1907

First helicopter was invented, very unsuccessful.

The first flight across the Atlantic occured

Apr 16, 1927

Lindbergh had the first successful flight across the Atlantic Ocean, it took 33 hours.
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Social/impact/SH3.htm

First Modern Helicopter was Invented

Apr 16, 1940

First Modern Helicopter was Invented

First year where planes carried more people across the Atlantic than ocean liners

Apr 16, 1958

For the first time ever, planes had become more popular than boats in terms of travel.

Boeing 707 took its first commercial airline flight

Oct 16, 1958

This flight inspired commercial airlines to begin, in a few years most major nations had commercial airlines.

Terrorist Attacks on the WTC, Pentagon, and the White House occured

Sep 11, 2001

These attacks caused an increased amount of air security, and a dip in air travel for a few years, major event in US history