How it works
These aviation trivia questions and answers are multiple choice, in four rounds: the word and the legends, balloons and airships, gliders, engines and firsts, and how airlines and controllers work.
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Airplane trivia questions and answers
Gliders, engines and firsts is the airplane round: the concept of 1799, the glider flights of 1891, a bat-winged hop of 50 meters, the first passenger and the first jet flight. Balloons and airships comes before it, from a human-powered balloon of 1784 to a flight around the world.
Words and rules of the air
The word and the legends asks who coined aviation and which Latin word is inside it. Airlines, controllers and the rules of the air covers flag carriers, the four kinds of controller, and what IFR and VFR stand for. No maker or model of aircraft is an answer.
Tips
- The trivia questions on planes alone are in Gliders, engines and firsts.
Questions and answers
What are some easy aviation trivia questions?
Which Latin word for a bird is inside the word aviation? What do the letters VFR stand for? Which aircraft first carried passengers over great distances? The answers are avis, visual flight rules and rigid airships.
Who coined the word aviation?
Gabriel de La Landelle, a French writer and former naval officer, in 1863. He took it from a verb he had made up, avier, to fly, which goes back to the Latin avis, bird.
Who made the first powered flight?
There are competing claims. The first recorded powered flight was by Clément Ader on October 9, 1890, a hop of 50 meters that was not controlled. The Wright brothers made the first powered, controlled and sustained flight in 1903.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article Aviation, which every question links. Makers and models of aircraft, accidents and passenger counts are not asked.