Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 May 18

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Boeing 757

The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner. Boeing Commercial Airplanes designed and built 1,050 of them for 54 customers from 1981 to 2004. The twinjet has a two-crewmember glass cockpit, a conventional tail, a low-drag supercritical wing design, and turbofan engines that allow takeoffs from relatively short runways and at high altitudes. Intended for short and medium routes, variants of the 757 can carry 200 to 295 passengers for a maximum of 3,150 to 4,100 nautical miles (5,830 to 7,590 km). The 757 was designed concurrently with a wide-body twinjet, the 767, and pilots can obtain a common type rating that allows them to operate both aircraft. Passenger 757-200s (the most popular model) have been modified for cargo use; military derivatives include the C-32 transport, VIP carriers, and other multi-purpose aircraft. All 757s are powered by Rolls-Royce RB211 or Pratt & Whitney PW2000 series turbofans. Eastern Air Lines and British Airways were first to place the 757 in commercial service, in 1983. The airliner had recorded eight hull-loss accidents, including seven fatal crashes, as of April 2015. (Full article...)

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A typical zapiekanka served on a paper tray

In the news

Mohamed Morsi

Ongoing: Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
Recent deaths: B.B. King Peter Gay

On this day...

May 18: Victoria Day in Canada (2015); Flag and Universities Day in Haiti; Day of Revival, Unity, and the Poetry of Magtymguly in Turkmenistan

Enomoto Takeaki

More anniversaries: May 17 May 18 May 19

It is now May 18, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

From today's featured list

A road facing a bridge that prominently displays "University of North Dakota

There are twenty-one colleges and universities in the U.S. state of North Dakota that are listed under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Fargo-based North Dakota State University (NDSU) is the largest public institution, with an enrollment of 14,407 students for fall 2010. The state's second-largest post-secondary institution, the University of North Dakota (UND) (University Avenue pictured), enrolls 14,194 students as of fall 2010 enrollment data. University of Jamestown, founded in 1883 – six years before North Dakota became a state – is the oldest post-secondary institution. The North Dakota University System contains eleven public colleges, which includes NDSU. Including University of Jamestown, there are also seven private universities in North Dakota. The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a part of UND, is the state's only medical school. The majority of North Dakota's post-secondary institutions are accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Most are accredited by multiple agencies. (Full list...)

Today's featured picture

Ruthenium

Ruthenium is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table. Like the other metals of its group, ruthenium is inert to most other chemicals. The Baltic German scientist Karl Ernst Claus discovered the element in 1844, and named it after Ruthenia. Ruthenium usually occurs as a minor component of platinum ores; annual production is about 20 tonnes. Most ruthenium produced is used for wear-resistant electrical contacts and the production of thick-film resistors. A minor application of ruthenium is its use in some platinum alloys, and, like many elements located near platinum, is used in automobile catalytic converters.

Photograph: Heinrich Pniok

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