Characteristics of air transport

The positive attributes of air transport are: -

• Rapidity or high speeds

• Continuous travel for long distances
• Accessibility- even to remote locations, which are normally inaccessible by other modes
of transport

The disadvantages are: -

• Need for high skill and sophisticated equipment for ensuring safety in operations
• Difficulty in operating under unfavorable weather conditions
• Prohibitive cost of flying.
Some other characteristics to be considered: -
• Helps tourism, generates foreign reserves
• Requires heavy funds during provision and maintenance
• Highly dependent on weather conditions compared to other modes
• Requires highly sophisticated machinery • Adds to outward flow of foreign exchange ▫
Purchase of equipment, airbuses etc.
• Safety provisions are not adequate.
• Providing a support system during the flight is complicate
• Specific demarcation of flight paths and territories is essential

Components of An Airport Layout

• Runway
• Terminal Building
• Apron
• Taxiway
• Aircraft Stand
• Hanger
• Control Tower
• Parking
Runways

A runway is the area where an aircraft lands or takes off. It can be grass, or packed dirt, or a hard
surface such as asphalt or concrete. Runways have special markings on them to help a pilot in the
air to tell that it is a runway (and not a road) and to help them when they are landing or taking
off. Runway markings are white.

Terminal Buildings

Also known as airport terminal, these buildings are the spaces where passengers board or alight
from flights. These buildings house all the necessary facilities for passengers to check-in their
luggage, clear the customs and have lounges to wait before disembarking. The terminals can
house cafes, lounges and bars to serve as waiting areas for passengers. Ticket counters, luggage
check-in or transfer, security checks and customs are the basics of all airport terminals. Large
airports can have more than one terminal that are connected to one another through link ways
such as walkways, sky-bridges or trams. Smaller airports usually have only one terminal that
houses all the required facilities.

Aprons

Aircraft aprons are the areas where the aircraft park. Aprons are also sometimes called ramps.
They vary in size, from areas that may hold five or ten small planes, to the very large areas that
the major airports have. Unlike the runways or taxiways, vehicles can use aprons.

Taxiway

A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other
facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports
sometimes use gravel or grass.

Control Tower

A tower at an airfield from which air traffic is controlled by radio and observed physically and
by radar.

Parking

Parking is a specific area of airport at which vehicles park

Aircraft Stand

A portion of an apron designated as a taxiway and intended to provide access to aircraft stands
only.

What is an AIRCRAFT?

• Any machine which finds support in atmosphere due to reactions of the air is defined as
an aircraft.
• It can be heavier or lighter than the air and may be power or nonpower driven.

Components of Aircraft
Engine

The main purpose of an aircraft engine is to provide a force for propelling the aircraft through
the air.

Aircraft can be classified according to their propulsion as follows

(I) Piston engine

(ii) Jet engine

(iii) Rocket engine

(I) Piston engine: It is powered by gasoline fed reciprocating engine

and is driven by propeller or airscrew.

PROPULSION LIMITS

Engine Speed limit (kmph)

Engine Speed limit (kmph)

Piston 250 to 750
Ram jet 1280 to 2400
Rocket 4600

Propeller

• This is provided in the conventional piston engine aircrafts as well as in turbo prop
engines.
• It has usually 2 or more blades driven round in circular path.
• Blades deflect air backwards with an acceleration and thus forward thrust is imparted to
the aero plane.
• When propeller is in front it is described as tractor type.
• When the engine and propeller are kept behind it is called as pusher installation
Fuselage

• It forms the main body of the aircraft.

• The fuselage includes the cabin and/or cockpit, which contains seats for the occupants
and the controls for the airplane.
• In addition, the fuselage may also provide room for cargo and attachment points for the
other major airplane components.
• Some aircraft utilize an open truss structure. The truss-type fuselage is constructed of
steel or aluminum tubing.
• Strength and rigidity is achieved by welding the tubing together into a series of triangular
shapes, called trusses.

Three Controls

• There are three axes about which an aircraft in space may move. These axes and the
possible aircraft movements are shown in the Figure.
• The movement of aircraft about the X axis is called lateral or rolling movement.
• The movements about Y and Z axes are called pitching and yawing movements
respectively.
To control these movements,

Three Axes of Movements the airplane is provided with three principal controls, viz.,

• Elevator
• Rudder
• aileron.

Elevator

It consists of two flaps capable of moving up and down through an angle of 50° to 60°. They are
hinged to a fixed horizontal surface (called a tail plane or stabilizer) placed at the extreme rear of
the fuselage. It controls the pitching or up and down movements of the aircraft.

Rudder

It Consists of a streamlined flap hinged to a vertical fin provided at the tail end of the fuselage. It
can be moved right or left of the vertical axis through an angle of about 30°. It is utilized for the
turning or yawing movement of the aircraft.

Aileron

It is a hinged flap which is fixed in the trailing edge of the wing near the wing tip. It is so rigged
that when aileron in one wing is pulled up that in other is pulled down. The net effect gives a
very powerful rolling control to the aircraft. It is to balance the plane when tilted by a gust of
wind. It also permits to tilt the machine purposely like while describing a circle.

Flaps

These are somewhat like ailerons and are used in landing and takeoff. When they are projected
into the air, they produce immediate reduction in the speed of the aircrafts and thus serve as air
brakes.
Wheel Configuration of Aircraft

The various possible wheel configurations of aircraft are shown in Fig below
The landing gear system of an aircraft generally consists of two main gears provided in the
fuselage or in the wings near the junction of the wings and the fuselage.

The third wheel is provided either at the nose or at the tail.

The main gear assembly takes nearly 90% of the aircraft load, while the nose (or tail) gear
assembly takes only the balance 10% of the load.(The third wheel is preferably placed at the
nose and not at the tail.)

If there is only one wheel at each of the three points,it is called single-wheel assembly[Fig.(a)].If
there are two wheels at each of the three points of support,it is called dualw heel
assembly[Fig.(b)].

If there are two wheels for the nose gear and the main gear consists of two wheels at each point
with four points of support it is known as twin-tandem gear assembly [Fig.(c)]. There are eight
main gear wheels arranged in two rows in tandem, with four wheels in each point of support as
in the dual wheel assembly.

In general when a main gear has more than one wheel, it is known as multi-wheel assembly.

The main purpose of multi-wheel assembly is to distribute the aircraft load over a large contact
area of the runway pavement, so that a smaller thickness of the pavement is adequate.

The two main gears along with the nose gear form a tricycle arrangement; however,the system
shown in Fig. (d),in which the load is distributed on two gear assemblies placed along the axis of
the fuselage,without any nose or tail gear,is known as twin-twin bicycle gear arrangement.