- 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 ...
An aircraft rivet whose head protrudes, or sticks up, above the surface of the metal it is used to join. The universal head rivet (MS20470) is the most commonly used protruding head rivet in modern aircraft construction.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft spark plug whose electrodes are made of small-diameter platinum wire. Platinum spark plugs are especially suited for use in reciprocating engines whose fuel contains a large amount of tetraethyl lead. Tetraethyl lead produces lead oxides inside the firing-end cavity of a spark plug, and enough of this oxide can build up to foul the spark plug, preventing its firing.
Fine-wire platinum electrodes allow the firing-end cavity to be open enough that the gases containing the lead are blown out, preventing the formation of the lead buildup. Platinum can operate at such high temperatures that any lead deposits which form on the electrodes will immediately burn off.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft structural member used to give a fuselage its shape. The truss structure of an aircraft fuselage provides the necessary strength, but its cross section is usually square or triangular and does not have the clean aerodynamic shape needed for streamlining.
Formers of wood or light metal are attached to the truss, and stringers (lightweight strips of metal or wood) are placed over the formers to give the fuselage its shape. All of this structure is covered with fabric or thin sheet metal.
A monocoque fuselage carries most of its stresses in its outside skin whose shape is produced by formers to which the skin is attached. Formers that divide a fuselage into compartments are called bulkheads.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft whose design specifications meet at least the minimum requirements specified by the Federal Aviation Administration for the particular type of aircraft.
An approved type certificate (ATC) is issued for the aircraft design, and when an aircraft is built according to these specifications and maintained in such a way that it continues to meet these specifications, it is considered to be legally airworthy.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft whose wings can be moved in flight, to change the amount of sweepback. When flying at a high speed, the wings are sharply swept back; but for takeoff or landing, the wings are moved into a position where there is much less sweepback.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft with a landing gear that allows it to operate from dry ground, snow or ice, or water.
Industry:Aviation
An aircraft with a landing gear that allows it to operate from either water or land surfaces.
Industry:Aviation
An air-driven turbine used to spin the engine compressor through a system of reduction gears.
A large volume of compressed air from an auxiliary power unit or bleed air from an operating engine is directed into the air-turbine starter. This air spins the turbine inside the starter, and the starter, which is geared to the main engine compressor, spins the engine fast enough for it to start.
Industry:Aviation
An airfoil section that allows an airplane to cruise efficiently at a speed very near Mach one (the speed of sound). The center portion of the airfoil is nearly flat, and there is a distinct downward curve, or cusp, near the trailing edge. The lower side of the forward part of the airfoil is more curved than the upper side.
Industry:Aviation
An airfoil section that is not the same on both sides of the chord line.
Asymmetrical airfoils are the most commonly used type for fixed-wing aircraft, but because the location of the center of pressure changes as the angle of attack changes, they are seldom used for rotary-wing aircraft.
Industry:Aviation
