Editing Transatlantic flight (section)

{{short description|Flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
A '''transatlantic flight''' is the flight of an [[aircraft]] across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] from [[Europe]], [[Africa]], [[South Asia]], or the [[Middle East]] to [[North America]], [[Latin America]], or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by [[fixed-wing aircraft]], [[airship]]s, [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]]s and other aircraft.

Early [[aircraft engine]]s had neither the reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of miles, and the [[weather]], especially in the [[North Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic]], is unpredictable. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, transatlantic flight has become routine, for [[commerce|commercial]], [[military]], [[diplomacy|diplomatic]], and other purposes.