Basic Principles of Flight Flashcards
Define mass
Quantity of matter in a body
Define weight
The heaviness of matter as a result of gravity
What is IAS?
Indicated Airspeed
What’s displayed directly to the pilot
What is TAS?
True Airspeed
The speed of the aircraft relative to the air.
What is M?
Mach Number
The velocity of the aircraft, relative to the local speed of sound.
What is GS?
Groundspeed
The speed of the aircraft over the surface.
What is Newtons 3rd Law?
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Describe Bernoullis Principle?
An increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure. And vice versa.
At what point does weight act on an aircraft?
Weight acts through the centre of gravity of an aicraft.
What is Lift?
The force generated by the flow of air over the wings of an aircraft.
How does lift act on a plane?
Lift acts perpendicular to the airflow and throught centre of pressure.
How can fuel be transferred to alter C of G?
Through cross-feeding.
What is Thrust?
The force generated by the engines giving the aircraft forward movement.
How does Thrust act on an aircraft?
Thrust acts through the Thrust Line of an aircraft.
This is parallel and opposite to Drag.
What is Drag?
The opposing force experienced by an aircraft as it moves through air.
How does Drag act on an aircraft?
Drag acts through the drag line of an aircraft.
This is parallel and opposite to Thrust.
What are the 4 forces that act on aircraft?
Lift, Thrust, Drag and Weight.
What happens to forces in steady, straight and level flight?
Lift balances Weight, and Thrust balances Drag.
What happens to forces in a turn?
Weight always acts vertically down towards the Earth due to gravity.
Lift always acts perpendicular to the aerofoil.
Therefore as an aircraft banks, some of the lift acts away from the vertical, and the resultant lift will be less than weight.
Therefore pilot intervention is needed to maintain height.
What happens as an aircraft accelerates?
Airflow over the wings increases, resulting in increased lift, allowing the aircraft to climb.
And vice versa.
