Mitchell Test Flashcards
Aeronautics
The science of flight within the atmosphere
Aircraft
Any machine that is capable of flying through the air
Chord
A line drawn through an airfoil from its leading to trailing edge
What did Marco Polo see in 1299 AD?
Chinese sailors attached to kits being used as military observers
What aircraft was the first true powered flight with humans taken?
Hot air balloon
What aircraft were the first to have directional control?
Gliders
What did Bernoulli find out about the pressure of a fluid?
The pressure in a stream of fluid is reduced as the speed of the flow is increased
What does the venturi tube do?
Cause air to accelerate when passing through the middle (which has a smaller circumference than the rest of the tubes)
What is Newton’s first law?
An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced, outside force
What is Newton’s second law?
A force acting upon a body causes it to accelerate in the direction of the force, acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass of the body being accelerated
What is Newton’s third law?
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
What is the curvature on the upper surface of the wing called?
Upper camber
When air travels over the surface of an airfoil what happens?
Air flows faster over upper surface, pressure decreases above airfoil so the airfoil must move upwards
What is the Coanda effect?
The tendency of a stream of fluid to stay attached to a convex surface
What are the two artificial forces that act upon an aircraft?
Lift, thrust
Why is thrust an artificial force?
It requires a mechanical mechanism to be generated
What is yaw?
Rotation around the vertical axis of an airplane
What is roll?
Rotation around the longitudinal axis
What do Fowler Flaps do?
Increase lift when put up partially, increase drag when put up fully
As a propeller turns, which part moves the fastest?
The very tip
Lapse rate
The average rate at which temperature decreases with an increase in altitude, typically 3.5 degrees per 100 feet increase
Thermal
A column of air that moves upwards
What provides the lifting power for sailplanes?
The energy of the environment, rising air/thermals
What is a glider?
An aircraft towed to a certain altitude that then glides back to Earth due to the pull of gravity
At what age do the federal aviation regulations allow a young person to solo in a glider?
14
What principle does a balloon operate on?
Buoyancy
Why is directional control in a balloon minimal?
A balloon floats on the wind
What three instruments does a balloon pilot have on his instrument panel?
Variometer, temperature gauge, altimeter
Lean mixture
A mixture of gasoline and air in which there is less fuel and more air
What is a powerplant?
A term which applies to the airplane engine and accessories
What does the internal combustion engine change heat into?
Mechanical energy
What does the cylinder do in an internal combustion engine?
Forms a part of the chamber in which the fuel is compressed and burned
What does the spark plug do in an engine
Provides a small lightning bolt that ignites the air/fuel mixture causing an explosion that drives the piston downward and creates power
What is the standard configuration for a general aviation aircraft engine?
4-6 cylinders divided into 2 “banks” opposite each other
What is the operating cycle of a reciprocating engine?
Intake, compression, ignition, power, exhaust
How were “fossil fuels” created?
Animals + plants from millions of years ago were fossilized and their energy was preserved
What is a stoichiometric ratio?
15 part air to 1 part gas
What is the difference between a rich mixture and a lean mixture?
The ratio of fuel to air
What happens if icing chokes the carburetor?
The engine will quit
What does the mixture control do?
Controls the ratio of fuel to air
What is important when starting the airplane?
Use a rich mixture because at first it is cold outside the engine
What protects the electrical system from electrical overloads?
If a circuit breaker “pops” power is shut off to that circuit breaker, the thin metal piece of a fuse is designed to break if there’s an electrical overload
In a jet engine, what creates thrust?
Hot gasses being expelled by the exhaust pipe
What does the tachometer display?
Engine speed
What does the altimeter display?
Height above sea level
How long is a nautical mile?
6706 feet
What does a gyro power?
Energy source in attitude indicator, heading indicator, turn coordinator
What does the attitude indicator display?
Shows aircraft orientation relative to Earth’s horizon
What is a glass cockpit?
Cockpit that features electronic instrument displays
What is GPS?
A navigation and precise-positioning tool
Heading
The direction an airplane is pointed
What is the first step in the flight profile?
Preflight inspection
What does the FAA do?
Controls American airway system, establishes standards for airports
What does a runway with 18 mean?
The runway is faced south, or 180 degrees from the north
What are REIL or Runway End Identifier Lights?
High-intensity white strobe light marking each end of the runway
What color does a taxiway light?
Blue
What is a key factor in flying, especially in takeoff and landing?
Wind
Relief
A term used to describe elevations, which is depicted by color tints, contour lines, and shading on maps
What are the four distinct regions or layers of the atmosphere?
Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere
What is the fundamental cause of our various weather conditions?
The Sun
What causes the uneven temperature and pressure differences?
The Sun heats the Earth unevenly and different surfaces retain heat for different amounts of time
Why do airplane engines work more efficiently in dense, colder weather?
Warm air has less molecules that are spaced further apart
How long does it take the Earth to revolve around the Sun?
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes
What causes the seasonal changes?
The Earth is tilted
What direction does the Earth rotate?
Counterclockwise
What causes the doldrums?
The meeting of the north and south winds that pushes air upwards
What are responsible for the many weather movements across the US and Canada?
The jet stream
What is the jet stream?
A stream of very strong winds going across North America
Why is knowing where the jet stream is useful to pilots?
It can drastically speed up trips going from west to east or delay trips going from east to west
What is wind chill?
Temperature and wind speed used to explain how cold feels
What is wind?
A body of air in motion
How is wind direction defined?
By the direction the wind is coming from
What are crosswinds?
Any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel
How do you find what the capability of a plane to take a certain crosswind is?
Check the airplane’s manual
What is a tailwind?
A wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object
What is a microburst?
A sudden downburst of fast winds
If we break ____ down into its basic form, it becomes energy.
heat
What is temperature?
A measure of molecular motion expressed on a man-made scale
Does temperature affect takeoff?
Yes
What does the atmospheric pressure depend on?
The number of molecules occupying the space
What is precipitation?
General term given to various types of condensed water vapor
What is fog?
Tiny droplets of liquid water at or near the surface of the land or water
What is the water cycle?
Continuous movement of water as it circulates between the Earth and its atmosphere
How do cumulus clouds look?
Big and fluffy
Where are cirrus clouds found?
20,000 feet in the air
What are cirrus clouds composed of?
Ice crystals
What clouds can be dangerous for pilots?
Lenticular clouds
What phenomenon are cumulus clouds associated with?
Mammatus development
What do cirrus clouds look like?
Very wispy and feathery
What happens during the dissipating stage of a thunderstorm?
Downdrafts only
Do tornadoes have a specific time of year or place that they show up?
Yes, Tornado Alley and summer
What is the most distinctive feature of a hurricane?
The eye of the storm
What does the eye of a hurricane consist of?
Calm winds and clear skies with no clouds
Who developed the first rocket engine?
Hero
What created the thrust in the Hero engine?
Steam
What kind of rocket was used in 1232?
Solid-propellent rockets
What did Roger Bacon’s improved forms of gun powder do?
Increased the range of the rocket
What kind of rocket was used during the battle of Fort McHenry (when The Star-Spangled Banner was written)?
Congreve rockets
Whose writings about travel into outer space caused small rocket societies to be created around the world?
Jules Verne
Who was known as the “Father of the Soviet Space Program?
Sergei Korolev
What is a launch vehicle?
A rocket-propelled vehicle used to carry a payload from Earth’s surface to space
What happened on October 4, 1957?
The first artificial satellite, Sputnik, was launched
Who was the first man to orbit the Earth? When did he orbit the Earth?
Yuri Gagarin; April 12, 1961
Who was the first American in space? How?
Alan Shepard; Freedom 7
How long did the Freedom 7 flight last and what altitude did it reach?
15 minutes; 187 km
What happened on May 25, 1961?
JFK announced the objective to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade
What happened in February 1962? How long did the flight remain in orbit?
John Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth in the Mercury capsule on Friendship 7; 15 minutes
What was developed with the one goal of sending humans to the Moon?
Saturn V
What was the first US space station?
Skylab
What did Neil Armstrong take a photo of while he was on the Moon?
Buzz Aldrin planting the American flag on the moon
What is acceleration?
The rate of change in velocity with respect to time
What is a payload? What are three examples of a payload?
What the rocket is carrying; explosives, satellites, astronauts
What is the primary objective in the design and construction of an airframe?
Provides shape of a rocket; contains all other systems
What rocket system is a self-contained electronic unit with a computer?
Guidance system
What is the fuel of the solid propellant rocket?
Mixture of hydrogen compounds + carbon
What kind of propellant is commonly used today? Why?
Liquid propellant; heavier than a solid propellent but easier to control
What jet powered car broke the sound barrier and holds the Land Speed Record? What country was the car from?
Thrust SSC (Super Sonic Car); Britain
What aircraft won the “Ansari X-Prize?
SpaceShipOne
What is Virgin Galactic?
A company building the first private “airline” to space
What is the cislunar space?
The space between the Earth and the moon
What does the Air Force and NASA define as space?
The altitude of 50 miles
What makes up the universe?
Everything
What is absolute zero?
The point at which all molecules stop moving
What kind of gravity is in space? What defines that?
Microgravity; extremely low amounts of gravity
What is Interplanetary space?
From the center of the Sun to the orbit of its outermost planet
What are the three shapes of galaxies?
Spiral, Elliptical, Irregular
How are the Van Allen Belts formed?
The Earth’s magnetic field traps fast-moving, charged molecules that form donut-shaped clouds around the Earth
What is a constellation?
A grouping of stars, named after mythical figures and animals
What is a pulsar?
Pulsating star that flashes electromagnetic emissions in a set pattern
Is the Sun a star?
Yes
What is a nebula? What do they do?
Giant cloud of gas and dust; spin and move giving a galaxy its shape, also can produce stars
What is a solar system?
The Sun and the bodies that orbit around it
Why does the Moon’s distance from the Earth change slightly?
The Moon’s orbit is elliptical
Why do we see different phases of the Moon?
The near side of the Moon has different amounts of sunlight on it at different times
How long does a Moon day last?
27 Earth days
What are asteroids?
Chunks of rock that range in size
What is a comet and what are they made up of?
A giant dirty snowball made of ice, rock, and dust
Which planet is the closest to the Sun?
Mercury
Which is the hottest planet in the solar system?
Venus
Which planet is known as the Evening Star? Why?
Venus; because it appears to follow the Sun in its daily motion across Earth’s sky
What is an equinox?
A day where the hours of sunlight and nighttime are the same
Which planet is known as the Red Planet and why is it called that?
Mars
Why is Mars the most favorable planet to support life, next to Earth?
It is possible Mars once had water on it
How big is Mars?
Half as big as Earth, everything on Mars weighs a 1/3 of what it would on Earth
What is Jupiter’s mass?
318x that of Earth
How long does it take Jupiter to revolve around the Sun?
12 Earth years
What spacecraft was launched in the 1970s to visit Jupiter?
The Pioneer probes
How long does it take Saturn to revolve around the Sun?
29 Earth years
What are Saturn’s rings made of? How thick are the rings of Saturn?
Ice chunks, dust, and rocks of varying sizes; 1 mile
What makes up Uranus?
Rocks, water, ammonia, methane (both liquid and ice)
How long is one Neptune year?
165 Earth years
What is Neptune’s atmosphere made up of?
Hydrogen, helium, methane
Who discovered Pluto and when?
Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh; February 1930
Why is Pluto no longer considered a planet and when did its designation change?
Pluto doesn’t dominate its orbital path; 2006
What is Pluto made up of?
rocky core, water/ice layer, methane frost
How did satellites get their name? Who named them and when?
Satellite comes from the French word for guard/attendant; Johannes Kepler in 1611
What is Earth’s natural satellite?
The Moon
Who launched the first artificial satellite? When was it launched and what was its name?
Russians, 1957, Sputnik
What was Transit? What was it designed to do?
The first navigational satellite, to provide Polaris missile submarines with the ability to fix accurate positions
What is Tiros I? When was it launched? What did it send back to Earth the same day it was launched?
First weather satellite, April 1, 1960, image of a hurricane
What did the space probe series, the Rangers, do?
Take pictures of the Moon
What is radiation?
Heat energy given off by the Sun
What are sub-systems?
Support given to the spacecraft in space
What does the propulsion system do?
Provides the boost for the satellite to get into orbit
What does the attitude control system do?
Make minor corrections in the direction
How does a satellite get power?
Solar panels that take in the Sun’s energy
What does the command and control function do?
Communicate to the ground
What is telemetry?
Any data that travels from a spacecraft to Earth
What is an orbit?
The movement or path a satellite takes around a celestial body
What did Ptolemy do?
Developed the first theory of motion of celestial bodies
What did Copernicus develop?
A heliocentric theory of the universe
What is Kepler’s First Law?
The orbit of each planet is an ellipse, with the Sun at the focus
Who developed the Law of Universal Gravitation and what is it?
Sir Isaac Newton; explains gravitational pull between bodies in the universe
What is the X-37 and what was it designed to do?
An unmanned spacecraft; provide a crew rescue, and transport capability to and from the ISS
Who put the first man in space? What was his name? When was he put in space?
Soviet Union; Yuri Gagarin; April 1961
Who was the first woman in space?
Valentina Tereshkova
What was Project Mercury?
A space program with the goal of discovering space’s effect on the human body
Who was the first American in space? When did this happen?
Alan Shepard; May 5, 1961
Who was the first American to orbit the Earth?
John Glenn
What was Gemini? What happened during Gemini?
A spaceflight project; 1st spacewalk
What was Apollo’s mission?
To put a man on the Moon
Which of the last six Apollo missions did not land on the moon?
Apollo 13
What happened during Apollo 11?
The first man landed on the Moon
Who was the second person to walk on the moon?
Buzz Aldrin
When was the Space Shuttle first launched?
April 1981
What was the purpose of the Space Shuttle?
Provided a system for transportation into space and a return back to earth
What are the three main parts of the Space Shuttle?
Orbiter, solid rocket boosters, external tank
Who was the first American woman in space?
Dr. Sally Ride
Who launched the first space station into space? What was its name and when was it launched?
Soviet Union, Salyut I, April 18, 1971
When was Mir launched?
February 20, 1986
How big is Jupiter?
11x wider than Earth
