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About The Author:
Born and raised in Chicagoland. Moved to St Louis in 1995 after bouncing around the world with the United States Air Force as a DJ and Management Engineer. Retired from the Air Force in 1998. Works full time as a National Radio Host and Operations Manager for the All Star Radio Networks (right here in St Louis). Joined WIL in 2006 after three years at KSD-FM and six years on K-Hits. Married to Gaynale (30 years). Two grown children Shauna and Brad. No grandchildren yet. My passions are Flying, Radio and being with my family. Catch me weekends on WIL.The Old Dawg Learns New Tricks- Part 3 of 12
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The Aerodynamic Principles of Flight a.k.a. Why the hell are we banking left again?
We'll gang it's time for installment #3 on my quest for to finish Private Pilot Ground School at SWIC. Last night we covered a lot of ground (er air) discussing the four forces that keep an airplane flying: They are Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag and one unwritten force $$$.
We harkened back to Newton's Three Laws and the Bernoulli Principle about as velocity increases pressure decreases and we get lift.
It's Kind of a Drag. We learned about the effects of drag on the aircraft. There is Parasite and Induced Drag and knowing the minimum drag coefficient we can determine a lot of things like fuel consumption, speed etc
We talked about spins and stalls and the different axis in flight: Longitudinal, Lateral and Vertical.
We also covered the Center of Gravity (CG) on an airplane. A BIG Hats off to the guys and gals who fly and work for the regional carriers. They have to determine if we have several big ole boys sitting on the right side of the plane, how much luggage goes on the other side of the plane so you don't end up making right turns for an hour. So if you're flying on what Ron White would describe as a "chewing gum pack with wings" don't be alarmed if the crew asks to reseat you. It has nothing to do with you, it's the weight of the OTHER people.
To answer a question I asked in opening the blog... Why are we turning left? Torque, gyroscopic precession, asymmetrical thrust from the propeller and spiraling slipstream impacting on the vertical stabilizer. No I'm not showing off, I woke up reciting that. Sad but true.
Next class we'll cover Airports, Aeronautical Charts and Air Space. I think I've got a good grasp on this, but we'll see on Thursday.
-Rik Out
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