Topic archive
Aerospace
Explore aviation articles about Aerospace.
Weightless route flight
The earth is always pulling us to its center with its gravity, a force to which all bodies on the planet are subjected. At the beginning of the space program of the United States, reduced gravity was an important matter in the general…
Read article →
How SpaceX lands their Falcon 9 rockets with incredible accuracy
SpaceX is now quite used to landing their rebuilt rockets with ease. The 23 rd of July 2022, marked their 56 th first stage landing of the Falcon 9 successfully. Gone are the days of building new boosters for each new mission and here…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
The Saturn V: A Rocket 15 Times Faster Than A Rifle Bullet
Rockets are arguably the greatest engineering feat accomplished by man. The capabilities of these machines are unmatched and nothing like any other machine. Such a machine is the Saturn V (5), the most powerful rocket ever flown. The…
Read article →
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.…
Read article →
Airspace and its types of classification
Airspace Airspace is a portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. This is not to be confused with…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
Avelo Airlines: The New U.S. Carrier To Enter The Market
From its base at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), Avelo plans to start service on April 28 to underserved or secondary airports in the West using leased Boeing 737-800s. Tickets are now on sale at aveloair.com. Purpose & Aim Avelo has a…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
The Functioning of PAPI Lights
At night, you might notice many lights on the tarmac of an airport. All of them have a specific function to help guide traffic on ground and/or in the air. The PAPI lights are one of these lights. What are PAPI lights? No, PAPI is not…
Read article →
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,…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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,…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
Flight on another planet (MARS)
Flights within the earth are possible taking into account our atmosphere composed of air. But when talking about flying through outer space or even an almost non-existent atmosphere or one that is composed of other gases like the…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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,…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
It Is Not Just A Duct Tape
A duct tape strip, nothing aesthetic or of the quality image on a plane. Some people have noticed these tapes on their flights, causing astonishment, and at first glance, it seems that the tape is joining paper parts, not giving…
Read article →
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…
Read article →
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,…
Read article →
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…
Read article →