BID’s International Quality Crown Award to JSC Aircompany Polet (Dateline Overseas Ltd.) in London

Deputy General Manager, Konstantin Karpov, received the International Quality Crown Award

Polet Airlines has been one of the leaders in the international air cargo market since 1988 and a key member of the International Air Cargo Association. Among its clients, there are more than 1,000 official organizations and companies, such as European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, Volkswagen AG, Rolls-Royce, Siemens AG, Aerospatiale or Boeing Satellite Systems, just to mention a few. In 2003, the airline started regular passenger operations in Russia. Its Deputy General Manager, Konstantin Karpov, received the International Quality Crown Award from the President of Business Initiative Directions, Jose E. Prieto at BID’s Quality Convention in London.

History of Aviation

Leonardo da Vinci's Ornithopter wings

Aviation history refers to the history of development of mechanical flight—from the earliest attempts in kites and gliders to powered heavier-than-air, supersonic and spaceflights.

The first form of man-made flying objects were kites. The earliest known record of kite flying is from around 200 B.C. in China, when a general flew a kite over enemy territory to calculate the length of tunnel required to enter the region. Chinese emperors also tied prisoners to paper kites, most of whom fell to their death. Yuan Huangtou, a Chinese prince, survived by tying himself to the kite. Centuries later, the first glider flight was demonstrated by Abbas Ibn Firnas in Córdoba, Spain in 875 A.D. Leonardo da Vinci’s (15th c.) dream of flight found expression in several designs, but he did not attempt to demonstrate flight by literally constructing them.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Ornithopter design.

Earliest record of the use of buoyancy to achieve unmanned flight is as old as the 3rd century, when Zhuge Liang used hot air balloons for military signaling and to scare away enemy troops. With the efforts to analyze the atmosphere in the 17th and 18th century, gases such as hydrogen were discovered which in turn led to the invention of hydrogen balloons. Various theories in mechanics by physicists during the same period of time—notably fluid dynamics and Newton’s laws of motion—led to the foundation of modern aerodynamics. Tethered balloons filled with hot air were used in the first half of the 19th century and saw considerable action in several mid-century wars, most notably the American Civil War, where balloons provided observation during the battle of Petersburg.

Russia

Kremlin

Russia, also officially known as the Russian Federation, is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential democratic republic, comprising 83 federal subjects.

At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is by far the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the Earth’s land area. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation in the world with 142 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world’s largest reserves of mineral and energy resources, and is considered an energy superpower. It has the world’s largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world’s fresh water.

The nation’s history began with that of the East Slavs, who emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a noble Viking warrior class and their descendants, the first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus’, arose in the 9th century and adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus’ ultimately disintegrated and the lands were divided into many small feudal states.