Transatlantic flight is any flight of an aircraft, whether airplane, balloon or other device, which involves crossing the Atlantic Ocean -- with a starting point in North America or South America and ending in Europe or Africa, or vice versa.

Transatlantic flights are usually only noteworthy when they are the first flight across or one which broke some record.

Some notable transatlantic flights include:

• May 8-31, 1919. U.S. Navy flying boat NC-4 makes first transatlantic flight, 4,526 miles, from Rockaway, N.Y., to Plymouth, England, via Newfoundland, Azores, Lisbon, Portugal, and other intermediate stops, in 53 hours, 58 minutes.

• June 14-15, 1919. Capt. John Alcock and Lieut. A.W. Brown of the United Kingdom in Vickers-Vimy bomber make first nonstop transatlantic flight, 1,960 miles, from St. John's, Newfoundland to Clifden,Ireland, in 16 hours, 12 minutes.

• March 30-June 17, 1922. LCdr. Sacadura Cabral (pilot) and Cdr. Gago Coutinho (navigator) of Portugal, using three Fairey IIID floatplanes ("Lusitania", "Patria Brasileira" and "Santa Cruz") used successively after two ditchings, make first transatlantic flight over the South Atlantic, using only internal means of navigation (the Coutinho-invented sextant with artificial horizon) from Lisbon, Portugal to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• May 20-21, 1927. Charles A. Lindbergh flies Ryan monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, in first nonstop solo transatlantic flight, 3,600 miles, from New York City to Paris, in 33 1/2 hours.

• June 4-5, 1927. Clarence D. Chamberlain and Charles Levine in Bellanca monoplane make first nonstop New York-Germany flight, 3,911 miles, in 43 hours, 49 minutes, 33 seconds.

• April 12-13, 1928. Gunther von Huenfeld and Capt. Hermann Koehl of Germany and Comdr. James Fitzmaurice of Ireland fly the Junkers monoplane monoplane "Bremen" in first nonstop westbound flight over North Atlantic, 2,070 miles, from Ireland to Labrador, in 36 1/2 hours.

• June 17-18, 1928. Amelia Earhart in Fokker trimotor Friendship is first woman to fly Atlantic as a passenger.

• June 23-July 1, 1931. Wiley Post as pilot and Harold Gatty as navigator fly Lockheed monoplane Winnie Mae in around-the-world flight, 15,477 miles, from Long Island, N.Y., in 14 stops, in 8 days, 15 hours, 51 minutes; flying time, 107 hours, 2 minutes.

• May 20-21, 1932. Amelia Earhart in Lockheed Vega monoplane makes first transatlantic solo flight by a woman, 2,026 miles, from Harbour Grace , Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Ireland, in 15 hours, 18 minutes.

• July 1-15, 1933. Gen. Italo Balbo of Italy leads 24 Savoia-Marchetti seaplanes in mass transatlantic flight, 6,100 miles, from Orbetello , Italy, to Chicago, Ill., in 47 hours, 52 minutes.

• July 15-17, 1933. Lithuanians Steponas Darius and Stasys Girenas were supposed to make a non-stop flight from New York City to Kaunas, but crashed in the forests of Germany after 6411 km of flying, only 650 km short of their final destination.Flying time 37 hours, 11 minutes.

• July 15-22, 1933. Wiley Post flies Lockheed Vega monoplane Winnie Mae in first around-the-world solo flight, 15,596 miles in 11 stops, in 7 days, 8 hours, 49 minutes; flying time, 115 hours, 36 minutes.