- Industry: Aviation
- Number of terms: 16387
- Number of blossaries: 0
- Company Profile:
Aviation Supplies & Academics, Inc. (ASA) develops and markets aviation supplies, software, and books for pilots, flight instructors, flight engineers, airline professionals, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, aviation technicians and enthusiasts. Established in 1947, ASA also provides ...
A computer-based navigation system that tracks the movement of an aircraft by signals produced by onboard accelerometers. The initial location of the aircraft is entered into the computer, and all movement of the aircraft is sensed and used to keep the position updated. An INS does not require any inputs from outside signals.
Industry:Aviation
A concentrated mass used to balance a weight or a load. Counterweights are used on the movable control surfaces of an airplane to prevent the surface from fluttering in high-speed flight.
Industry:Aviation
A concept of a flying machine in which the wing is built in the form of a venturi tube. The engine and propeller are mounted inside the tube-shaped wing.
Industry:Aviation
A concept used to explain the action that takes place in a semiconductor material. A hole is a location in a covalent atomic bond where there should be an electron, but where there is none.
Holes are the mobile charges in a piece of P-type semiconductor material, and since they are located where an electron (a negative charge) should be, they act as positive charges.
Industry:Aviation
A condition existing in a metal which causes it to lose some of its strength. Fatigue occurs when the metal is subjected to a series of stress reversals, such as happens when the metal is repeatedly bent back and forth.
Industry:Aviation
A condition in a lead-acid storage battery in which both the positive and negative plates are covered with a hard deposit of lead sulfate. When a lead-acid battery discharges, the active material on both its plates changes into lead sulfate, which can be removed by recharging the battery. But if the battery is allowed to stand in a discharged state for a long period of time, the sulfate hardens and is difficult, if not impossible, to remove by normal recharging.
Industry:Aviation
A condition in a lubrication system in which oil passing through the engine picks up air which causes thousands of tiny bubbles to form. Foaming oil does not lubricate efficiently, neither does it adequately pick up heat. Foam is removed from the lubricating oil by passing the oil through a deaerator system.
Industry:Aviation
A condition in a turbine engine axial-flow compressor in which the angle of attack of one or more blades becomes excessive and the smooth airflow through the compressor is disrupted.
When only a few blades stall, the effect is minimal and is noticed by a fluttering or rumbling sound. When the entire compressor disk stalls, the effect can be a serious slowing down of the air through the engine. This can result in a loud explosive noise with a resulting RPM fluctuation and a serious increase in exhaust gas temperature. A compressor stall can occur if the airflow through the engine is restricted while the compressor RPM is high.
Industry:Aviation
A condition in airplane rigging in which a wing is twisted so its angle of incidence is greater at the tip than at the root. Washing-in a wing increases the lift to correct for a wing-heavy condition.
Industry:Aviation
A condition in airplane rigging in which a wing is twisted so its angle of incidence is less at the tip than at the root. Wash-out decreases the lift the wing produces. If an airplane is left-wing-heavy, the left wing can be washed in and the right wing washed out.
Industry:Aviation
