ASTB

Aileron motion

Roll

Aileron axis

Longitudinal axis

Elevator motion

Pitch

Elevator axis

Lateral axis

Rudder motion

Yaw

Rudder axis

Vertical axis

Angle of Attack (AoA)

Angle between chord line of wing and relative wind

What causes a stall?

Excessive angle of attack causing airflow to separate and lift to drop, lift loss when angle of attack exceeds critical angle

What factors does lift depend on?

Airfoil shape and angle of attack (and airspeed)

What do flaps do?

Increase lift and drag to allow slower landing and takeoff

How do you increase lift

Increase angle of attack or airspeed

Empennage

Tail assembly (stabilizers, rudder, elevator)

Fueslage

Main body of aircraft, holds crew, payload, and fuel

Simple Interest Formula

I=PRT

Distance Rate Time Formula

d=rt

Percent increase formula

Final = original * (1+p)

Work rate formula

total rate = 1/t1 +1/t2

Compound Interest Formula

Final = Initial * (1+r)^t

Lift definition

Upward aerodynamic force created by pressure differences over/under wing

Bernoulli’s Principle Relating to Lift

Faster airflow = lower pressure, contributes to lift

Relative wind

Airflow directly opposite aircraft’s direction of travel

Drag definition

Aerodynamic force resisting motion

Parasite drag

Drag from shape, friction, interference, increases with speed

Induced drag

By-product of lift, increased when speed decreases

Thrust

Forward force produced by engine/propulsion

Pitch control surface

elevator

Roll control surface

aileron

Yaw control surface

rudder

Airfoil

shape of wing or blade designed to produce lift

Spoilers

reduce lift, increase drag, used to descend slowly

Trim controls

Adjusts forces on controls, keeps aircraft stable without pilot pressure

Dihedral

Upward wing angle increases lateral sability

Junior officers

O1-O3

Senior Officers

O4-O6

Who are warrant officers

technical specialists; ranks CWO2-CWO5

Navy Fixed Wing Aircraft Examples

F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet, E-2 Hawkeye, P-8 Poseidon, C-2 Greyhound

Navy Helicopter Examples

MH-60 Seahawk, MH-53E Sea Dragon

Marine Corps Aircraft Examples

F-35B Lightening, MV-22 Osprey, AV-8B Harrier

Aircraft categories

fixed wing, rotary wing, lighter than air, glider, UAV

When does induced drag increase

When lift increases and airspeed decreases

What is the critical angle of attack?

angle where lift maxes and stall begins

Translational lift

increases efficiency when moving forward out of hover (helicopter)

Diehedral Effect

The amount of roll moment produced per degree of slidslip, crucial in terms of an aircraft’s rolling stability about its longitudinal axis

Diehedral Angle

The upward angle of an airplane’s wing and tail plane from the horizontal

Dihedral Stability

Describes the tendency of an aircraft’s initial tendency about its vertical axis

Downwash

Air that is deflected perpendicular to an airfoil’s motion

Drag Coefficiient

A dmensionless quantity that represents the drag generated by an airfoil of a particular design

Drag curve

A constructed image of the amount of aircraft drag at different airspeeds

Dynamic Stability

Describes the tendency of an aircraft after it has been distrubed from straight and level flight to restore the aircraft to its original condition of flipping straight and level by developing corrective forces and moments

Equilibrium

In the context of aviation, equilibrium is an aircraft’s state when all apposing forces acting on it are balanced, resultig in unaccelerated flght at a constant attitude

Feathering Propeller

A controllable-pitch propeller that can be rotated sufficiently by the pilot (via a control lever in the cockpit connected to a governor in the propeller hub) so that the blade angle is parallel to the line of flight, thereby minimizing propeller drag

Forward Slip

A pilot controlled maneuver where the aircraft’s longitudinal axis is inclined to its flight path

Glide Ratio

The ratio between altitude lost and distance traversed during non-powered flight (e.g. following an engine failure, in a sailplane)

Glide Path

An aircraft’s path across the ground while approaching to land

Gross Weight

An aircraft’s total weight when its fully loaded with aircrew, fuel, oil, passengers, and/or cargo (if applicable), weapons, etc

Gyroscopic Precision

The attribute of rotating bodies to manifest movement 90 degrees in the direction of rotation from the point where a force is applied to the spinning body

Heading

The direction in which an aircraft’s nose is pointed

Inertia

A body’s opposition to a change in motion

Internal Combustion Engine

A mechanical device that produces power from expanding hot gases created by burning a fuel-air mixture within the device

Lateral Stability (rolling)

An aircraft’s initial tendency relative to its longitudinal axis after being disturbed, its designed quality to return to level flight following a distrubance such as gust that causes one of the aircraft’s wings to drop

Lift Coefficient

A dimensionless quantity that represents an airfoil’s efficiency, the ratio of the lift coefficient to the drag coefficient for a specific angle of attack

Lift Off

The act of rising from the eart as a result of airfoils lifting the aircraft above the ground

Load Factor

The ratio of load supported by an aircraft’s actual weight, including the mass of its contents, also kown as G-loading

Maneuverability

An aircraft’s ability to change directions in three axes along its flight path and withstand the associated aerodynamic forces

Mean Camber Line

An imaginary line between the leading and trailing edges and halfway between the airfoil’s upper (curved) and lower (flat) surfaces

Minimum Drag Speed (L / D Max)

The point on the total drag curve where total drag is minimized and lift is maximized, where lift-to-drag ratio is greatest

Nacelle

An enclosure made of metal or another durable material that covers an aircraft engine

Non-Symmetric Airfoil (Cambered)

When one surface of an airfoil has a specific curvature that the opposite side does not

Non-Symmetric Airfoil Advantages

Produced lift at an AoA of 0 degrees

Non-Symmetric Airfoil Disadvantages

Center of the pressure movement chord-wise which causes undesirable airfoil tension

Normal Category

An airplane intended for non-acrobatic operation that seats a minimum of nine passengers and has a certified take off weight of 12,500 lbs or less

Payload

In the context of aviation, the weight of an aircraft’s occupants, cargo, and baggage

P-Factor (Progression Factor)

A propeller-driven aircraft’s tendency to yaw to the left when the propller rotates clockwise (as seen by the pilot) because the descending propeller blade on the right produces more thrust than the ascending blade on the left, if the propeller rotated counter-clockwise, the yaw tendency would be to the right

Piston Engine

Also known as a reciprocating engine, it is a heat engine that uses one or more pistons to correct pressure created by expanding, hot gases resulting from a combusted fuel-air mixture or steam pressure, into a rotating motion

Pitch

An airplane’s rotation about its lateral axis, or the angle of a propeller blade as measured from the vertical plane of rotation

Power Lever

The cockpit lever connected to a turbine engine’s fuel control unit, which changes the amount of fuel entering the combustion chambers

Powerplant

An engine and its accessories and the attached propeller

Propeller Blade Angle

The angle between the chord of an airplane propeller blade and the propeller’s plane of rotation

Propeller Lever

The cockpit control thta control’s propeller speed and angle

Propeller Slipstream

Air accelerated behind a spinning propeller

Propeller

A relatively long and narrow blade-like deevice that produced thrust when it rotates rapidly, in aviation the term typically includes not only the blades but also the hub and other components that make up the system

Rate of Turn

The rate of a turn expressed in degrees per second

Reciprocating Engine

An engine that converts heat energy created by combusted fuel mixed with air into9 reciprocating piston movement, which in turn is converted into a rotary motion via a crankshaft

Reduction Gear

A gear or set of gears that turns a propeller at a speed slower than that of the engine

Relative Wind

The direction of airflow relative to an airfoil, a stream of air parallel and opposite to an aircraft’s flight path

Rudder Vator

Two control surfaces on an aircraft’s tail that form a “v”, when moved together via the control wheel. or joystick in the cockpit, the surfaces act as elevators, when the pilot presses their foot against one of the rudder pedals, it acts like a conventional plane’s rudder

Side Slip

A flight maneuver controlled by the pilot that involves the airplane’s longitudinal axis remaining parallel to the original flight path, but the aircraft no longer flies forward, as in normal flights, instead the horizontal lift component causes the plane to move laterally toward the low wing

Skid

A flight condition during a turn where the airplane’s tail follows a path outside of the path of the aircraft’s nose

Slip

A maneuver use4d by pilots to increase an aircraft’s rate of descent or reduce its airspeed, and to compensate for a crosswind during landing

Stability

An aircraft’s inherent tendency to return to its original flight path after a force such as wind gust disrupts its equilibrium, aeronautical engineers designed most aircraft to be aerodynamically stable

Stall

A rapid decrease in lift caused by an excessive angle of attack and airflow separating from an airfoil’s upper surface, can occur at any pitch, altitude or airspeed

Standard-Rate Turn

A rate of turn of three degrees per second

Subsonic

Speed below the speed of sound, which varies with altitude

Supersonic

Speed in excess of the speed of sound, which varies with altitude

Swept Wing

A wing platform involving the tips being further back than the wing root

Symmetrical Airfoil

When an airfoil has identical upper and lower surfaces, it is symmetrical and produces no lift at an AoA of zero degrees, the wings of very high performance aircraft tend to be symmetrical

Taxiway Lights

Blue lights installed at taxiway edges

Taxiway Turn Off Lights

Green lights installed level with the taxiway

Throttle

A mechanical device that meters the amount of fuel-air mixture fed to the engine

Thrust Line

An imaginary line through the center of an airplane’s propeller hub and perpendicular to the propeller’s plane of rotation, or through the center of each jet engine