As you progress through a career in aviation you will hopefully one day start flying high speed jet aircraft, a fun and challenging learning experience. However there are many differences when moving from low-speed flight to high-speed flight. Today we will briefly touch on some of the required knowledge associated with high speed flight beginning […]
Today we’re taking a look at a concept related to high speed flight, shock waves, with an excerpt from the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25B). During flight, a wing produces lift by accelerating the airflow over the upper surface. This accelerated air can, and does, reach sonic speeds even though the aircraft itself may […]
January 25, 2018 – 10:12 am
Ice sucks, unless of course you are a hockey player, figure skater, or just want a nice, cold, tasty beverage. But in terms of aviation, ice sucks. In general, icing is any deposit of ice forming on an object. In aviation icing is considered to be one of the major weather hazards affecting flight. We […]
September 14, 2017 – 10:03 am
Our CFI is out enjoying the Reno Air Races this week, so today we’ll share a follow up to Monday’s post with another excerpt from Aerodynamics for Aviators. Descending a light propeller-driven general aviation aircraft is a fairly simple task. Reduce power to a point where there is more power required than power available, and […]
September 11, 2017 – 9:23 am
Cruise flight centers on two basic principles: how far we can fly, and for how long. How far we can fly is defined as the aircraft’s range. How long we can fly is defined as endurance. Today’s post is an excerpt from our textbook Aerodynamics for Aviators. When flying, we generally consider range in two […]
August 24, 2017 – 12:55 pm
Today we are going to take a look at wake turbulence, which is the disturbed air left behind an airplane. Why you may ask is this important to us? This disturbed air left behind an aircraft can form tornado like vortices that are dangerous to all aircraft, particularly smaller general aviation aircraft operating behind a […]
Today’s post is excerpted from the second edition of our textbook Aerodynamics for Aviators. This book features extensive illustrations and covers everything from the fundamentals of flight to high-speed flight, and includes an excellent compendium of formulae and equations used at all levels of aviation. Aircraft aerodynamics involves the interaction of the four forces: lift, […]
This week on the Learn to Fly Blog the theme has been aerodynamics, and rather than stick to Private Pilot level aeronautical information we’ve hit you with some “graduate level” knowledge. Today, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the primary flight controls of a typical commercial airliner. Looking at the image […]
April 24, 2017 – 10:25 am
Today’s post comes from the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25B). In subsonic aerodynamics, the theory of lift is based upon the forces generated on a body and a moving gas (air) in which it is immersed. At speeds of approximately 260 knots or less, air can be considered incompressible in that, at a fixed […]
Today on LTFB, we’re featuring an excerpt from The Pilot’s Manual: Ground School (PM-2C) on spins. A spin is a condition of stalled flight in which the airplane follows a spiral descent path. As well as the airplane being in a stalled condition, and yawing, one wing is producing more lift than the other, which […]
