AFOQT: Aviation Information Review

The aviation information section tests your knowledge of basic aviation information. This includes a variety of things including aircraft terminology, the basic physics involved in flight, and common airport information.

How Can I Improve My Ability to Answer These Questions?
Since these are all knowledge-based questions, you can improve your success rate here by reading up on aircraft operation and airport information.

Given below is an overview of the basics in these areas.

Fixed-Wing Aircraft
There are six basic components of a fixed-wing aircraft: wings; fuselage; tail assembly; landing gear; powerplant; and flight controls and control surfaces.

Wings
The wings are the primary airfoils of the plane. An airfoil is anything designed to produce lift when it moves through the air. The leading edge of an airfoil is thicker and rounder than the trailing edge, and the top surface of the airfoil has a greater curve than the bottom. The result is that air flows more quickly over the top of the wing, and the greater air pressure beneath pushes the wing, and thus the plane, upwards.
The wings connect to either side of the fuselage. Planes are designated as high-, mid-, and low-wing, depending on where the wings are attached. The wings themselves are described as either cantilever or semi-cantilever. A cantilever wing has sufficient internal support structures to keep it steady in its location. A semi-cantilever wing, on the other hand, requires additional external support structures. The trailing edge of a wing typically has two control surfaces attached by means of a hinge: flaps run from the fuselage to the middle of the wing, and ailerons run from the middle of the wing to the tip. By raising and lowering the ailerons, the pilot can roll the plane. The plane will roll when the ailerons are pointed in opposite directions. When the plane is cruising, however, these control surfaces are aligned with the rest of the wing. During takeoff and landing, both surfaces are extended, which increases the lift.
The distance from one wingtip to the other is the wingspan, and the distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge is called the chord. The chord line runs through the wing from leading edge to trailing edge: it divides the wing into upper and lower surfaces. The mean camber line runs along the inside of the wing, such that the parts of the wing above and below it are equal in thickness. The camber is the curvature of the airfoil: if an airfoil is heavily curved, it has a high camber. The thickness of a wing is measured at its greatest point. The shape of the wings when viewed from overhead is known as the planform.
When the wings are not attached parallel to the horizontal plane, the angle they make with the horizontal plane is called the dihedral angle. A positive dihedral wing angle (wings angling above the horizontal plane) keeps the plane stable when it rolls, as it will encourage the plane to return to its original position. This does diminish the maneuverability of the plane, which is why the wings of fighter jets are usually horizontal or even pointed slightly downwards (anhedral).
The shape of the wings has a major influence on the handling, maneuverability, and speed of the plane. Today's planes generally have a straight, sweep, or delta shape. Straight wings may be rectangular, elliptical (rounded), or tapered. They are commonly found on sailplanes, gliders, and other low-speed aircraft.
A swept wing provides better handling at high speeds, but makes the plane slightly less stable at low speeds. Since most modern aircraft are designed to operate at high speeds, this is the most commonly used wing style. Wings may be swept forward or back, though forward-swept wings are rarely seen. In general, a higher angle of sweep is used for planes that are meant to travel faster and be more maneuverable; however, more extreme sweeps require much greater speeds for takeoff and landing.
The delta wing shape is triangular, so that the leading edge of the wing has a high sweep angle while the trailing edge is mostly, if not completely, straight. A delta shape enables the plane to travel but also requires very high takeoff and landing speeds. Many of the earliest supersonic aircraft used the delta wing shape, as did the space shuttles.

Fuselage
The fuselage is the main body of the airplane. The basic features of the fuselage are the cockpit, cabin, cargo area, and attachment points for external components, like the wings and landing gear. Some planes designed for specific purposes may not have all of these components; for instance, a fighter jet will not have a cabin for passengers or a cargo area, since it needs to be light and maneuverable. The fuselage may be described as either truss or monocoque, depending on whether its strength is created by triangular arrangements of steel or aluminum tubing or by bulkheads, stringers and formers. A stringer is a support structure that runs the length of the fuselage, while a former runs perpendicular.

Tail Assembly
The tail assembly, or empennage, includes the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, elevators, rudders, and trim tabs. The stabilizers are fixed (non-adjustable) surfaces that extend from the back end of the fuselage. The elevators are positioned along the trailing edges of the horizontal stabilizers; the pilot can move them to raise or lower the nose of the plane. The rudders are connected to the trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer, and are used to move the nose of the plane to the left or right, typically in combination with the ailerons. The trim tabs, finally, are movable surfaces that extend off the trailing edges of the rudder, elevators, and ailerons, and are used to make smaller adjustments.

Landing Gear
The landing gear usually consists of three sets of wheels used for takeoffs and landings, though some planes have special non-wheel landing gear for landing on snow or water. Landing gear is commonly retractable, meaning that it is pulled up inside the plane during flight to reduce drag. In a typical arrangement, wheel sets are positioned either under each wing or on the sides of the fuselage, with the third wheel set being under the nose or the tail. Having the third wheel set under the nose, known as tricycle arrangement, is the most common arrangement on modern aircraft, but having the third wheel set under the tail is still known as conventional arrangement. Whether located under the tail or the nose, the third wheel will typically be able to rotate so that the plane can turn while traveling on the ground. The addition of extra wheels to each set allows the plane to handle a greater weight.

Powerplant
In aviation, the powerplant is the part of the plane that supplies the thrust. A jet engine operates by compressing the air that comes in the front, burning it along with fuel, and then blasting it out the back. There are different methods for compressing the air, but most jet engines do so by slowing it down with a set of small rotating blades. This greatly increases the air pressure at the front of the engine. The compressed air is then forced into a different section, where it is mixed with fuel and burned. As it then expands, it is pushed at great force through a series of turbines, the turning of which moves the compressor blades at the front of the engine, supplying both power and air. The exhausted air then passes out the back of the engine, which propels the plane forward. Some jet engines have afterburners, which feed extra fuel into the area between the turbines and the rear exhaust, increasing forward thrust.
In a propeller plane, on the other hand, the powerplant is the propellers and the engine. The propellers have tilted blades, which push air backwards and thereby push the plane forward. There are two types of propeller: fixed-pitch or variable-pitch. The blade angle of a fixed-pitch propeller cannot be adjusted by the pilot. Variable-pitch propellers allow the pilot, usually indirectly via the plane's control systems, to adjust the pitch of the propeller blades to alter the amount of thrust being generated. Some variable-pitch propellers are designed to operate only at a single rotational speed, allowing the engine to be much simpler and more efficient, so the amount of thrust is controlled entirely by the pitch of the blades. These are known as constant-speed propellers.
The engines of a propeller plane turn the crankshafts, which turn the propellers. The engines also are responsible for powering the plane's electrical system. The location of the engines on a propeller plane may vary.
Single-engine planes typically have their engines in front of the fuselage, while multi-engine planes usually have their engines underneath the wings. Some multi-engine planes have engines in both locations.

Flight Envelope
During flight, there are four forces a pilot must manage: lift, gravity, thrust, and drag. These forces act downward (gravity), upward
(lift), forward (thrust), and backward (drag). The collective input of these forces is known as the flight envelope.

Gravity
The weight of a plane is the primary force that must be overcome for flight to take place. The force of gravity on a given object is the same, regardless of orientation, though it varies slightly with large changes in altitude.
Aviation experts distinguish between different types of weight. The basic weight includes the aircraft and any internal or external equipment that will remain a part of the plane during flight. The operating weight is the basic weight plus the crew and any other nonexpendable items not included in the basic weight. The gross weight is the total weight of the aircraft and all contents at any given time. The weight of the airplane when it has no usable fuel is called the zero-fuel weight.

Lift
In order to overcome gravity, the plane must generate lift.
Lift is the upward force of air pressure on the aircraft, primarily the wings, that allows it to achieve and maintain altitude. In order to generate lift, the plane typically must be traveling forward at considerable speed.
If the wing tilts too far back the airflow may stop over the wing's upper surface, which will result in a rapid loss of altitude and often control of the plane. This is known as a stall, and it may be avoided by decreasing the angle of attack, so that normal airflow over the top of the wing is not interrupted.

Thrust
The speed required for generating lift is provided by the aircraft's thrust. It ensures that the aircraft is able to continue moving forward at sufficient speed to generate lift. As was discussed in the previous section, thrust is generated by the powerplant of the aircraft, usually one or more jet engines or propellers.

Drag

An aircraft's thrust is countered by drag, the resistance to forward movement provided by the air that the aircraft is traveling through. At anything above normal walking or running speeds, air resistance is a noticeable hindrance to motion, and it only increases as airspeed goes up. The primary implication that this has on aircraft is that the faster the aircraft goes, the more thrust is required just to overcome the drag and maintain a constant speed.
There are two types of drag: profile drag and induced drag.
Profile drag is the drag that exists when any object moves through the air. It is the result of the plane pushing air aside as it moves. Profile drag can be minimized by designing the aircraft to have a better wind profile. Induced drag, on the other hand, is drag that results from the wings generating lift. Part of the process of generating lift involves the wings redirecting the oncoming air downward (think Newton's third law), and this causes additional drag.

Atmospheric Conditions
The flight envelope is significantly affected by the atmospheric conditions, primarily the density of the surrounding air and the speed and direction of any wind. The density is turn determined by the temperature, pressure, and humidity of the air. Lower temperatures, higher pressures, and lower humidity are all associated with higher density air. Denser air will produce greater lift, but will also produce more drag. Air pressure is most closely associated with altitude. In general, pressure decreases with altitude, so as you go higher up, the pressure of the surrounding air decreases.
With regard to wind, flying into the wind (headwind) has a similar type of impact to flying in denser air, though of much greater magnitude. In a headwind, the aircraft will have a higher speed relative to the surrounding air, which means it will experience greater drag and lift forces. Similarly, if the aircraft is flying the same direction as the wind (tailwind), it will have a lower speed relative to the surrounding air, and will experience reduced drag and lift.

Flight Concepts and Terminology

Flight Attitude
The flight attitude is described in terms of three axes, all of which meet at the plane's center of mass.
The longitudinal axis is the axis that extends from the center forward toward the nose and rearward toward the tail. The lateral axis extends from the center out to the right and left, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Typically, the lateral axis passes through (over/under) the wings. Both of these axes are in the horizontal plane when the aircraft is level. The vertical axis meanwhile extends straight upward and downward from the aircraft's center, perpendicular to the other two axes. The motion of the aircraft can be described in relation to these axes: Rotation about the longitudinal axis is called roll; rotation about the lateral axis is called pitch; rotation about the vertical axis is called yaw. In turn, these three types of motion are controlled by three sets of flight control surfaces. Roll is controlled by the ailerons, pitch by the elevators, and yaw by the rudder. This information is summarized in the table below, and is expanded upon below.

Axis - Motion  - Control surface

Longitudinal  - Roll  - Ailerons
Lateral - Pitch - Elevators
Vertical - Yaw - Rudder

Flight Controls
Flight controls are divided into primary and secondary groups.

Primary
The primary flight control surfaces are the ailerons, rudder, and elevator.
The ailerons are responsible for the roll, or movement around the longitudinal axis. The ailerons extend from the trailing edges of the wings as shown in the figure below and can be manipulated by the pilot to cause the wing to either dip below or elevate above the horizontal plane.

The joystick (or control wheel) controls the roll of the aircraft. By pushing the stick (or turning the wheel) to the left, the pilot raises the left aileron and lowers the right aileron, causing the left wing to dip and the right wing to elevate.
The elevators control the plane's pitch, or movement around the lateral axis. They are attached to the trailing edges of the horizontal stabilizers at the rear of the aircraft. Depending on the design of the plane, there may be one elevator that extends across the length of the horizontal stabilizer, or there may be two elevators, divided by the vertical stabilizer, as shown in the figure below. When the elevators are undivided, they are sometimes referred to as a stabilator.

The joystick also controls the pitch of the aircraft. By pulling the stick back, the pilot raises the elevators, causing the tail of the plane to experience downward force, thus raising the nose of the plane. Pushing the stick forward will have the opposite effect on the elevators and will result in the nose of the plane dropping as the tail is pushed upward.
The rudder is a large flap attached by a hinge to the vertical stabilizer. It controls the motion of the plane around its vertical axis. The rudder can swing to the right or the left, causing the plane to turn (yaw) in either direction.

The rudder is controlled with two pedals: when the pilot pushes on the right pedal, the rudder swings out to the right, causing leftward pressure on the tail of the aircraft. This results in the nose of the plane turning to the right. Similarly, if the pilot pushes on the left pedal, the rudder will swing to the left, causing the tail to move right, and the nose to turn left.
The pilot also controls the amount of power or thrust being produced by the engines by manipulating the throttle. It is considered a primary flight control because the pilot must manage the thrust to ensure that the plane will be able to accomplish its intended maneuvers. With all three of the primary control surfaces, it is important to remember that the speed of the aircraft relative to the surrounding air determines the magnitude of the aircraft's response to the control. A plane that is traveling at 300 mph will roll much more quickly than one that is traveling at 200 mph in response to the same amount of aileron manipulation. The same is true of the other two types of motion.
Flight maneuvers usually involve the use of multiple controls. To make a proper turn, for instance, the pilot will need to employ the rudder, ailerons, and elevators. The bank is established by raising and lowering the ailerons, and the rudder pedals counteract any adverse yaw that occurs. Adverse yaw is the drifting of the nose caused by the extra drag on the downward-pointing aileron. Also, because extra lift is needed during a turn, the pilot must increase the angle of attack by applying downward elevator pressure. The amount of back elevator pressure required will be in proportion to the sharpness of the turn. This will be discussed in greater detail in the section on flight maneuvers.

Secondary
The secondary flight control surfaces include the flaps and leading-edge devices, spoilers, and trim systems.
The flaps are connected to the trailing edges of the wings; they are raised or lowered to adjust the lift or drag. The retractable flaps on modern airplanes make it possible to cruise at a high speed and land at a low speed. On the opposite end of the wing, leading-edge devices accomplish much the same purpose. There are a number of different leading-edge devices: fixed slats, moveable slats, and leading-edge flaps.
Spoilers are attached to the wings of some airplanes in order to diminish the lift and increase the drag. Spoilers can also be useful for roll control, in part because they reduce adverse yaw. This is accomplished by raising the spoiler on the side of the turn. This reduces the lift and creates more drag on that side, which causes that wing to drop and the plane to bank and yaw to that side. If both of the spoilers are raised at the same time, the plane can descend without increasing its speed. Raising the spoilers also improves the performance of the brakes, because they eliminate lift and push the plane down onto its wheels.
Trim systems exist mainly to ease the work of the pilot.
They are attached to the trailing edges of one or more of the primary control surfaces. Small aircraft often have a single trim tab attached to the elevator.
This tab is adjusted with a small wheel or crank, and its position is displayed in the cockpit. When the tab is deflected upwards, the trailing edge of the elevator is forced downward and the tail is pushed up, which lowers the nose of the plane.
Typically, a pilot first will achieve the desired pitch, power, attitude, and configuration, and then use the trim tabs to resolve the remaining control pressures. There are control pressures generated by any change in the flight condition, so trimming is necessary after any change.
Trimming is complete when the pilot has eliminated any heaviness in the nose or tail of the plane.

Flight Maneuvers
The four basic maneuvers in flight are straight-and-level flight, turning, climbing, and descending. As the name suggests, straight-and-level flight involves keeping the aircraft headed in a particular direction at a particular altitude. Maintaining straight-and-level flight requires frequent adjustment, much the same way as the driver of a car has to make frequent adjustments to maintain a straight path on a windy day or when driving on a rough uneven road.
Making a smooth turn requires the use of all four primary controls: the throttle is set to achieve a speed suitable to the desired type of turn, the ailerons bank the wings and the elevators raise the nose to establish the rate of turn, and the rudder is employed to counter any undesired yaw resulting from the effects of the other controls or to introduce desired yaw.
There are three classes of turn: shallow, medium, and deep.
A shallow turn has a bank of less than 20 degrees. At angles this shallow, most planes will tend to try to stabilize themselves back to a level angle, so the pilot must maintain some pressure on the stick to ensure that the plane doesn't pull out of the bank prematurely. A medium turn has a bank of roughly 20 to 45 degrees. Most planes will tend to stay in a medium bank until the pilot makes an adjustment. Finally, a steep turn is one in which the bank is greater than 45 degrees. For angles this steep, most planes will tend to try to increase the banking angle even further unless the pilot counters that tendency by maintaining some pressure on the stick in a stabilizing direction.
While the pilot is getting the plane to the desired bank angle, he will also be pulling back on the stick to ensure that the nose of the plane does not dip during the bank. This also serves to increase the rate at which the plane turns its heading. In general, the steeper the bank, the more sharply the pilot must pull back on the stick to maintain altitude. Because the lowered aileron on the raised wing generally creates more drag than the raised aileron on the lowered wing, the airplane tends to yaw in the direction opposite to the turn. For this reason, the pilot must at the same time apply rudder pressure in the direction of the turn.
To initiate a climb, an aircraft's nose is angled upward so that it gains altitude. Several things that remain constant while the aircraft is flying level change when the nose of the plane is raised. The two most significant are the effective angle of gravity and the angle of attack of the wings.
When the aircraft is level, gravity acts entirely in direction of the vertical axis of the plane. When the plane angles upward, the force of gravity, which still acts straight down like before, now has a component in the longitudinal direction, since the rear of the plane is now pointed slightly toward the ground. Additionally, since raising the noise of the aircraft increases the angle of attack of the wings, the amount of drag the aircraft experiences goes up considerably during a climb. This means that, in order to maintain flight, the thrust must now overcome both an increased amount of drag and part of the force of gravity.
If the nose of the aircraft is raised to quickly or without a sufficient increase in thrust to account for the changing flight conditions, the aircraft may stall. The most common cause of a stall is the plane not generating enough thrust to maintain air speed, which means that the lift being generated by the wings is not sufficient to keep the plane in the air, so the plane ceases to fly in a practical sense and instead begins to fall. To correct a stall, the pilot must angle the nose of the aircraft steeply downward and increase the throttle to generate enough airspeed in the forward direction so that the control surfaces are effective in controlling the flight of the plane again, and pull out of the dive. As should be apparent from this description, recovering from a stall involves significant loss of altitude, which makes stalling at low altitudes extremely dangerous.
There are a few different styles of controlled descent, but they all involve manipulation of the same two factors: pitch and thrust. By angling the nose of the plane downward, the pilot reduces the angle of attack of the wings and consequently reduces the amount of lift generated by the wings. This causes the plane to lose altitude. Similarly, by pulling back on the throttle, the pilot reduces the amount of thrust being generated, which in turn reduces the plane's air speed and the amount of lift generated by the wings, also resulting in a loss of altitude.
A glide is a controlled descent in which little or no engine power is used, and the plane drifts downward at a regular pace. The pilot manages a glide by balancing the forces of lift and gravity as they act on the plane.
When a pilot is executing a landing, the nose of the plane will actually be angled upward, but the throttle will be pulled way back to ensure that the plane continues its descent all the way to the ground.

Helicopters
In many ways, the operation of a helicopter is based on the same fundamentals as airplane flight. A helicopter is subject to the same four fundamental forces of lift, weight, thrust, and drag. Unlike an airplane, however, a helicopter applies most of its thrust vertically. When a helicopter flies at a constant speed in a stable horizontal path, the lift is equal to the weight and the forward thrust is equal to the drag. The helicopter will increase its horizontal speed if the thrust is greater than the drag, and will increase its altitude if the lift is greater than the weight. If the helicopter is hovering (i.e., not moving at all), there is no drag or forward thrust; only gravity and vertical thrust or lift, which are balanced.
The manner in which a helicopter generates lift is considerably different from that of an airplane. Whereas a plane derives its lift from the natural flow of air over the wing, the helicopter spins its 'wing' rapidly and at a variable angle, giving it a variety of options for angles of attack. Because the main rotor of the helicopter is being torqued with such great force, it exerts the same amount of torque back on the fuselage of the helicopter but in the opposite direction (Newton's third law again). This necessitates a tail rotor to provide the force required to the keep the fuselage from spinning around while in flight. This function of the tail rotor is called torque control. Manipulation of the tail rotor is also used to change the heading of the helicopter.

Helicopter Controls
Piloting a helicopter requires the use of three controls: the cyclic (stick), the collective, and the directional control system. The cyclic controls the longitudinal and lateral movement of the helicopter by adjusting the tilt of the main rotor. Moving the stick forward tilts the rotor forward, which in turn pushes the helicopter forward.
The collective is a tube running up from the cockpit floor to the left of the pilot. It has a handle that may be raised or lowered to affect the pitch, as well as a throttle that wraps around the handle and can be used to alter the engine torque. The collective controls the angle of the main rotor blades. If the handle is pulled up, the leading edge of the rotor blade lifts relative to the trailing edge.
The directional control system is a pair of pedals the pilot uses to alter the pitch of the tail rotor blades. Pressing one or the other of the pedals will cause the tail rotor to exert more or less force on the fuselage, which will in turn affect the heading of the helicopter.
A helicopter pilot must use all three of the controls at the same time. The cyclic and collective adjust the action of the main rotor, which must be compensated for with adjustment to the tail rotor. For instance, if the speed of the main rotor increases during a climb, the pilot will need to increase the amount of force generated by the tail rotor to ensure the fuselage does not begin to rotate.
If the helicopter loses engine power for some reason, the pilot will need to rely on autorotation, or the spinning of the rotors that is generated by airflow rather than the engine. The amount of torque on the fuselage will be smaller during autorotation, but it will still be enough to require the use of the tail rotor.

Unique Forces
A helicopter generates some other forces that distinguish it from an airplane. Translational lift is extra lift a helicopter experiences when traveling in a forward direction.
The Coriolis force is another physical phenomenon related to helicopters. The Coriolis force is the increase in rotational speed that occurs when the weight of a spinning object moves closer to the rotation center. In the case of a helicopter, having a greater portion of the weight closer to the base of the blade will cause the rotor to move faster, or to require less power to move at the same rotational speed.
If the main rotor increases the flow of air over the rear part of the main rotor disc, then the rear part will have a smaller angle of attack. The result of this will be less lift in the rear part of the rotor disc. This is called the transverse flow effect. However, when a force is applied to a spinning disc, the effects will occur ninety degrees later.
This phenomenon is known as gyroscopic precession.

Airport Information

At an airport, the areas controlled by the aircraft traffic controller are called the movement (or maneuvering) areas. These include the runways and taxiways. Runways may be composed of all different materials, ranging from grass and dirt to asphalt and concrete. At a general aviation airport, the runways may be as little as 800 feet long and 26 feet wide, while an international airport may have runways that are 18,000 feet long and 260 feet across. The markings on a runway are white, but are usually outlined in black so that they may be better seen. Taxiways and areas not meant to be traveled by aircraft are marked in yellow.
There are three basic types of runway: visual, nonprecision instrument, and precision instrument. Visual runways are typical of small airports: they have no markings, though the boundaries and center lines may be indicated in some way. They are called visual runways because the pilot must be able to see the ground in order to land. It is not possible to land a plane on a visual runway simply with the use of instruments.
With a nonprecision instrument runway, a pilot may be able to make his approach using instruments. Specifically, this sort of runway can provide feedback on the horizontal position of the plane as it nears.
Nonprecision instrument runways are commonly found at small and medium airports. These runways may have threshold markings, centerlines, and designators. These runways may also have a special mark, called an aiming point, between 1000 and 1500 feet long along the centerline of the runway.
Medium and large airports will have precision instrument runways, which give the pilot feedback on both horizontal and vertical position when the plane is on instrument approach. A precision instrument runway includes thresholds, designators, centerlines, aiming points, blast pads, stopways, and touchdown zone marks every 500 feet from the 500-foot to the 3000-foot mark.
Runways are named according to their direction on the compass, ranging from 01 to 36. So, for instance, due south would be runway 18
('one-eight'), and due west would be runway 27 ('two-seven'). In North America, the runways are named in accordance with geographic (grid) north, rather than magnetic north. Of course, a runway may have two names, one for each direction in which it is used. The same runway may be referred to as runway 05 ('zero-five') or runway 23 ('two-three') depending on the direction it is being used on a given day. In most cases, fixed-wing aircraft take off and land against the wind, because the extra amount of air over the wing will increase lift (and reduce the required ground speed).
In the event that multiple runways travel in the same direction, they will be distinguished from each other by their relative positions according to an observer on approach from the appropriate direction: left or right runway if there are only two; left, right, or center runway if there are three. Of course, a runway that is on the right when travelling in one direction will be on the left when it is being used in the opposite direction.
In most cases, runway lights are operated by the airport control tower. There are a number of different components to a runway lighting system. A Runway Centerline Lighting System is a line of white lights mounted every fifty feet along the centerline. When the approaching plane gets within 3000 feet of the runway, the lights begin to blink red and white; when the plane gets within 1000 feet, the lights become solid red. Precision instrument runways have runway end lights and edge lights. Runway end lights run the width of both ends of the runway: from the ground these lights appear red, while they appear green from above. Runway edge lights run the length of the runway on both sides. This lighting typically changes color as well when the plane gets within a certain distance of the front end of the runway. There are similar lights marking the boundaries of taxiways. An Approach Lighting System is a set of strobe lights and/or lightbars that indicate the end of the runway from which descending aircraft should arrive. Runway end identification lights are synchronized lights that flash at the runway thresholds. At some airports these lights face in every direction, while at others they only face the direction from which planes approach. Runway end identification lights are useful when the runway doesn't stand out from the surrounding area, or when visibility is poor.
Some big airports also have Visual Approach Slope Indicators, which give the incoming pilot useful information. In a typical VASI system, white lights indicate the lower glide path limits and red lights indicate the upper. The VASI should be visible for twenty miles at night, and for three to five miles during the day under normal conditions. An effective VASI should keep the plane clear of obstructions so long as it remains within approximately ten degrees of the extended runway centerline and within four nautical miles of the runway threshold.



Practice Questions

1. What would be the name of a runway that the pilot approaches while heading due east? a. Runway 01 b. Runway 09 c. Runway 27 d. Runway E e.Runway B

2. Which part of a fixed-wing airplane supplies the thrust? a. tail assembly b. control surfaces c. fuselage d. landing gear e.powerplant

3. What is the path of the chord line on a wing? a. from leading edge to trailing edge, through the wing b. from leading edge to trailing edge, along the surface of the wing c. along the inside of the wing, such that the upper and lower wings are equal in thickness d. from one wingtip to the other
e.from wingtip to fuselage

4. Which of the following statements about a medium bank is true? a. A plane will tend to level out from a medium bank unless there is input from the pilot. b. A plane that is put into a medium bank will tend to increase its bank unless the ailerons are applied. c. A medium bank is between ten and thirty degrees. d. A medium bank is between thirty and fifty degrees. e. A plane will tend to remain in a medium bank until the pilot makes an adjustment.

5. Which of the following is NOT one of the four basic maneuvers in flight? a. turn b. spin c. straight-and-level flight d. climb e.descent


Practice Answers

1. B: The name of a runway pointing due east would be Runway 9. The names of runways are based on the compass. A runway pointing due south would be Runway 18, and a runway pointing due west would be Runway 27. Of course, every runway will be called by two names, depending on which direction planes are traveling on it. Runway 9 will become Runway 27 when the planes travel west rather than east. When the names of runways are spoken, each number in the name is stated individually. So, Runway 24 would be spoken, 'Runway Two-Four' rather than 'Runway Twenty-four.'

2. E: The powerplant supplies the thrust for a fixed-wing aircraft. The powerplant may be a jet engine or an engine and a set of propellers. Thrust is the force that propels the plane forward.

3. A: The chord line runs through the wing from the leading edge to the trailing edge. This line divides the upper and lower surfaces of the wing. This is one of the key elements of wing design. The distance from one wingtip to the other, meanwhile, is called the wingspan. The mean camber line runs along the inside of the wing, such that the upper and lower wings are equal in thickness.

4. E: A plane will tend to remain in a medium bank until the pilot makes an adjustment. A medium bank is between 20 and 45 degrees. A shallow bank, on the other hand, is less than 20 degrees, and requires the assistance of the ailerons to maintain itself. A steep bank is greater than 45 degrees. When a plane enters a steep bank, it will tend to increase the bank unless the ailerons are used to prevent this. Turning occurs because of the forces that act on a banked wing. The plane will be pushed in a direction perpendicular to the wings.

5. B: Spin is not one of the four basic maneuvers in flight. Straight-and-level flight, turns, climbs, and descents are the four basic flight maneuvers. Straight-and-level flight occurs when the plane maintains a constant altitude and is pointed in the same direction. Of course, maintaining the same altitude and direction requires a number of adjustments.
Turns are made by banking the wings in the direction of the turn: that is, for example, turning to the right requires lowering the right wing. A climb requires raising the nose of the plane and increasing the power from the engine. Finally, there are a few types of descent. A plane may descend with its nose up, down, or level.