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Wing Tip
A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of shapes, including: * Squared-off * Aluminium tube bow * Rounded * Hoerner style * Winglets * Drooped tips * Raked wingtips * Tip tanks * Sails * Fences * End plates Winglets have become popular additions to high speed aircraft to increase fuel efficiency by reducing drag from wingtip vortices. In lower speed aircraft, the effect of the wingtip shape is less apparent, with only a marginal performance difference between round, square, and Hoerner style tips The slowest speed aircraft, STOL aircraft, may use wingtips to shape airflow for controllability at low airspeeds. Wing tips are also an expression of aircraft design style, so their shape may be influenced by marketing considerations as well as by aerodynamic requirements. Wing tips a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winglet And Nav Light Arp
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft's drag. Such devices reduce drag by increasing the height of the lifting system, without greatly increasing the wingspan. Extending the span would reduce lift-induced drag, but would increase parasitic drag and would require boosting the strength and weight of the wing. At some point, there is no net benefit from further increased span. There may also be operational considerations that limit the allowable wingspan (e.g. available width at airport gates). Physics When a conventional wing generates lift, it also experiences lift-induced drag. Higher pressure air under the wing flows to the lower pressure surface on top at the wingtip, which results in a vortex caused by the forward motion of the aircraft. Trefftz-plane theory shows that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aircraft Landing Lights
Landing lights are lights, mounted on aircraft, that illuminate the terrain and runway ahead during takeoff and landing, as well as being used as a collision avoidance measure against other aircraft and bird strikes. Overview Almost all modern aircraft are equipped with landing lights if approved for nighttime operations. Landing lights are usually of very high intensity, because of the considerable distance that may separate an aircraft from terrain or obstacles. The landing lights of large aircraft can easily be seen by other aircraft over 100 miles away. Key considerations of landing light design include intensity, reliability, weight, and power consumption. Ideal landing lights are extremely intense, require little electrical power, are lightweight, and have long and predictable service lives. Past and present technologies include ordinary incandescent lamps, halogen lamps, various forms of arc lamps and discharge lamps, and LED lamps. Landing lights are typically only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wright Flyer
The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown by brothers Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, it marked the beginning of the Aviation in the pioneer era, pioneer era of aviation. The aircraft is a single-place biplane design with Dihedral (aeronautics)#Anhedral and polyhedral, anhedral (drooping) wings, front double Elevator (aeronautics), elevator (a canard (aeronautics), canard) and rear double rudder. It used a gasoline engine powering two pusher propellers. Employing "wing warping", it was relatively unstable and very difficult to fly. The Wright brothers flew it four times in a location now part of the town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, Kill Devil Hills, about south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The airplane flew on its fourth and final flight, but was damaged on landing, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wing Warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft or kite. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions. In many respects, this approach is similar to that used to trim the performance of a paper airplane by curling the paper at the back of its wings. Description In 1900, Wilbur Wright wrote, "...my observations of the flight of birds convince me that birds use more positive and energetic methods of regaining equilibrium than that of shifting the center of gravity...they regain their lateral balance...by a torsion of the tips of the wings. If the rear edge of the right wing tip is twisted upward and the left downward the bird becomes an animated windmill and instantly begins to turn, a line from its head to its tail being the axis." After Wilbur demonstrated the method, Orville noted, "From this it was apparent that the wings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consolidated PBY Catalina
The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA-10 and in Canadian service as the Canso, and it later received the NATO reporting name Mop. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other nations. The last military PBYs served until the 1980s. As of 2021, 86 years after its first flight, the aircraft continues to fly as a Aerial firefighting#Water bombers, waterbomber (or airtanker) in aerial firefighting operations in some parts of the world. Design and development Background The PBY was originally designed to be a Maritime patrol aircraft, patrol bomber, an aircraft with a long operational Range (aeronautics), range intended to locate and attack enemy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convair XFY
The Convair XFY-1 Pogo is an experimental V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) aircraft developed during the early years of the Cold War. It was intended to be a high-performance fighter aircraft capable of operating from small warships. Lockheed and Convair were awarded contracts to build experimental VTOL fighters, with Convair producing the XFY-1, also known as the "Pogo." It was developed as an attempt to create a practical V/STOL aircraft. The XFY-1 featured a unique design with delta wings and three-bladed contra-rotating propellers powered by a turboprop engine. Test flights began in 1954, and the aircraft's capabilities were pushed to their limits. Challenges included difficulties in slowing down and landing at high speeds, as well as the need for highly skilled pilots due to its complex handling characteristics. Landing the XFY-1 was difficult, as the pilot had to look over his shoulder while carefully working the throttle to land. Ultimately, technical and oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rutan Quickie
The Rutan Model 54 Quickie is a lightweight single-seat taildragger aircraft of composite construction, configured with tandem wings. The Quickie was primarily designed by Burt Rutan as a low-powered, highly efficient kit-plane. Its tandem wing design has one anhedral forward wing and one slightly larger dihedral rear wing. The forward wing has full-span control surfaces and is thus similar to a canard wing, but is considerably larger. The aircraft has unusual landing gear, with the main wheels located at the tips of the forward wing. Design and development The Quickie Aircraft Corporation was formed to produce and market the Quickie in kit form after 1978. Two years later a two-seater variant of the same layout followed as the Q2. The original ''Quickie'' (Model 54 in Rutan's design series) is one of several unconventional aircraft penned by Rutan for the general aviation market. The Quickie followed from Jewett and Sheehan's intention in 1975 for a low-cost, low-po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and so can fly a significant distance forward for a small decrease in altitude. In North America the term 'sailplane' is also used to describe this type of aircraft. In other parts of the English-speaking world, the word 'glider' is more common. Types Gliders benefit from producing very low drag for any given amount of lift, and this is best achieved with long, thin wings, a slender fuselage and smooth surfaces with an absence of protuberances. Aircraft with these features are able to soar – climb efficiently in rising air produced by thermals or hills. In still air, sailplanes can glide long distances at high speed with a minimum loss of height in between. Sailplanes have rigid wings and either ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment, and sport. Additionally, some helicopters, such as the MBB Bo 105, are capable of limited aerobatic manoeuvres. An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter, capable of performing loops and rolls, is the Westland Lynx. Most aerobatic manoeuvres involve rotation of the aircraft about its longitudinal (roll) axis or lateral (pitch) axis. Other maneuvers, such as a spin, displace the aircraft about its vertical (yaw) axis. Manoeuvres are often combined to form a complete aerobatic sequence for entertainment or competition. Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than for normal flight. In some countries, the pilot must wea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerial Refueling
Aerial refueling ( en-us), or aerial refuelling ( en-gb), also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft are in flight. The two main refueling systems are '' probe-and-drogue'', which is simpler to adapt to existing aircraft and the '' flying boom'', which offers faster fuel transfer, but requires a dedicated boom operator station. The procedure allows the receiving aircraft to remain airborne longer, extending its range or loiter time. A series of air refuelings can give range limited only by crew fatigue/physical needs and engineering factors such as engine oil consumption. Because the receiver aircraft is topped-off with extra fuel in the air, air refueling can allow a takeoff with a greater payload which could be weapons, cargo, or personnel: the maximum takeoff weight is maintained by carrying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy. The system may make many separate targets appear to the enemy, or make the real target appear to disappear or move about randomly. It is used effectively to protect aircraft from guided missiles. Most air forces use ECM to protect their aircraft from attack. It has also been deployed by military ships and recently on some advanced tanks to fool laser/IR guided missiles. It is frequently coupled with stealth advances so that the ECM systems have an easier job. Offensive ECM often takes the form of Radar jamming, jamming. Self-protecting (defensive) ECM includes using blip enhancement and jamming of missile guidance, missile terminal homers. History The first example of electronic countermeasures being a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missile
A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this usage is still recognized today with any unguided jet- or rocket-propelled weapons generally described as rocket artillery. Airborne explosive devices without propulsion are referred to as shells if fired by an artillery piece and bombs if dropped by an aircraft. Missiles are also generally guided towards specific targets termed as guided missiles or guided rockets. Missile systems usually have five system components: targeting, guidance system, flight system, engine, and warhead. Missiles are primarily classified into different types based on firing source and target such as surface-to-surface, air-to-surface, surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles. Terminology Missile is derived from Latin "missilis" meaning "that may be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
