Aviation Blog - Page 93

At the dawn of aviation, technology was expanding quickly every year. Planes traveled farther, flew higher, and got faster and faster. One of the roadblocks designers had to overcome was actually a limitation of the human body. Their planes performed better the higher they were operated, but the human at the controls needed more oxygen

Ailerons are the hinged panels near a plane’s wingtips that roll it left or right. How they work, adverse yaw, the main types, and how they differ from flaps.

One of the really neat things about riding in the passenger seat of an airliner is sitting over the wing and watching all of the plane’s flight controls move during flight. What are they all doing? Everyone has heard of “flaps,” but what exactly are they? What Are Flaps? Flaps are trailing-edge high-lift devices. That’s

Aviation has complicated jargon and terminology that can stump even seasoned enthusiasts. But every once in a while, a device’s name is so simple that its purpose becomes quickly apparent. Such is the case with spoilers. How Do Airplane Spoilers Work? Spoilers are devices on the wing that “spoil,” or reduce, the lift being made.

A duopoly is an industry or sector dominated by only two businesses. Two companies dominate the commercial airliner market, namely Boeing and Airbus. These companies are continually in the news, battling one another for slices of market share. And since these are the planes that most people fly on at one time or another, they

Airbus began 49 years ago and manufactures some of today’s most popular aircraft. But Airbus have made less than 20 different civilian aircraft, so why do they all begin with 300? The first Airbus was flown in 1974. Since then the Airbus fleet has travelled over 215 billion kilometres (enough distance to travel to the

We’re all used to seeing two pilots on the flight decks of airliners. But what about the smaller private jets you see flying around secondary community airports? Are these planes flown by wealthy owners, or are they operated by charter companies? Most jets, even small ones, require two pilots in the cockpit. The reasons why

The largest Boeing aircraft is the 747-8 at 987,000 lb, yet the 777-9 is longer and wider. All 10 biggest Boeing planes ranked, with full specs.

Airports can be complicated places. They’re generally flat, with no easy to identify visual landmarks. There’s no standard layout or design–no usual way things are organized. Pilots visiting unfamiliar airports are at a considerable disadvantage, especially if the visibility is low or the weather is bad. To help them navigate safely, airport markings and signs

For passengers, one of the greatest mysteries is how airplanes know how high they are. After all, the third-dimension of flying is what sets it apart from all other modes of transportation. How do airplanes measure altitude and who else cares how far they are from the ground? How Do Pilots Know Their Altitude? The