Interest In Aviation

Hi ppl, i've not disappeared.. not to worry. I'll be updating this blog soon. Recently have been rather busy trying to get my flights done. So will be putting up something real soon. Cheers!

One of my mates send out this email title: Did pilots' row on flight-deck result in this deadly air crash? http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=506052007

Take some time to scan through it if you want ... Or if not the summary is something like this. A Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400 burst into flames after overshooting the runway and skidded into a rice field near Yogyakarta airport (Main island of Java). Preliminary findings are pointing to human error. The pilots were arguing over the landing configurations just before the crash (Experienced captain with over 15000 hours and co-pliot with 2000 hours). Result? 119 survivors including the pilot and co-pilot. The article also mention that such situation or incidents like this brought out the importance of Crew Resource Management (CRM).

"CRM is not concerned with the technical knowledge and skills required to fly and operate an aircraft but rather with the cognitive skills needed to manage the flight using situational awareness and teamwork. "

Think about this: If you are flying first time with the experience captain, would you dare to question his ability in assessing the situation? Guess this is rather common for a lot of the airlines throughout the world. The cockpit environment sets the atmosphere for the flight. But ulitmately, what is the utmost importance is the safety for all. Like in incident above, who is to blame? On one hand, the pilots can be said to be in the wrong for "causing" such situation to happen.. but on the other hand, the pilot still tried their best to land the aircraft right? Though they survived the tragedy, will they recover from it? Not just from the Conscience point of view, but also from a personal view. Families of the victims, victims, airline... etc.. everybody will definitely be affected. My sincere condolences for the victims.

As for Links... these are some of the links that i visit:

• http://portal.aircraft-info.net/ 
• http://www.avweb.com/
• http://www.airliners.net/
• http://www.howstuffworks.com/
• http://www.aviationnews.net/
• http://www.generalaviationnews.com/

Thats all for today....

Gliders or another common name Sailplanes, are heavier-than-air aircraft. Gliders are usually unpowered/ without a motor, however there are some high-performance gliders that do employ the usage of engine and retractable propeller. This is not the "pure sailplanes".

The lack of "Power" from motor or engine changes a lot about how the gliders work as compared to powered aircraft. Compared to a powered aircraft, glider has only 3 main forces acting on it: Lift, Drag and Weight. Aerodynamics my  friend.

The thing about flying is taking-off, sustaining flight and landing right? So how do gliders take-off? Since without an engine, glider's first problem is taking-off. Common launching methods are an aero-tow ( Powered aircraft tows the glider up into the sky) and Winch launching (a powerful stationary engine located on the ground at the far end of the launch area. The glider is attached to one end of a wire cable and the winch then rapidly winds it in, generating the lift)

Sustaining flight is another aspect of flying. For gliders, it trades potential energy difference from higher altitude to a lower altitude to produce kinetic energy, which means it trades altitude for velocity. Gliders are always descending relative to the air. So how do they stay up in the sky? The answer in short is they are designed to be very efficient, in terms of glide ratio. Generally speaking, if the glider can "catch" a pocket of air that is rising faster than the glider is descending, the glider actually gain altitude. The key to staying up for longer periods of time need help from Nature. Mainly three types of rising air: Thermals, Ridge Lift, Wave Lift.

Last but not least is the landing. In fact, this phase of flying can be the most challenging. To land all aircraft saftly. =) Landing a glider is much like landing a conventional plane, except there is usually a single small wheel located directly under the pilot. When landing the glider, the pilot needs to be able to control the rate of descent relative to distance traveled in order to bring the glider down in the right location. The pilot uses the spoilers to reduce the amount of lift produced by the wings without changing the speed or attitude of the glider. (Most small conventional powered aircraft have no spoilers,unlike those big jets eg Boeing 777)

Thats a small summary about gliders. If you are interested in learning to fly in a glider, can always approach your local flying school or joy-ride companies for more information. Cheers! Hope it helps to stir up a bit of an interest in you about aviation.

When we talk about types of aircrafts, there can be many different classification.

Heavier-than-air craft (eg: Boeing 777, Airbus 340, F-16, gliders); on average is much heavier as compared to air.  

Lighter-than-air craft (eg: hot-air ballons, airship, moored ballons); usually lighter than air gases are used to fill the craft, generally making the aircraft lighter than air.

 Another type of classification can be fixed-wing (eg: Cessna 152) and rotary-wing (eg: helicopter) or land aircraft and sea aircraft.

Even within these classification there can be sub-classifications.

Fixed-wing

• Gliders
• Propeller
• Jet
• Ramjet
• Scramjet

Rotary-wing

• Helicopters
• Autogyros
• gyrodynes
• Tiltrotors

There are various types of classifcation as we can see, Depending on how they want to classify it to be. However the next time we go into some details into the various types which are more down to earth, cos we can really expect everyone to be buying the F-16s and learning how to fly them right? =P Cheers!

Lets start with some quotes about flying:

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.- Leonardo da Vinci

My soul is in the sky.- William Shakespeare, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' Act V. Scene I.

The Wright Brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing. The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together.- Bill Gates

Maybe it's sex appeal, but there's something about an airplane that drives investors crazy.- Alfred Kahn, the 'father of airline deregulation.'

The engine is the heart of an aeroplane, but the pilot is its soul.- Sir Walter Raleigh

To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home.- anon.

I owned the world that hour as I rode over it…. free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the clouds, but how inseparably I was bound to them.- Charles A. Lindbergh

I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty. That the reasons flyers fly, whether they know it or not, is the aesthetic appeal of flying.- Amelia Earhart.

Okay.... thats something to begin with. People from all walks of life can fall in love with flying. You don't need to be a genius in maths or physics to love it. Neither do you need to be some "Ace". Be it whether you like being the pilot or the passenager... Flying can be fun for all! As for myself, I've always regard flying as a miracle of some form. Having the plane taking off from the runway.. even though the physics behind it can explain this, its still being outshined by the beauty of it. =) Having the control over the taking off, soaring into the skies above that i've once looked upon with envy. Cool! Looking below me as i feel the freedom in the sky, looking out at the horizon, sunset sunrise.... Is just beyond words. If you have not tried flying, take a joy-ride.. Is really Great! =)

 Cheers!

Hi everyone..... I've setup this blog to share my interest in aviation with you people and to allow all of us to share any aviation knowledge. =)  We'll talk about anything related to aviation, be it how aircraft works to aviation news.. etc. I'll keep this blog as updated as possible.

Cheers! =)