Principles of Flight
CHALLENGE
This subject is about what makes a plane fly and the forces around it. A decent knowledge of physics is useful, though not essential in order to really understand the dynamics of moving an aircraft through the air at different velocities. The effects of different shaped aerofoils on lift and drag, the effects of acceleration and angle of attack, stalling, stability and so on. If you put your hand out of the window of a fast moving car and ‘fly’ it up and down, you’ve started to explore ‘angle of attack’.
SOLUTION
Our course covers all the topics, starting with a short introduction to Newton and the three laws. These seem quite simple and intuitive, and they are up to a point. It is the equations and principles that can be derived from them that make them so profound. They help us describe many things, from how an aircraft flies to plotting a satellite’s orbit. We will stick to how aircraft fly and what keeps them flying.
RESULT
The exam is 16 questions in 45 minutes.
This topic fits naturally with Aircraft General Knowledge and we recommend these two exams as part of a ‘sitting’. Both subjects are quite heavy on content, but it is all interesting and relevant with nothing too complex.