See How It Flies Page 1 of 9 [Contents] [Next] [Comments or questions] Copyright © 1996-2001 jsd John S. Denker See How It Flies A new spin on the perceptions, procedures, and principles of flight. Contents Introduction Readership, Topics, and Objectives How to Use this Book 1 Energy Awareness and Energy Management 1.1 Total Energy Cannot Change 1.2 Energy Conversion 1.2.1 Converting Speed to Altitude and Back 1.2.2 Energy Per Unit Mass 1.2.3 Converting Fuel to Altitude 1.2.4 Power versus Energy 1.2.5 Drag and the Power Curve — Introduction 1.2.6 Rates of Energy Conversion 1.3 Effect of Controls on Energy 1.3.1 Power Budget — Using the Engine file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See... 6/6/2003 See How It Flies Page 2 of 9 1.3.2 The Effects of the Throttle 1.3.3 The Effects of the Yoke 1.3.4 Sizes of Energy Reservoirs 1.4 Energy Management Strategy 1.5 Summary: Energy Management 2 Angle of Attack Awareness and Angle of Attack Management 2.1 The Importance of Angle of Attack 2.2 Definition of Angle of Attack 2.3 Trim for Angle of Attack! 2.4 Three Contributions to Angle of Attack 2.5 Perceiving Pitch Angle 2.6 Making Changes in Angle of Attack 2.7 Fly with a Light Touch 2.8 Trim Won't Solve All The World's Problems 2.9 Pitch Attitude versus Angle of Attack 2.10 Power plus Attitude does not equal Performance 2.11 Estimating the Relative Wind 2.12 Airspeed Is Related to Angle of Attack 2.12.1 Airspeed versus Coefficient of Lift 2.12.2 Coefficient of Lift versus Angle of Attack 2.12.3 Correcting for Reduced Density 2.12.4 Correcting for Reduced Lift Requirements 2.12.5 Correcting for Increased Lift Requirements 2.12.6 Compute with Calibrated not Indicated Airspeed 2.12.7 Correcting for Slip 2.12.8 Drag and Lift-to-Drag Ratio 2.13 Not Everything Depends on Angle of Attack 2.13.1 Explicit Airspeed Limits 2.13.2 Maneuvering Speed 2.13.3 Overview of Limits and Performance Numbers 2.14 Relative versus Absolute Angle of Attack 2.15 Summary 3 Airfoils and Airflow 3.1 Flow Patterns Near a Wing 3.2 Pressure Patterns Near a Wing 3.3 Stream Line Curvature 3.4 Bernoulli's Principle 3.4.1 Magnitude 3.4.2 Altimeters; Static versus Stagnation Pressure 3.4.3 Compressibility 3.5 Stall Warning Devices 3.6 Air Is A Fluid, Not A Bunch of Bullets 3.7 Other Fallacies 3.8 Inverted Flight, Cambered vs. Symmetric Airfoils 3.9 Thin Wings 3.10 Circulation 3.10.1 Visualizing the circulation 3.10.2 How Much Circulation? The Kutta Condition 3.10.3 How Much Lift? The Kutta-Zhukovsky Theorem 3.10.4 Quantifying the Circulation 3.11 Mechanically-Induced Circulation 3.12 Lift Requires Circulation & Vortices 3.12.1 Vortices 3.12.2 Wake Turbulence file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See... 6/6/2003 See How It Flies Page 3 of 9 3.12.3 Induced Drag 3.12.4 Soft-Field Takeoff 3.13 Frost on the Wings 3.14 Consistent (Not Cumulative) Laws of Physics 3.15 Momentum in the Air 3.16 Summary: How a Wing Produces Lift 4 Lift, Thrust, Weight, and Drag 4.1 Definitions 4.2 Balance of Forces 4.3 Types of Drag 4.4 Coefficients, Forces, and Power 4.5 Induced vs. Parasite Drag 5 Vertical Damping, Roll Damping, and Stalls 5.1 Introduction and Overview 5.2 Vertical Damping 5.2.1 Origins of Vertical Damping 5.2.2 Loss of Vertical Damping 5.3 The Stall 5.3.1 Definition of Stall 5.3.2 Flying Beyond the Stall? 5.4 Roll Damping 5.4.1 Origins of Roll Damping 5.4.2 Loss of Roll Damping 5.4.3 Schemes to Increase Roll Damping 5.5 The Effect of Flaps 5.5.1 Effect on Stalling Speed 5.5.2 Effect on Incidence 5.5.3 Effect on Washout 5.5.4 Effect on Drag 5.5.5 Effect on Trim 5.6 Summary 6 Angle of Attack Stability, Trim, and Spiral Dives 6.1 The Basic Stability Principle 6.1.1 Center of Mass Too Far Aft 6.1.2 Center of Mass in the Middle 6.1.3 Center of Mass, Lift, and Area 6.1.4 Pitch-Axis Equilibrium 6.1.5 Canards Operate on the Same Principle 6.1.6 Beyond Decalage 6.1.7 Springs and Bobweights 6.1.8 Pitch Damping 6.1.9 Center of Mass Too Far Forward 6.1.10 Other Failure Modes 6.1.11 Practical Considerations 6.1.12 Phugoid Oscillations 6.2 Spiral Dive 6.2.1 Which Way Is Up? 6.2.2 Overview 6.2.3 General Discussion 6.2.4 Recovering From a Spiral Dive 6.2.5 Try It Yourself 6.3 Summary file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See... 6/6/2003 See How It Flies Page 4 of 9 7 More About Energy and Power 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Making Changes in Airspeed 7.2.1 Front Side of the Power Curve 7.2.2 Back Side of the Power Curve 7.2.3 Right versus Wrong Procedures 7.3 You Can Get Away With A Lot During Cruise 7.4 Let ``George'' Do It 7.5 Max Performance using the Power Curve 7.5.1 Best Rate of Climb 7.5.2 Zero Power Available 7.5.3 Best Angle of Climb 7.5.4 Power Depends on Altitude via True Airspeed 7.5.5 Other Power and Altitude Effects 7.5.6 Wind Effects 7.5.7 Weight Effects 7.6 Variations in the Power Curve 7.6.1 Power Curve Depends on Aspect Ratio 7.6.2 Sketching the Curve 7.6.3 Some Theory 7.6.4 Power Requirements versus Speed 7.6.5 Power Requirements versus Altitude 7.7 Energy Management Stunts 7.7.1 High-Speed Steep Descent 7.7.2 Low-Speed Steep Descent 7.7.3 Skimming in Ground Effect 7.8 Summary 8 Yaw-Axis Torque Budget 8.1 Overview 8.2 Yaw Stability 8.3 Yaw Damping 8.4 Helical Propwash 8.5 P-Factor 8.5.1 Blade Speed 8.5.2 Blade Angle 8.5.3 Initial Takeoff Roll 8.5.4 Observing P-Factor 8.6 Gyroscopic Precession 8.7 Canted Engine 8.8 Rudder Usage During Rolls 8.8.1 Analysis of a Roll 8.8.2 Designers' Tricks 8.8.3 Transitory Adverse Yaw 8.8.4 Steady Adverse Yaw -- Twisted Lift 8.8.5 Yaw-Axis Inertia 8.8.6 Amount of Rudder Required 8.8.7 Summary: Coordinated Turning Procedures 8.9 Long-Tail Slip 8.10 Boat Turn 8.11 Weathervaning During Taxi 8.12 Asymmetric Thrust 8.13 Yaw-Axis Torque Budget — Summary 9 Roll-Axis Torque Budget 9.1 Dihedral file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See... 6/6/2003 See How It Flies Page 5 of 9 9.2 Other Forms of Slip-Roll Coupling 9.3 Roll-Axis Stability 9.4 Differential Wingtip Speed; Overbanking 9.5 Rolling Moment due to Propeller Drag 9.6 Engine Inertia 9.7 Climbing and Descending Turns 9.8 Roll-Axis Torque Budget — Summary 10 Equilibrium, Stability, and Damping 10.1 Equilibrium 10.2 Stability 10.3 Damping 10.4 Relationship of Stability and Damping 10.5 Oleo-Pneumatic Struts 10.6 Oscillations 10.6.1 Analysis of Dutch Roll 10.6.2 How to Fight Oscillations 11 Slips, Skids, and Snap Rolls 11.1 A Lesson on Snap Rolls 11.2 Intentional Slips 11.3 Skids 11.4 Anticipate Correct Rudder Usage 11.5 Perceiving Slip, Perceiving Coordination 11.5.1 Looking Out the Side 11.5.2 Looking Out the Front 11.5.3 Using the Inclinometer Ball 11.5.4 Using the Seat of Your Pants 11.5.5 Intentional Slips 11.5.6 Slip Angle versus Bank Angle 11.6 Summary 12 Landing 12.1 Planning the Approach 12.2 Judging Left or Right 12.3 Judging High or Low; Rule of Thumb 12.4 Judging Pitch Attitude and Angle of Attack 12.4.1 Use Outside References and Trim 12.4.2 Observe and Control More Than One Thing 12.4.3 Correct for Wind 12.5 Other Perceptions 12.6 Basic ``Normal'' Landing 12.6.1 Short Final 12.6.2 Flare 12.6.3 Timing the Flare 12.6.4 Touchdown and Rollout 12.7 High-Performance Landing 12.7.1 Use the Right Configuration 12.7.2 Touch Down at the Right Point 12.7.3 Touch Down at a Low Speed 12.7.4 Use the Brakes 12.7.5 Summary: High-Performance Landing 12.8 Soft-field Landing 12.9 Crosswind Landing 12.10 Going Around 12.11 Learning to Land the Airplane file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See... 6/6/2003 See How It Flies Page 6 of 9 12.11.1 Maneuver by Reference to the Edge 12.11.2 Hesitation Takeoff 12.11.3 Practice Maneuvering at Altitude 12.11.4 Practice Flaring and Stalling at Altitude 12.11.5 Practice Flying in the Runway Environment 12.11.6 Learn Soft-Field Procedure First 12.11.7 Nose-High Rollout 12.11.8 Recovering from an Evil Zoom 12.11.9 Salvaging an Imperfect Flare 12.12 Fly with a Light Touch 12.13 Critique Your Own Landings 13 Takeoff 13.1 Simplest Takeoff 13.2 Normal Takeoff 13.3 Obstructed-Field Takeoff 13.4 Soft-Field Takeoff 13.5 Crosswind Technique 13.6 Multi-Engine Takeoff 13.7 Other Elements of the Takeoff 13.8 Decisionmaking 13.8.1 Monitoring Takeoff Performance (wrong) 13.8.2 Monitoring Takeoff Performance (right) 13.8.3 Causes of Diminished Power 13.8.4 Plan & Practice Rejected Takeoffs 13.9 Summary 14 Cross-Country Flying 14.1 Pilotage 14.1.1 Airports Make Good Landmarks 14.1.2 One-Dimensional Landmarks 14.1.3 Choose Distinctive Landmarks 14.1.4 Doglegs 14.1.5 Reality-Based Navigation 14.2 Dead Reckoning 14.2.1 Course 14.2.2 Distance, Time, and Airspeed 14.2.3 Crosswind Correction 14.2.4 The Wind Triangle 14.2.5 Discussion 14.3 Navigating by Instruments 14.3.1 Don't Be a Gauge Junkie 14.3.2 Navigation Systems 14.3.3 Off-Course Distance 14.3.4 Intended Heading 14.3.5 Cross Radials 14.3.6 Twisted VORs 14.4 Combined Techniques 14.5 Staying Un-Lost 14.6 Getting Un-Lost 14.6.1 Basics 14.6.2 When in Doubt, Climb 14.6.3 GPS or LORAN 14.6.4 VOR Cross Radials or VOR/DME 14.6.5 Ask ATC file://C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\b2edgbad\My%20Documents\Bruce\Aviation\Design\See..