Wings Over Kansas.com is an

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

founded in 1998 by Carl Chance owned b
Chance Communications, Inc.
to provide information and entertainment to aviation enthusiasts and professionals worldwide. The web site is based in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, known as the "Air Capital of the World" due to the many aircraft manufacturers located there. In 2003, the site was upgraded to a data-based web site to better serve the needs of its members. "Wings Over Kansas" has grown steadily and as of 2009 draws over a quarter of a million visitors yearly from over 125 countries.

History

Wings Over Kansas.com was created in 1998 by Wichita native Carl Chance, a broadcast professional and producer for the Wingspan Air & Space Channel. In his more than thirty years of experience, Chance developed many relationships in the aviation community that have directly benefited the web site. He is a charter member and past trustee on the Kansas Aviation Museum board of directors and a former member of the Kansas Aviation Council. From 1998 to 2003, the site underwent a number of modifications to improve its value and navigation.

2003 Redesign

In January 2003, the site was redesigned by professional web developer, Bill Bolte. The new design included a data-based implementation to better serve the needs of the members including aviation professionals, educators, historians, and enthusiasts.

Overview

Wings Over Kansas provides information on the entire aviation industry, but special emphasis is placed on Wichita aircraft manufacturing including

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

Hawker Beechcraft Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) was an American aerospace manufacturing company that built the Beechcraft and Hawker business jet lines of aircraft between 2006 and 2013. The company headquarters was in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with ...

Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fu ...

, Cessna, Learjet, and

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

. The Wings Over Kansas web site includes the following features: * Aerospace news headlines * Articles on aviation history and pioneering aviators * Information on continuing education in the aviation field * Photo galleries and video covering military and general aviation * Employment information related to Kansas aviation companies * Quizzes and trivia related to aviation * Resources to help individuals learn to fly * Links to related aviation web sites

Contributing editors

Wings Over Kansas receives support from a diverse group of contributing editors including: * Walter J. Boyne—aviation author and historian; former director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum * Lionel Alford, Jr.—aviation writer/author and historian * Edward H. Phillips—aviation author and historian; former southwest bureau chief for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine * Frank Joseph Rowe—aircraft designer and senior design engineer * Bonnie Johnson—former director of the Aerodynamic Laboratories at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

* George M. Boyd—former

Tuskegee Airman The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

and Kansas Civil Air Patrol commander * Daryl Murphy—aviation author/historian * Richard Harris—aviation author/historian

Additional information

In 2001, Wings Over Kansas was rated as one of the 500 best aviation-related web sites. It was also the recipient of two Golden Web and a Best of Kansas on the Web awards for outstanding presentation and content. To encourage children in grades 3–12 to learn about aviation, the web site provides Project Classroom—a set of standardized aviation education lesson plans offered free to teachers and students. Wings Over Kansas also maintains a presence on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

References

External links

Wings Over Kansas.org web siteAlexa site information on Wings Over Kansas
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309015829/http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/wingsoverkansas.com , date=2016-03-09 Internet properties established in 1998 Online databases Aviation websites Companies based in Wichita, Kansas