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Wikipedia:WikiProject Aviation/Resources#Common sources to avoid

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This is a collection of useful resources for researching aviation related articles. With the exception of those listed in the "Questionable sources" section, these sources should pass WP:RS. If any editor wishes to question the reliability of a particular source, please bring the issue up on the talk page.

Editors can request access to specific articles or books or information on a specific topic at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request.

General aviation topics

=Country specific=

  • {{Flagicon|Belgium}} [http://www.belgian-wings.be/index.htm Belgian Wings], civil and military aviation in Belgium.
  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/publications/tp14371-menu-3092.htm Aeronautical Information Manual - Canada]
  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/secretariat-terminology-glossary-744.htm Aviation Glossary - Canada]
  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://www.navcanada.ca/NavCanada.asp?Language=EN&Content=ContentDefinitionFiles\Publications/AeronauticalInfoProducts/default.xml Nav Canada Publications], AIP, NOTAM manual, Airport Charts, etc.
  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/standards/general-ccarcs-advancedullist-2036.htm Transport Canada Listing of Accepted Advanced Ultralights]
  • {{flagicon|FRA}} {{cite book|title=Atlas Historique des terrains d'aviation en France 1919-1947 |first=John |last=Sauter |publisher=Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile |language=French |type=CD-ROM |isbn=2-11-095385-3}} - An atlas of French airfields from 1919-47.
  • {{flagicon|USA}} [http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs/AIM/ Aeronautical Information Manual - USA]
  • {{flagicon|United States}} [http://www.sportpilot.org/learn/lsa/likely_lsa.html EAA List of Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft (E-LSA)]
  • {{flagicon|United States}} [http://www.sportpilot.org/learn/slsa/ EAA List of Special Light-Sport Aircraft (S-LSA)]

=Worldwide=

  • [http://www.enginehistory.org/aehs_list.shtml Aircraft Engine Historical Society - Engine Locator]
  • [http://airwaysmag.com/ Airways Magazine - A Global Review of Commercial Flight since 1994]
  • [http://www.aviationweek.com/ Aviation Week magazine]
  • [http://archive.aviationweek.com/ Aviation Week archives] - 100 years of archives (1916-2016)
  • [http://www.avweb.com/ AvWeb] Weekly aviation news service
  • [http://www.crossandcockade.com/ Cross and Cockade International] - Early C20th aviation up to 1920.
  • [http://www.flightglobal.com/home/default.aspx Flightglobal] - Most items are subscription only. However, some issues (particularly up to 1935) are available on the Internet Archive. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Flight+International]
  • [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb343878271/date L'Aéronautique (1919-1940, in French)]
  • [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb344143803/date L'Aérophile (1893-1947, in French)]
  • [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb326846379/date Les Ailes (1921-1940, in French)]
  • [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb32694945z/date L'année Aéronautique (1919-1938, in French)]
  • [http://flightmapper.net/ flightmapper.net] - lists flights per airport and airline.
  • [http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/aircraft.html The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage] - a listing of airfoils used on aircraft
  • [https://extranet.eurocontrol.int/http://prisme-web.hq.corp.eurocontrol.int/indicators/aircraft_operators_browse.jsp Eurocontrol Designators for Aircraft Operating Agencies, Aeronautical Authorities and Services] - a reliable source for ICAO airline codes and callsigns
  • [http://www.icao.int/anb/ais/8643/index.cfm ICAO Aircraft Type Designators] - official ICAO type designator information
  • [http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/ Sailplane Directory]
  • Speitel, Louise; Hill, Richard G.; FAA Technical Center. [http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA196628 "Study of Benefits of Passenger Protective Breathing Equipment from Analysis of Past Accidents"] March 1988 - analysis of accidents involving fire 1966-86

Aircraft registration databases

=Current=

  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/CCARCS-RIACC/Menu.aspx?lang=eng Canada] - current & historical (1982-)
  • {{flagicon|France}} [https://immat.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/immat/servlet/aeronef_liste.html France]
  • {{flagicon|Singapore}} [http://www.caas.gov.sg/caas/en/About_CAAS/Our_Strategic_Thrusts/Safety_Oversight_x_Promotion/Singapore_Registered_Aircraft/List_of_Aircraft_on_Singapore_Register/index.html Singapore]
  • {{flagicon|Switzerland}} [https://www.bazl.admin.ch/bazl/en/home/specialists/aircraft/swiss-aircraft-registry.html Switzerland]
  • {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [http://https://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-register/g-info/search-g-info/ United Kingdom] - current & historical (1919-)
  • {{flagicon|United States}} [https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/Search/NNumberInquiry/ United States] - current & historical (1949-, i.e. excludes NCxxxxx etc)
  • [http://www.airframes.org/ Global Aircraft Registration and Airlines-Aircraft Operators Database Lookup]

=Historic=

  • [http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_index.html Golden Years of Aviation] (Worldwide, 1919-39)
  • {{flagicon|Switzerland}} [http://sr692.com/fleet/allfleet/index.html sr692.com], a complete listing of all Swissair aircraft.

=Military=

  • [http://www.ukserials.com/ UK Serials Resource Centre] - amateur site for UK military aircraft serials

Aircrashes

  • [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/collection_iaa Investigations of Aircraft Accidents 1934-1965] - Civil Aeronautics Board
  • [http://avherald.com/ The Aviation Herald]
  • [http://www.aviacrash.nl/index.htm Aviacrash website] {{in lang|nl}} Accidents involving Dutch-registered airliners.
  • [https://asn.flightsafety.org/ Flight Safety Foundation: The Aviation Safety Network]
  • [http://www.jacdec.de/ The Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre]

=Investigating bodies=

These bodies are responsible for the investigation of accidents and incidents involving civil aircraft.

=Other civil aviation authorities=

  • Isle of Man: [http://www.gov.im/ded/isleofmancivilaviationadministrationcaa.xml Isle of Man Civil Aviation Administration]

Regulations

  • {{flagicon|Australia}} [http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_90902 Australian Civil Aviation Safety Regulations]
  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/regserv/cars/menu.htm Canadian Aviation Regulations]
  • {{flagicon|USA}} [http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14tab_02.tpl United States FARs]

Type certificate data sheets

  • {{flagicon|Canada}} [http://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/saf-sec-sur/2/nico-celn/c_s.aspx?lang=eng Type Certificates - Canada]
  • {{flagicon|USA}} [http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgMakeModel.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet Type Certificates - United States]
  • {{flagicon|USA}} [http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgSTC.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet Supplemental Type Certificates - United States]
  • {{flagicon|USA}} [http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgAD.nsf/MainFrame?OpenFrameSet Airworthiness Directives - United States]
  • {{flagicon|EU}} [http://easa.europa.eu/certification/type-certificates/aircraft.php EASA - Type Certificate Data Sheets - Aircraft]

Newspaper sources

  • [http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/archive/ The Times Archive] (subscription required, but may be accessible for UK editors who have a library card via their library's website). A wealth of info to be found, covers dates between 1785 and 1985.
  • [http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc California Digital Newspaper Collection]

Questionable sources

Many potential sources do not fully meet WP:RS or may breach WP:COPYVIO. They may contain unreliable, false or illegally published information for a variety of reasons. In general, they should not be cited in an article. They should not generally be listed as "External links" either, per WP:ELNO.

On the other hand, some of the material in these sources may have been attributed to a respectable author and the author's own sources cited; such material is usually acceptable, provided Wikipedia takes care to cite the author and individual article.

Some questionable sources may still be useful when researching a topic, where they provide references to further and more reliable information, but should not be trusted or referenced in themselves.

For more about such sources, see WP:QUESTIONABLE.

=Common sources to avoid=

{{Shortcut|WP:BADAIRSOURCE}}

Some questionable sources are frequently cited by inexperienced editors in aviation-related articles, and are listed here for quick reference. The list includes both merely questionable and outright unreliable sources.

  • The Aerodrome, theaerodrome.com - see archived discussion at Reliability of theaerodrome.com.
  • Airfleets.net – A self-published and user-generated site with no sources cited for its data and no information given on its editorial oversight. See discussions at WikiProject Aviation and at the Reliable Sources/Noticeboard.
  • Airframe Dossier or any other sub-site of Aerial Visuals, aerialvisuals.ca - hobby or crowdsourced content, not peer reviewed. See discussion.
  • Airwar.ru, airwar.ru, English-language version Sky Corner, home page airwar.ru/indexe.html - widely reported to be unreliable and/or copyvio. See for example this archived discussion.
  • Aviastar, aviastar.org (not to be confused with the airline Aviastar-TU) - see notes at Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft/Aviastar.
  • Black Sun Redux, greyfalcon.us - fantasy garbage unlimited.
  • GlobalSecurity.org, globalsecurity.org - unreliable and copyright violation news scrapings. See RSN discussion.
  • Kites, Birds and Stuff, by P.D. Stemp - book series, self-published and comprising indiscriminate scrapings from everybody else he could lay his hands on, including Wikipedia. It is ostensibly published by Lulu.com, but that is a print-on-demand online self-publishing service.
  • Luft '46, luft46.com - see discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aviation/Resources#Luft'46 and The Aerodrome
  • LuftArchiv.de, luftarchiv.de - apparently self-published, not peer reviewed.
  • Military Factory, militaryfactory.com - see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_240#militaryfactory.com here] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_371#Global_Firepower_Index here] on WP:RSN.
  • Nevington War Museum, nevingtonwarmuseum.com - cites Wikipedia among other online sites.
  • PlaneCrashInfo.com, planecrashinfo.com - Internet scrapings, some copyvio, no editorial oversight, per discussion.
  • Planespotters Net, planespotters.net - See archived discussions at WP:PLANESPOTTERS, also here, here, here and here.
  • RussianPlanes.net – User-generated content. See this discussion.
  • Secret Projects, secretprojects.co.uk - discussion forum full of unreviewed user-generated content. A useful pointer to RS, but not an RS in itself.
  • SimpleFlying, simpleflying.com. Useful for information to follow up, but not reliable in itself. See this discussion. However, if used as an original source for content, it must be cited for attribution to avoid plagerism, with more reliable source citation(s) for verification.
  • Sky Corner - see Airwar.ru above.
  • ww2aircraft.net - discussion forum full of unreviewed user-generated content. A useful pointer to RS, but not an RS in itself.

=Suggested text when deleting or tagging a citation=

Suggested citation tags, where appropriate:

  • {{citation needed|date={{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}|reason=unreliable and/or copyvio source removed}}
  • :Which gives:{{citation needed|date=November 2022||reason=unreliable or copyvio source removed}} where an unreliable source is removed.
  • {{Better source needed|date={{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}|reason=source is not reliable for the stated claim}}.
  • :Which gives:{{Better source needed|date=December 2023|reason=source is not reliable for the stated claim}} where there is concern over a questionable source.

Suggested edit comments, as appropriate:

:rm unreliable and/or copyvio source per AV/R

:rm unreliable and/or copyvio source per AV/R, tag

:rm unreliable and/or copyvio source and associated data per AV/R

Resources