Why is it “the ramp”?

[Kyrpto]

That’s where they pulled the seaplanes out of the water to park them before airports were common.



He said with a straight face.

I thought land planes predated seaplanes?

 

[wanttaja]

I thought land planes predated seaplanes?

Glenn Curtis's first planes were seaplanes. At the time, the Wright brothers' planes were launched via catapult.

The Europeans took off from land, but.....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[FORANE]

We have Ramps in Tennessee too...
http://www.smokiesguide.com/ramps/

 

[Bill]

Tarmac comes from the WWII era, where you called everybody “Mac”.

“Whats that stuff under the airplane, Mac?”
“It’s tar, Mac.”

And that guy Ass. Everything was always his fault.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Just realized I don’t know. Usually a ramp has a slope to it; never seen much intentional slope to any airport ramp.

I've also never seen one that was actually flat.

 

[flyingron]

Glenn Curtis's first planes were seaplanes. At the time, the Wright brothers' planes were launched via catapult.

The original Kitty Hawk Wright planes were not "catapulted." They moved on their own power on a little sled running down a track. It wasn't until they went back to Ohio that they used the falling weight assist to get them going.

I guess you can call Samuel Langley's plane a seaplane, because once it launched it just plummeted into the river.

But the thing of the etymology was that land planes (which do indeed predate the term "ramp" were operating on a "field" which really didn't have a special apron for parking). The term ramp indeed traces to hauling up float planes from the water.