Pilot

Pilot most commonly refers to:

The term may also refer to:

Science and technology

Biology

Computing

Transport

Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Education is commonly and formally divided into stages such as preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and then college, university or apprenticeship.

A right to education has been recognized by some governments, including at the global level: Article 13 of the United Nations' 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes a universal right to education. In most regions education is compulsory up to a certain age.

Secondary school

A secondary school is a school which provides secondary education, between the ages of 11 and 16 or 11 and 19, after primary school and before higher education.

Africa

Nigeria

In Nigeria, secondary school is for children from ages 10 to 15. Secondary education is divided into two parts: the junior and senior secondary education. The junior secondary education which takes in ages 10-12 is pre-vocational and academic in scope. Most courses are compulsory, except religious and language courses (electives). For students to continue into senior secondary school, they have to make passing grades in the Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations. In senior secondary school which now consists of ages 13-15, students are allowed to choose which areas to concentrate on, be it science, arts, commerce, or technical studies. All students have to sit for a Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), of which there are two: the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the National Examination Council SSCE. Students must pass this before being admitted into any university.

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy, or a marine corps. Typically, air forces are responsible for gaining control of the air, carrying out strategic and tactical bombing missions, and providing support to land and naval forces.

The term "air force" may also refer to a tactical air force or numbered air force, which is an operational formation either within a national air force or comprising several air components from allied nations. Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft.

Many air forces are also responsible for operations of the military space, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and communications equipment. Some air forces may command and control other air defence assets such as anti-aircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles, or anti-ballistic missile warning networks and defensive systems. Some nations, principally Russia, the former Soviet Union and countries who modelled their militaries along Soviet lines, have an air defence force which is organizationally separate from their air force.

Aviation

Aviation is the practical aspect or art of aeronautics, being the design, development, production, operation and use of aircraft, especially heavier than air aircraft. The word "aviation" was coined by French writer and former naval officer Gabriel La Landelle in 1873, from the verb "avier" (synonymous flying), itself derived from the Latin word "avis" ("bird") and the suffix "-ation".

History

Early beginnings

There are early legends of human flight such as the story of Icarus in Greek myth and Jamshid in Persian myth, and later, somewhat more credible claims of short-distance human flights appear, such as the flying automaton of Archytas of Tarentum (428–347 BC), the winged flights of Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887), Eilmer of Malmesbury (11th century), and the hot-air Passarola of Bartholomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724).

Lighter than air

The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783 of a hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers. The practicality of balloons was limited because they could only travel downwind. It was immediately recognized that a steerable, or dirigible, balloon was required. Jean-Pierre Blanchard flew the first human-powered dirigible in 1784 and crossed the English Channel in one in 1785.