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Aeronautics
Explore aviation articles about Aeronautics.
TRANSONIC TRUSS-BRACED WING
Based on aerodynamics and fuel efficiency design. Nasa and Boeing are studying a concept design named Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW), belonging to the Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research program. Boeing has a configuration with…
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Personality Traits That Make For An Outstanding Pilot
While many children glorify pilots much like they do with teachers, firefighters, and police officers, the daily grind of being a pilot can be challenging. While flying a plane is an amazing feeling, doing it as a job comes with…
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Ballistic Aircraft Parachute
Also known as emergency ballistic reserve parachute, a parachute system within the aircraft systems. And here comes the question: Do all the aircraft have a parachute in their systems? Well, the answer is no. B-52 Stratofortress…
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How Do Gliders Fly?
Gliders are planes without an engine. They have four forces acting on them – lift, weight (gravity), drag and thrust. Although gliders do not have their own power to provide thrust, the weight of the glider produces the thrust to keep…
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The only person able to fly
23 May 1848, Anklam Prussia, born and raised with his siblings, worked together on technical, social, and cultural projects. Then they started to study the flight of birds, dreaming with the idea or the fiction of human flight. After…
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What Does Airworthiness Mean?
A word that gathers a lot of conditions that an aircraft must meet. An official definition does not exist. However, the aviation and aeronautical regulations states the minimum requirements for which the aircraft is deemed to be…
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United Airlines Plans To Bring Back Supersonic Air Travel By 2029
United Airlines has announced a firm order of 15 “Overture” jets from Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic, with an option for 35 more, contingent upon the new airliner meeting United’s safety, operating and sustainability…
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Aerospace Medicine
Have you ever wondered about the possibility of suffering trauma or a pathology while flying? Almost everyone has experienced emotional sensations and behavior not very normal when flying by plane at some point whether on take-off or…
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The Puffin: A Personal Aircraft
It is “personal” because it has a crew capacity of one, only one person who is the pilot of the aircraft. Electric, low noise, capable of reaching a speed of 150 miles per hour, and how it works, it seems to be a fancy vehicle. The…
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Convertiplane
As the name stands for a plane that converts, but exactly in what? First of all, the plane needs to take off vertically and landing as well, so it is VTOL (Vertical take-off and landing), specifically using a rotor, and in a normal…
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Critical Mach Number
When talking about Mach, it is pretty common to relate it with supersonic aircraft, but not always. This number of airflow velocity helps to determine the limits of the aircraft performance in terms of maximum airspeed. The critical…
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About the Largest Aircraft Carrier; the "Stratolaunch"
It is undoubtedly the largest aircraft in the world, working as a multi-tasking platform for research and commercial activities in aerospace. This plane allows the customers to launch their aerial projects in the hypersonic field.…
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The Different Rotors (Helicopter)
The helicopter as an aircraft is not as simple as it seems, the unique flight features make the helicopter a feat of flight science. It is not just making it fly, it is making it controllable and safe. Well, this machine has a rotor…
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Wing Strakes
It is considered as another way to produce lift, and if this is attached to the wing then it is called a leading-edge extension. But, why put an extension on the wing? What kind of benefits does it bring to the plane? The leading edge…
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Fuel Servicing of Aircraft
Many of us have seen tanker trucks around when the aircraft is on the ground and think about the type of supply they are loading on the plane. Fueling servicing is only one part of Aircraft ground handling when the plane is at the…
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Flap Track Fairings: What Are They?
If you ask most people who have flown, they would probably say they have seen these “pod-like” structures under the wings of an aircraft. Some people assume that they hold fuel. This is not correct, but in fact, they house the workings…
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Nemeth Parasol
An unusual prototype with circular wing in parasol configuration, built in 1934 became a successful STOL airplane, making the way to circular wing aircraft such as the Flying Pancake the AvroCar among others. Using a fuselage from an…
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What’s behind the Murphy’s Law?
Everyone has ever heard about the Murphy’s Law or probably is familiar to people who has mentioned it. And everyone knows that this law is neither positive nor optimistic. In fact, the law says something that at first glance gives you…
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Gliding flight in a helicopter?
Many of us know about the gliding capacity of airplanes, the fixed-wing aircraft can glide without the engine power until landing safely with appropriate conditions and well aerodynamic airplane performance. However, how do the…
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Wings: Until They Break
The wings are the most relevant parts of an airplane. They maintain the flight by the reaction forces against the air. Now, talking about the wing as a structural part of a plane, this is taken to the limit. Civil structures are tested,…
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NACA
Have you ever wondered about the beginning of one of the most important aeronautical research institution? NACA, stands for: “National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics”, it's an agency founded on March 3, 1915 in the United States to…
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What's Behind A320-xxx Model Designation?
The Airbus A320 family has undoubtedly a wide range of members, visible at any airport. Some of us can see an Airbus and easily identify it whether it's an A320, A321 or A318. They have their differences, in the structure, size, and of…
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ATA 100 (Aeronautical Maintenance Documentation)
As known, ATA stands for “ Air Transport Association ”, an American organization. But when talking about it now, ATA 100 refers to a methodology of reference for numbering the aircraft documentation. Allowing the ease of understanding…
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Airborne Observatory
It seems like an airplane to observe, that is the name and the meaning. But all the aircraft seem to work under the same? Recognizance, spy or aerial surveying aircraft for mapping, they work in different scenarios and have different…
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Convair Sea Dart (The only supersonic seaplane)
Navy Strategy, the need of a supersonic interceptor plane in time when Jet engines were not as advanced as now. The need of an aircraft that could take off from the sea or a floating deck. There were many options and ideas that came up,…
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The Story of Jessica Cox
An inspirational story about the pilot, Jessica Cox, who achieved what was thought to be impossible. She was able to fly and earn her licence despite being born without arms. Even though she had her fair share of constant…
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The Satellite That Started the Space Race
Right now, satellites surround our planet, nearly 6,000, circle the earth, with huge constellations and different features. Even some of unknown functions. However, these objects have improved the quality and technology in home as we…
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V bombers
The United kingdom ´s strategic nuclear strike force, officially known as the V-force or Bomber Command Main Force was formed by the Royal Air Force, during the 1950s and 1960s. They used the three aircraft that represented the V`s. The…
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How Does WIFI Work on a Plane?
Have you ever wondered how WIFI works on a plane? How does a plane have an internet connection thousands of feet up in the sky when even a phone doesn’t have cellular data or any type of service? Furthermore, how is this connection…
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Flying Saucer “Avrocar”
A flying saucer made for the U.S. military , devised in the Cold War (period 1958-1959) by Canadian Scientists, was a completely top secret project. Avro Canada , a Canadian aircraft manufacturing company, designed and built two…
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The first woman to Fly the U-2 spy plane
Colonel Merryl Tengesdal , born in the Bronx , New York, in 1971 was the first and only African American woman to fly the United States Air Force's U-2 spy plane , the unique and famous aircraft used to spy and reconnaissance flown in…
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The Flying Pancake
A weirdly shaped, not very aesthetic plane that looks like a saucer that can never fly. This is the Vought V-173, an American prototype with a circular airfoil with large-diameter propellers on the wingtips. Developed in 1940 for the…
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P-750 XSTOL
An aircraft model that with its capabilities and performance, could surprise us, The P-750 XSTOL . A not so widely known aircraft, such as cessna ´s or piper ´s. However, this plane has many things to offer because of its…
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The first high speed frontier.
260 years of unsolved and unknown regime of high speed dynamics of gases were broken with the significant flight of the Bell X-1 research vehicle installed under the B-29 bomber of World War II vintage, on October 14, 1947 in the Mojave…
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Do You Know the Story of "the Ghost Blimp"?
The story of the two US Navy pilots, Lt. Cody and Ensign Adams, who disappeared into thin air. After 78 years, what happened to these men remains a mystery. There were various theories and suggestions about how the scene was played in…
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The beginning of the helicopter era
The desire of vertical flight was always present, and it grew after the first successful flight of the wright flyer , but the technical limitations for reaching this did not give the needed result. Leonardo da Vinci illustrated a…
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The anniversary of the dream of world flight
A normal day like today, 14 december, 1986, the Voyager aircraft departed from Edwards Air Force Base in the Southern California using approximately 4.3 km of runway and a huge amount of fuel to fulfill the world record endurance…
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What Is the Sky Divided Into?
The sky is more complicated than you've ever thought. To a normal person, when they look up, all they see is the clear blue sky. But pilots, on the other hand, manage a complex 'invisible infrastructure' that allows them to operate…
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What Is the Sky Divided Into?
The sky is more complicated than you've ever thought. To a normal person, when they look up, all they see is the clear blue sky. But pilots, on the other hand,…
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One engine rule (ETOPS)
We all wonder how a plane could fly if an engine fails, but it is more worrying if it is in the middle of miles and miles of ocean before finding a place to land safely. These same concerns were expressed by aircraft manufacturers and…
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Would You Fly Over the Bermuda Triangle?
We’ve all heard various myths, misconceptions, and conspiracy theories regarding the Devil’s Triangle. Do you believe in any of them? Personally I’ve always thought that there must be a rational reason for everything. But what makes the…
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The flight that lasts one minute
It only takes 1 and half minute in air or even less, and definitely you spend more time buying the ticket or fasten your seat belt. This is the flight between two close islands in Scotland's Highlands and islands, exactly the Orkney…
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Different condensation scenarios
Many of us have seen smoke, gases or fumes in the sky and it is pretty common to see large trail intersections like clouds. While flying, each aircraft can experience condensation in different ways, but each is produced by conditions…
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When fighter pilots need to use the bathroom
As we all usually know that fighter pilots work in a cramped cockpit and modern fighters do not have more person space. The developers of modern fighter jets such as the F-16 and the F-35 made the cockpit extremely small and the average…
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Can You Request a SVFR?
We already know what VFR stands for, visual flight rules, but what is Special VFR? First, let’s recap, visual flight rules (VFR) is a set of rules under which a pilot operates an aircraft in generally fair weather where the pilot can…
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The new prototype Irkut MC-21-310
By the beginning of November this year the first prototype of the MC-21-310 was completed and equipped with Russian engines PD-14. The introduction to the first flight will come true soon, relying on the multiple tests carried out, and…
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How planes became spaceplanes
After the first manned flight of the Wright brothers, it did not take more than 20 years to consider space flight, with the concepts and dreams of two men interested in reaching outer space. Herman Oberth , one of the founding fathers…
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Learn about VFR and IFR Flying
When flying you've got two rules and it's up to you to choose depending on your training and rating. You have VFR and IFR. What's difference? Why is this relevant? What are your restrictions? Photo: © Robynrg | Dreamstime.com First,…
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The birth of the first airline
Many of us have heard about the oldest airline or the first plane that was invented, but what about the first airline in the world, that first had a successful project. The recognition goes to DELAG , acronym for Deutsche…
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The Military version of an Antonov Airliner (The An-12)
S ome airliners turn into military aircraft as well. This is the An-12 “Cub”, a military aircraft that had a version of a passenger airplane in the Soviet Union. Constructed simultaneously with the An-10 “the airliner” but with…
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