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  • Chapter 11: Aircraft Performance › Performance › Straight-and-Level Flight

    Level Flight All of the principal components of flight performance involve steady-state flight conditions and equilibrium of the aircraft. For the aircraft to remain in steady, level flight, equilibrium must be obtained by a lift equal to the aircraft ... weight and a powerplant thrust equal to the aircraft drag. Thus, the aircraft drag defines the thrust required to maintain steady, level flight. As presented in Chapter 4, Aerodynamics of Flight, all parts of an aircraft contribute to the drag…

  • Chapter 5: Aerodynamics of Flight › Aerodynamic Forces in Flight Maneuvers › Forces in Descents

    Figure 5-36. Changes in lift during climb entry. The thrust required for a stabilized climb equals drag plus a percentage of weight dependent on the angle of climb. For example, a 10° climb would require thrust to equal drag ... plus 17 percent of weight. To climb straight up would require thrust to equal all of weight and drag. Therefore, the angle of climb for climb performance is dependent on the amount of excess thrust available to overcome a portion…

  • Chapter 1: Introduction To Flying › Aircraft Classifications and Ultralight Vehicles

    Airplane—an engine-driven fixed-wing aircraft heavier than air, that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings. • Glider—a heavier-than-air aircraft, that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction ... against its lifting surfaces and whose free flight does not depend principally on an engine. • Lighter-than-air aircraft—an aircraft that can rise and remain suspended by using contained gas weighing less than the air that is displaced…

  • Chapter 5: Aerodynamics of Flight › Thrust

    Figure 5-2. Force vectors during a stabilized climb. Likewise, if the engine power is increased, thrust becomes greater than drag and the airspeed increases. As long as the thrust continues to be greater than the drag, the aircraft continues ... accelerate. When drag equals thrust, the aircraft flies at a constant airspeed. Straight-and-level flight may be sustained at a wide range of speeds. The pilot coordinates AOA and thrust in all speed regimes if the aircraft…

  • Chapter 2. Aeronautical Lighting and Other Airport Visual Aids › Section 1. Airport Lighting Aids › 2-1-6. Runway Status Light (RWSL) System

    When activated, the red lights indicate that there is high speed traffic on the runway or there is an aircraft on final approach within the activation area. 1. REL Operating Characteristics - Departing Aircraft: When a departing aircraft reaches a site ... adaptable speed of approximately 30 knots, all taxiway intersections with REL arrays along the runway ahead of the aircraft will illuminate (see FIG 2-1-9). As the aircraft approaches an REL equipped taxiway intersection, the lights at that intersection…

  • Chapter 7. Safety of Flight › Section 4. Wake Turbulence › 7-4-6. Vortex Avoidance Procedures

    Landing behind a larger aircraft- when parallel runway is closer than 2,500 feet. Consider possible drift to your runway. Stay at or above the larger aircraft’s final approach flight path- note its touchdown point. 3. Landing behind ... larger aircraft- crossing runway. Cross above the larger aircraft’s flight path. 4. Landing behind a departing larger aircraft- same runway. Note the larger aircraft’s rotation point-land well prior to rotation point. 5. Landing behind a departing larger…