History & Pioneers
Ancient humans observed these animals to find the earliest inspiration for flight.
What are birds?
This force works opposite to thrust and slows an airplane down.
What is Drag?
This part of a hot air balloon is responsible for heating the air to generate lift.
What is the burner?
This sector of aviation involves flying passengers or cargo for hire on scheduled routes (like Delta or United).
What is Commercial Aviation?
The success of this group of African-American pilots in WWII led to the eventual integration of the US military.
Who are the Tuskegee Airmen?
This Renaissance artist and inventor sketched the "aerial screw" (helicopter) and a pyramid-shaped parachute.
Who is Leonardo da Vinci?
According to Archimedes' principle, a hot air balloon rises because the hot air inside is less dense than this.
What is the cold air outside?
This type of engine, introduced widely after WWII, allowed aircraft to fly faster and above the weather.
What is a Jet Engine?
This sector covers all flights that are not military or scheduled commercial airlines, such as crop dusting or private flying.
What is General Aviation?
This US agency was established in 1958 specifically to win the Space Race against the Soviet Union.
What is NASA?
In Greek mythology, this character utilized wings made of feathers and wax to escape prison but flew too close to the sun.
Who is Icarus (or Daedalus)?
This scientific principle explains that lower pressure on top of a wing and higher pressure on the bottom creates lift.
What is Bernoulli’s Principle?
An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) includes the drone itself and this component used by the human operator.
What is the remote pilot station/controller?
One major economic benefit of commercial air travel is the creation of this.
What is economic growth (or jobs)?
The WAFS and WFTD merged to form this all-female group of pilots who ferried military planes during WWII.
Who are the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots)?
While she was the first American woman to get her license, this other pilot had to travel to France to learn to fly because of racial barriers in the US.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
Engineers use wind tunnels to test scale models of aircraft to remove this variable from testing.
What is weather?
This intake component is the first stage of a jet engine, sucking air into the compressor.
What is the Intake (or Fan)?
The US Postal Service used aviation to move mail faster than this previous primary method of transport.
What are railroads?
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched this satellite, sparking fears in the US that they were being spied on.
What is Sputnik?
Unlike early attempts that failed, the Wright Brothers succeeded because they created a powered aircraft that was also capable of this.
What is controlled flight?
A bird’s wing acts like an airplane wing to generate lift, but its feathers act like this aircraft part to generate thrust.
What is a propeller?
Early airmail pilots used these ground-based visual aids to navigate routes day and night before advanced radio comms.
What are beacons?
FAA regulations state that to fly a drone professionally (for work), you must be at least 16 and hold this specific document.
What is a Remote Pilot Certificate?
A major difference between WWI and WWII was that in WWII, controlling the air was often the deciding factor in winning this.
What is the battle on the ground?