Tag Archives: numbers
The alpha-beta of flying
Here’s some flying Greek from a flying geek: α alpha Angle of attack The vertical angle between the oncoming air and the zero-lift line of the wing, as shown (partly and imperfectly) by the airspeed indicator. β beta Sideslip The … Continue reading
Tagged numbers
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Low wings and the flare
Very often, I see people write that low-wing planes like my Piper Warrior have a longer flare (i.e. they float longer) than high-wing planes like the Cessna 172, usually based on the argument that lower wings benefit more from ground … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, numbers
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Power + Pitch = Stall (?)
Kris Johnson has a posting on holy wars in aviation, including the two variants of the very dangerous teaching that you control airspeed with pitch and power. The idea is that students learn to look out the window (which is … Continue reading
Tagged aviating, numbers, tips
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Canada vs. U.S.: how much do we fly?
Since both countries have statistics for 2003 available (U.S. stats, Canadian stats), and I thought it would be interesting to compare trends in Canada and the U.S. Unfortunately, statistics for the two countries do not follow the same categories, so … Continue reading
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Flying into the Wind
A comment by a fellow pilot got me thinking about headwinds and tailwinds. I started flying with serious misconceptions about how a headwind or tailwind affects a flight, and some of the bogus rules of thumb only makes things worse. … Continue reading
Speed and Fuel
My Warrior is one of the slower planes on the apron. It’s not as slow as some people claim, of course — under ideal conditions, I actually can get within 2-3 knots of the 127 knots true airspeed promised by … Continue reading
Speed and Power
In general, pilots are a pretty smart bunch of people, so I’m always surprised reading aviation mailing lists and newsgroups to learn how many of them don’t seem to have the slightest understanding of how to control their planes’ airspeed … Continue reading
Thumbing It: Altitude
Following my 1:60 rules of thumb, here are some rules of thumb that apply to altitude. Some of these, like pressure altitude, are basic stuff from any ground school, but some are not well understood. Density altitude is especially useful, … Continue reading
French Navigation
After reading my posting on the Rule of 60, Malcolm Teas kindly pointed me to a 1996 Usenet posting by Barry Silverman (originally written ten years ago, in October 1994) describing the French method of teaching pilot navigation. He also … Continue reading
Thumbing it: Playing with the Rule of 60
I enjoy the numbers in flying. That’s not to say that I’m one of those people who try to calculate everything to five decimal places like the FAA and Transport Canada (unrealistically) require on their tests; rather, I like the … Continue reading
Land and Hold Short 