ACE THE TECHNICAL PILOT INTERVIEW

What are the forces acting on an aircraft in flight?

lift-thrust-weight-drag

WHAT PRODUCES MAX GLIDE RANGE?

Glide range doesn’t vary with WEIGHT—but is proportional to
LIFT/DRAG RATIO—ac must be flown at aoa and speed for that
weight—heavy ac and lighter ac can glide the same distance-
if flown at optimum aoa and speed—but heavier ac will take
less time to do so since higher airspeed.

WHAT IS ROC/ROD?
Vertical component of the velocity of an ac—depicts the time
taken to cmb/des from a given height in f.p.m

EFFECT OF WEIGHT ON ROD?

Heavier ac has GREATER ROD—heavy ac fliers at higher
airspeed for given aoa

WHAT IS AN AEROFOIL?
A body that gives a large lift force compared to its drag

CHORD LINE?
A straight line from le to te

MEAN CHORD LINE( standard mean chord) ?

Wing area/wing span

MEAN CAMBERLINE?
Line from te to le but equidistant from the upper and
lowersurfaces

ANGLE OF INCIDENCE?
Angle between chord line and the ac long datum—fixed for a
wing but may be variable for the tailplane.

ANGLE OF ATTACK?
Angle bet chord line and relative airflow

WASHOUT?
< in aoi from root to tip—compensates for the earlier stall due
to higher levels of loading at the tips

DIHEDRAL?
Upward inclination wing root to tip

ANHEDRAL?
Downward inclination from root to tip
LIFT?
Is the phenomenon generated by an airfoil due to pressure differences
above and below the airfoil

WHY IS THE PRESSURE LOWER ON THE TOP SURFACE OF AN AIRFOIL?

Top sfc cambered and bottom is flat—air has to travel greater distance
in same time thereby increasing its speed and lowering the pressure
on the top sfc

LIFT FORMULA?
L

Where : r-density
v- tas
s – surface area
cl- coeff lift

CENTER OF PRESSURE?
A single point acting on the wing chord line at right angles to the
relative airflow-through which the wings lift is produced

The cp moves fwd with higher aoa and aft with <aoa –not a fixed point
on the chord

LIFT -WEIGHT PITCHING MOMENTS

Their position will ary during flight since CP depends on aoa and CG
varies with weight (fuel burn)

ASPECT RATIO?
Ratio of wingspan to geometric chord eg 4:1
High AR- high lift gliders
Low AR- higher speeds

WHEN IS LIFT THE GREATEST?

During take off
Lift is affected by: flap setting—speed of the airflow over the wing—
aoa—air density

WHAT IS DIRECT LIFT CONTROL?

Elevator and stabilizer

WHAT ARE HIGH LIFT DEVICES?

Te flaps/fowler—le flaps/kreuger—slots
WHAT IS DRAG?
Resistance TO motion OF an object through the air

TYPES OF DRAG?

Profile drag aka 0 lift drag form or pressure/skin

friction/interference drag
Profile drag – increases with speed—faster an aircraft moves through
the air the more air molecules its sfc encounters and these molecules
resist the motion of the ac through the air. Profile drag greatest at high
speeds.

Induced drag – by product of lift

Due to high aoa by exposing more of the ac surfaces to the relative
airflow and is associated with wing tip vortices. ID is directly related to
speed—highest at low speeds—id reduces as speed increases because
the lower angles of incidence associated with higher speeds create
smaller wing tip trailing vortices and have a lower value of energy
loss—

VIMD (velocity induced minimum drag)= the speed at which induced

and profile drag values are equal—also the speed that has lowest drag
penalty—also represents the best lift/drag ratio speed –max
endurance