Flight Flashcards
Force necessary to overcome gravitational force to keep the airplane flying is termed?
Lift
Ailerons are used primarily to?
Roll the airplane
Empennage - definition
Tail section of the a/c
What do airfoils control?
Lift Direction Stability Thrust Propulsion
What is a monoplane?
Plane with one pair of wings
What do flaps do? When are they used?
Move downward together to increase lift during takeoffs and landings
Platform definition
Shape of the wings viewed from above
Dihedral definition and purpose
Dihedral angle is the angle at which the wings connect to the fuselage. The purpose is to add roll stability - a wing with dihedral will naturally return to its original position after initial displacement. Fighter planes may have no dihedral or even anhedral to be more maneuverable
What color are runway lights?
White
Yellow the last half or last 600 meters, whichever is less
What color are AirPort taxiway lights?
Blue
What is a cowling? What does it do?
Removable cover of the aircraft engine.
Helps cool the engine
Reduces drag
Ailerons are located
On the outer edge of the wings
Pitch makes the airplane
Go up and down
Bank makes the airplane?
Roll or turn
The four aerodynamic forces acting on an airplane are?
Drag, lift, thrust, and weight
An airplane wing is designed to produce lift resulting from relatively…?
Positive (high) air pressure below the wings and negative (low) pressure above the wings
Flight instruments
Airspeed indicator
Altimeter
Attitude indicator
Vertical velocity indicator
Altimeter
Altitude (feet) above sea level
Engine instruments
Tachometer
Ammeter
Attitude
False horizon
Attitude of airplane relative to true horizon
Vertical velocity / vertical speed indicator (VVI / VSI)
How many feet per minute climbing or diving
Ammeter
Battery power
Forces acting on aircraft in steady flight condition (no change in speed or flight path)
Lift equals weight
Thrust equals drag
A flashing green air traffic control signal directed to an aircraft on the surface is a signal that the pilot ?
Is cleared to taxi
Steady red light signal from the tower to aircraft approaching to land?
Airport is unsafe for landing
Propeller blades are curved on one side and flat on the other side to?
produce thrust
What makes an airplane turn?
Horizontal component of lift (centripetal force)
When in the down (extended) position, wing flaps provide?
Greater lift and more drag
What is one advantage of an airplane said to be inherently stable?
Airplane will require less effort to control
If the elevator trim tabs on the airplane are lowered, the plane will tend to?
Nose up
Opposite of elevators
The pilot always advances the throttle during a
Climb
The pilot of an airplane can best detect the approach of a stall by the
Ineffectiveness of the ailerons and elevator
It is ordinarily desirable to provide an unusually long flight strip at municipal airports for the takeoff of?
Heavily loaded aircraft in still air
A closed runway is marked on an airfield diagram with?
XXX
Over run is marked in an airfield with?
> > >
The rearward retarding force of airplane drag is opposed by?
Thrust
Airport taxiways are identified at night by omnidirectional edge lights in what color?
Blue
The angle formed by the chord of an airfoil and the direction of the relative wind is called the?
Angle of attack
Aircraft structure
Fuselage Wings (w/ ailerons and flaps) Empennage (tail) Landing gear Power plant
Empennage parts
Fixed : vertical stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer
Movable: +rudder, elevator, trimtabs
Power plant parts
Engine
Propeller
Cowling
Propeller creates?
Thrust
What does the rudder do?
Moves the airplane nose left and right (yaw)
What does the elevator do?
Moves airplane nose up and down
Atmospheric pressure has what effect?
Can help lift the airplane; accentuated some flight instruments
Air density…?
Effects airplane capability
Less dense air reduces…
Reduces power, thrust, and lift
Newton’s 1st Law of motion
Law of Inertia - a body at rest remains at rest
Newtons 2nd law of motion
Force = mass X acceleration
when m is constant (baseball, not rocket)
When m is not constant, force equals the change in momentum over change in time
F = (m1 * V1 - m0 * V0) / (t1 - t0)
Newtons 3rd law of motion
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Applies to engine thrust, airfoil / wing lift, and spinning ball - Magnus effect
Increasing air temperature…?
Decreases air density
Magnus effect
Low pressure upward force
Axes of flight
Longitudinal - roll
Vertical - yaw
Lateral - Pitch
Pitch
Lateral axis (through wings) Nose and tail up and down elevators
Roll
Longitudinal axis (through body) wings up and down, ailerons
Yaw
Axis, movement, controller
Axis: Vertical axis (up and down).
Motion: Wings side to side
Control: Rudder
Rudder control
Push left pedal, rudder Moves left, moves tail right and nose left
Secondary flight controls
Flaps, spoilers, leading edge devices, trims
What do trim tabs do?
Relive pilot of the need to maintain constant pressure on flight controls
Altimeter hands
Short - 10,000’s feet
Middle- 1,000’s feet
Long- 100’s feet
Air moving over the wing
Moves faster than air moving under the wing
When taking off into headwind the result will be
Shorter takeoff distance and increased climb angle
As altitude increases, an airplane must ?
Fly Faster
Turbulence is caused by
Convective air currents, obstructions to wind flow, wind shear
Level turns
All 4 primary controls are used Rudder Elevators Throttle Ailerons
Moving the control wheel or stick to the right will cause the right aileron to
Rotate forward / deflect up, decreasing the angle of attack, reducing lift, and reducing drag
( the left aileron will rotate down, increasing lift, etc.)
Mach refers to
The speed of sound
If the radius of a turn decreases the
Positive g-forces are increased
Which two flight controls are used to control the rate of a turn
Elevator and ailerons
Longitudinal axis
Extends lengthwise from nose to tail
Moving the control stick right or left affects which aircraft controls?
Ailerons
Tachometer
Not a flight instrument!!
Indicates the speed at which the engine crankshaft is rotating (RPM’s)
Compass headings
360 = north 90 = easy 180 = south 270 = west
What is a ammeter? What does a negative value mean?
Instrument that measures electric current - monitors if alternator/generator is providing enough power.
Negative - more power being drawn from battery than being replaced. malfunction of alternator/generator
Positive - charging rate of the battery. malfunction of regulator
Thrust vs propulsion
Thrust is a mechanical force (vector value). Overcomes drag or weight. all thrust is generated through some application of Newton’s third law of motion
The propulsion system must be in physical contact with a working fluid to produce thrust.
Nacelle
Nacelle; functions the same as a cowling but on a multi-engine plane: streamlines airflow around and helps cool the engine
Universal Gravitation (Newton)
Two objects attract each other with a force proportional to the product of their masses; inversely proportional to the distance squared
Bernoulli’s Principle
Re: Airfoils. The faster a fluid travels over a surface the less time it has to exert pressure on any given part of that surface; I.e., as the velocity of a fluid increases, the pressure exerted by that fluid decreases.
How are stalls caused, detected, and recovered from?
Angle of attack is too steep to generate lift. Airflow separates from the wing’s upper surface beginning at the trailing edge. This allows reverse airflow (eddies) to creep in that presses down on the wing.
Detected by mushiness in controls or slight buffeting of the aircraft.
Recover by reducing angle of attack below the stalling angle.
Induced Drag
Drag produced by wing that is parallel to the relative wind. Causes effective lift to angle up and back instead of straight up.
Atmospheric Composition
78% Nitrogen
21% Oxygen
1% Other gasses
Three main ways pilot controls the aircraft
Joystick / control wheel, rudder pedals, throttle
What does the joystick control?
Roll (ailerons) and pitch (elevator)
What do rudder pedals control?
Yaw
Adverse yaw
The downward deflected aileron during a roll produces more drag. This causes the nose to yaw in the direction of the raised wing. The rudder is used to correct for this.
How are spoilers used?
- Eliminate adverse yaw: when banking right, the right spoilers can be raised to create more drag on that side
- Descend without gaining speed: spoilers on both wings are used simultaneously
- Shorting ground roll after landing: destroy lift and transfer weight to the wheels, improving breaking efficiency
True Altitude
Vertical distance of the airplane above sea level (feet above mean sea level)
Absolute Altitude
Vertical feet above the terrain / ground
Pressure Altitude / Density Altitude
Altitude indicated when the altimeter barometric scale is adjusted to 29.92. Used to compute true altitude and true airspeed. DA is PA corrected for variations from standard temperature. Four factors that affect density altitude are altitude, atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature.
Hypoxia
Condition caused by insufficient oxygen in the bloodstream. Impaired reaction, confused thinking, poor judgement, fatigue, and headaches. Cause lose consciousness or lead to death.
At what elevation(s) is oxygen needed
FAA - > 12,500 ft
Military flight ops - > 10,000 ft
Turbofan engine parts and usage
Inlet / diffuser (slows air), compressor, combustion zone, turbine, and nozzle. Common to civilian and military planes.
Pitot Tubes
Part of the airspeed indicator. Measure Pitot Pressure
Ramjet engine parts and usage
Inlet, combustion zone, and nozzle
No moving parts, e.g., compressors or turbines
Used to achieve supersonic speeds; typically missals; cannot be used from dead stop.
What is Static Pressure?
The undisturbed atmospheric pressure at level flight (measured by the airspeed indicator). Pstatic = Ppitot when the aircraft is on the ground in calm air. Pstatic < Ppitot when the airplane is moving in the air
White Arc
Flap operating range. Speed at which airplane operates in during approaches and landings. Lower limit is the stall speed when the flaps are fully extended. The upper limit is the maximum speed airplane should go when flaps are fully extended.
Green Arc
Airspeed range in which airplanes normally operate. Lower limit is the stall speed or minimum steady flight speed in a specified configuration (flaps, etc.). Upper limit is the maximum structural cruising speed (do NOT exceed except in smooth air).
Yellow Arc
Higher airspeed than green or white - CAUTION RANGE. Fly within this range only in smooth air.
Red Line
Never exceed airspeed. Operating above is prohibited – may cause structural failure.
Turn indicators
Turn-and-slip indicator: rate of turn in degrees per second; (initially shows roll rate)
Turn coordinator: shows airplane yaw; i.e., slipping turn vs. skidding turn vs. coordinated turn. Tells you if rudder correction is needed: “step on the ball”
Together they are backup for attitude indicator.
Best rate of climb vs best angle of climb
Best rate: most gain in altitude in given amount of time (used after takeoff to reach cruising speed)
Best angle: most gain in altitude in given distance (used during takeoff to clear obstacles)
Three flight controls of rotary wing aircraft
Cyclic - longitudinal and lateral movement (i.e., main rotor tilt)
Collective - controls pitch & engine torque (i.e., angle of the main rotor blades)
Directional control system - controls tail rotor torque (i.e., pitch of the tail rotor blades controlled by foot pedals)
Torque control
Achieved by the tail rotor on a rotary-wing aircraft. Compensates for the helicopter fuselage’s tendency to rotate in the opposite direction from the rotor.
What does moving the cyclic forward do?
Tilts of the main rotor forward, moving the helicopter forward
What does raising the Collective do?
Causes the helicopter to ascend. May require an equal increase in pressure on the tail rotor pedal to counteract the additional engine power (torque) needed to maintain same RPMs.
Acceleration experienced by the aircraft and its pilot in the direction perpendicular to the wing is solely determined by ___?
Bank angle
The acceleration experienced by the aircraft and its pilot in the dirction perpendicular to the wing is soley determined by ___?
Bank Angle
The flight envelope of an aircraft is
region of altitude and airspeed in which it can be operated
Delta wing aircraft have have no
horizontal stabilizer (function is performed by the wings)
Helicopter’s cyclic control is used to change the pitch of the main rotor blades ____
at a select point in its circular pathway.
Ogival structure
Type of delta wing aircraft
Canard
Small forewing placed ahead of the main wings
