Flight
The science of flight within the atmosphere
What is Aeronautics?
This is when warm air rises into the colder air at higher altitudes, it cools and then stops rising. After a period of "hanging around," the air begins to sink back toward the Earth
What is Convection?
The four cycles of a modern internal combustion engine
What are Intake, Compression, Ignition, and Exhaust?
Avery important instrument records the difference between still air (static) and air that is being rammed into the system. Compared to a car, it is the airplane’s “speedometer.”
What is the airspeed indicator
This gas accounts for 78% of the earth's atmosphere
What is Nitrogen?
A force which slows the forward movement of an aircraft in flight
What is Drag?
This is a column of air that moves upwards, used by Gliders to stay in the air
What is a Thermal?
Device that converts chemical energy into mechanical energy
What is an Internal combustion engine?
This gauge monitors and displays the speed at which the propeller or engine drive shaft rotates
What is the tachometer?
This is the first layer of the atmosphere where most of the Earth’s weather occurs
What is the troposphere?
This law of gravity states, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
What is the the third law of motion?
This is known as the height or distance above a reference plane
What is Altitude?
This is a mixture of gasoline and air in which there is more gasoline and less air than needed for normal combustion
What is a rich mixture?
When the airplane levels off at a given altitude, and the pressure stabilizes, another instrument reads this as zero
What is the vertical speed (velocity) indicator?
This is boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere
What is the tropopause?
A spinning column of air that is created behind the wingtip as a result of air moving from an area of high pressure on the bottom to an area of low pressure on top
What is a vortex?
This is the atmosphere's resistance to vertical motion
What is stability?
This is an enclosed container in which fuel and air are burned for the production of energy
What is a combustion chamber?
This has a small rotating wheel, called a rotor, that is mounted on an axle
What is a Gyroscope?
This is a region of the atmosphere where electrons are gained or lost
What is the ionosphere?
Brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier created this on November 21st, 1973
What is a hot air balloon?
This is a mathematical relationship between the distance an aircraft will move forward to the altitude that is lost
What is the Glide Ratio?
In most training airplanes used by the Civil Air Patrol, these are the only two engine controls
What are the Throttle and mixture controls?
This system is used to measure airspeed, altitude, and vertical speed
What is the pitot static system?
This is the rate of decrease with an increase in height for pressure and temperature
What is lapse rate?