From the moment an aircraft lands on the airport runway, there is little time for rest before it must embark on another long journey. With usually only a few hours in between flights, crew members and ground support technicians must offload passengers and cargo, clean the aircraft, and prepare it for its next flight. Known as the aircraft turnaround process, here’s the ins and outs of everything that goes on after aircraft touchdown.
A typical airplane flies through the sky by adjusting its three main axes of rotation. The pitch axis runs perpendicular to the aircraft’s body and allows it to rise or fall. The roll axis acts on the plane's body or fuselage and allows the nose to rotate circularly for angling the wings of the aircraft. At the same time, the yaw axis runs vertically through the center of the airplane, allowing pilots to control the directional rotation when turning left or right upon the yaw axis. This phenomenon is termed yawing, which is essential for monitoring and managing flight conditions to make them predictable and safe for all passengers.
Serving as an integral device found in all aircraft, a turn coordinator is a flight instrument designed to inform the pilot about the aircraft’s rate of turn, quality of turn, and other roll information. Such information enables pilots to navigate the sky with ease. That being said, this blog will provide an overview of turn coordinators and their importance.
Hi-Lok fasteners are a common aerospace component, coming in the form of a two-piece fastening assembly. As an all-purpose fastener, Hi-Lock components are regularly relied on for the construction of various aviation assemblies as a result of their ability to establish consistent torque on every fastener. In this blog, we will discuss the functionality and use of the Hi-Lok fastener, allowing you to better understand how it compares to other various options.
Air compressors are integral pieces of equipment that find use in a variety of industries, but when purchased new, can be very expensive. As such, purchasing used air compressors is common and can offer a number of benefits. Nonetheless, there are many factors one should consider prior to making a purchasing decision, ensuring you acquire a high quality machine at a low price point. Of all the factors one must keep in mind, finding a reputable supplier is at the forefront.
The flight control system is paramount for optimal aviation operations, allowing for pilots to govern the flight attitude of an aircraft from within the cockpit with ease. While control surfaces are quite useful, their deflection will often cause a small amount of resistance that can both decrease aerodynamic efficiency and make it difficult to maintain the positioning of a control surface. To remedy such issues, engineers often implement what are known as servo tabs to assist the movement of control surfaces.
Automatic test equipment (ATE) refers to common data acquisition and diagnostic tools that are used for the testing of numerous electronics. Utilized in industries ranging from aerospace to industrial automation, ATE ensures that electronic equipment functions as intended and is safe to use. As a result of their utilization and the industries that they serve, ATE are crucial for avoiding accidents and danger associated with malfunctioning electronics. To help you better understand the use of such systems, we will discuss their design, construction, and applications.
A typical aircraft is composed of countless fasteners and hardware pieces, all of which work together to maintain a secure and operable assembly for the means of undertaking flight operations. Across the millions of fasteners that are situated across a fuselage, many come in the form of washers. While varying in type to accommodate different needs and requirements, a conventional washer typically consists of a thin plate with a hole in its center. Generally, such components are implemented alongside a threaded fastener for the means of distributing loads, though they may also act as a spacer, wear pad, spring, locking device, vibration reducer, or preload indicating device. Due to their common implementation in aircraft and the important roles that they serve, it can be useful to have a general understanding of what types are often found in aircraft assemblies.
Aircraft propellers, otherwise known as airscrews, are devices capable of transforming the rotary motion of an engine into a slipstream that allows for forward movement. Propellers have long served aviation since its infancy, and such devices continue to be implemented on countless aircraft that are used across the globe for varying applications. As propeller and aircraft technology has advanced, new materials have found use for various structures. Composite blade propellers serve as the successor of metal propellers, providing various benefits that make them fairly advantageous. Despite their use in the aviation sector for more than a few decades, there are many popular misconceptions that tend to circulate about them. To dispel such misunderstandings, we will discuss the myths and facts of the propeller blade.
