Hello and welcome to your first flying lesson! This course is designed to give you the skills and confidence nescessary to fly small aircraft. If there is interest then i will continue to progress through to fighter pilot standard, but let's not run before we can walk hm? I have designed this course so anyone can understand and learn from it. Anyone can become a pilot, all that is needed is a keen mind and the desire to do so (a basic understanding of mathematics is also useful). This course is designed to appeal to both recreational pilots and careerists, as well as anyone else who is interested.
Learning to fly is not actually particularly difficult, nor does it take very long. Within the first 20 hours of flying time you will have learned all the basics of aviation. In this time habits are formed which stick with you for the rest of your flying days, and so the formation of good patterns early on is vital to becoming a good pilot.
In each lesson i will embolden key words, which you will need to know. At the end of each lesson i will list them to help you remember.
(Very) BASIC CONTROLS AND AIRCRAFT DESIGN
The basic training aircraft is simple in design and straightforward to operate. It has a control column (or wheel) to raise and lower the nose as well as to bank the aeroplane, a rudder to balance the aircraft and a throttle to supply engine power. The largest airliner's and the fastest fighter jets all have the same basic controls. In addition all fixed wing aircraft have the same aerodynamic surfaces, the wing , the fin and the tailplane but we will get onto that in more detail later in the course.
HOW AN AEROPLANE FLIES
When not in flight an aircraft is supported by the ground (obviously!). When airborne however it must generate its own support. It does this by modifying the flow of the air over the wings, generating a force known as lift.
The basic scientific principle behind flying is that the force pushing the wing upwards from beneath is greater than the force pushing downwards from above. This is how aircraft maintain height and climb, however to fully understand this you must know about air itself and this will be the focus of this particular lesson. Once we have got past this section we can move onto aircraft themselves.
AIR
The air itself is made up of many tiny molecules all of which are moving at high speeds and in random directions even though the parcel of air may itself be stationary. The molecules act like small tennis balls bouncing off any and all surfaces they come into contact with and exert a force upon it. The size of the force is greatest if the collision is 'head onâ and is smallest when it is a 'glancing blow'. The sum off these forces over a specific area is known as static pressure.Static pressure at any point in a fluid acts equally in all directions (air is a fluid).
Now I will introduce some more key terms and explain how they relate to flight. Not many more scientific words in this lesson please bear with me.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. Kinetic energy of a parcel of air in motion relative to an object allows the air to exert a force on the object. This force when calculated per unit of surface area, is called dynamic pressure.
Dynamic pressure in laymanâs terms is the force you feel on your hand if you stick it out of the window of a moving car.
The strength of this dynamic pressure depends on 2 factors
1) The speed of the body relative to the air. The faster the car is going or say the stronger the wind the more force you feel on your hand. This is due to the fact that more air molecules strike your hand per second.
2)The density of the air. At the same speed the denser the air the more air molecules per second will strike your hand and so the greater the dynamic pressure. This is why the top speeds of aircraft are always higher at altitude because the air is thinner but we will get on to that later in the fighter pilot section of the course
Relating this back to aircraft, the wings of an aircraft are designed so the airflow speeds up over its surface. This results in a lower static pressure above the wing than below it relating to what i said earlier in the lesson about the weight above and below the wing. This results in the aircraft being able to generate lift.
The effect is the same when air flows past the wing as when the wing moves through the air- the relative motion of one to the other. The actual lift depends not only on the static pressure but on the angle of the wing in relation to the air (angle of the wing = angle of attack). The higher the angle of attack (i.e steeper facing upwards) the faster the air will travel over the upper surface of the wing and the lower the static pressure will be. Therefore the higher the angle of attack the higher the lift.
In practical terms this means that more lift can be gained, but at the cost of a lower airspeed.
A limit occurs when the aeroplane slows to an airspeed at which the angle of attack reaches a critical value. Beyond this angle of attack the smooth airflow over the wing breaks down and becomes turbulent, causing a marked decrease in lift. The wing is said to be stalled.
The force that opposes the motion of the aeroplane through the air is called drag. In straight and level flight, drag is balanced by thrust from a propeller/jet engine.
Key Words of this Lesson:
control column rudder throttle wing fin tailplane lift static pressure kinetic energy dynamic pressure relative motion angle of attack smooth airflow turbulent drag thrust
probbly shouldent post license related lessons on a game forum, its kinda dangerous if some idiot actually tries to fly without proper lessons, still perdy awsome.
you could research all you want about planes, or you could go out and play ace combat games (like i did) and now i know a buncha plane names/basics of how they work
Good job, sounds more like a physics lesson. Oh wait that's what flying is.
That is pretty bang on actually. The first lesson is quite sciencey because these are concepts you have to be able to understand to progress.
probbly shouldent post license related lessons on a game forum, its kinda dangerous if some idiot actually tries to fly without proper lessons, still perdy awsome.
Probably wouuldn't be allowed to without some proof of qualification. This is supposed to assist people who are serious about flying. It is not meant to be the only thing they read before they go up. Plus, I have no responsibility over what people choose to do with this information. They have the freedom of choice.
i was actually looking into a pilot liscense once i am old enough (i think its 16 right?) but it is crazy expensive. Also i could never fit that many hours into getting the liscense.
i was actually looking into a pilot liscense once i am old enough (i think its 16 right?) but it is crazy expensive. Also i could never fit that many hours into getting the liscense.
If you really want to get a PPL but can't afford it, a good way is by joining the air cadets as they are known in this country. You canb get your flying license for free with them.
